Cub zip-offs

[jrdalys 10]

My son (Wolf) announced to me a few weeks ago that he needed a pair of uniform zipoffs. Our pack is a 'shirts only' group, so he'd gone through his Tiger year with me not worrying/noticing, but here's what I discovered after going to the Scout Shop to pick him up a pair:

 

Those things are HUGE! I bought him a pair of 'small' cub blue zipoffs (labeled size 6), and they look like they could go on a 5th grader! With the elastic waist strap things all the way tight, they slide right off...only if we cinch the belt tight do they stay up.

 

Also, these are unfinished pants (fine...less stock for the store to worry about), so we have to hem them. This hid another fun fact - if we zip the legs off, we're left with his pants ending at mid-shin; these things look like knickers!

 

He isn't unusually small...he's a pretty typical Wolf cub size.

 

Did others have similar experiences, or did my son get the only 'special' pair of pants?

[Lisabob 13]

Nope, I've heard plenty of people say the same thing. This is also a reason why my son didn't get scout pants when he was a cub (before the zip offs). I refused to pay a lot of money for pants that did not fit him well.

 

 

 

 

[Eagle92 110]

I actually recommend getting them big so that they grow into them. As my old boss uyse to say, " Big enough to grow into, but mot look like a clown."

 

I actually hemmed my son's pants in a way that the pants were not cut but simply folded in a way to allow them to be rehemmed as he grows. It's working.

[IM_Kathy 32]

I hemmed my son's boy scout pants the same way. he isn't finished growing at 16 but his waist has pretty much stayed the same for last couple other than when he returned from phimont.

 

though I figure when he needs more than 1 pair for jamboree that I will get someone to hem them correctly as I'm not the best at sewing.

[CCbytrickery 10]

They are big for the size. I just use the button thingy on the inside waistband.

 

Word of warning: WASH THE LEG PARTS EVERYTIME YOU WASH THE SHORT PART! Otherwise you will end up with a faded blue pair of shorts with the dark bright blue legs!

 

My son loves his though. I get him 2 pair whenever the legs get too short w/o a hem (skinny little thing that he is, but he has long legs), and he wears them to school and everywhere. He would rather wear them than his jeans, because he can make them shorts in the afternoon (when mean old mom makes him wear pants because it's 37 out in the morning, but 65 when he comes home from school).

[Federalist 10]

I bought the zip off pants for my son when he was a Tiger and hemmed them so I could make them a little longer later. I also bought them baggy and just cinched the belt up so they would stay on. Did they look like a fitted suit? No and who cares. He did'nt. He loves those pants and the way they zip off and on for the differant things we do. I just recently let the hem out about an inch and they look and fit fine. I will probably get another pair soon because he is wearing them out and will need to get through his Bear rank.

[jrdalys 10]

Yeah, I didn't expect them to fit like a suit, but honestly...who did the sizing on these things? I like that they have the stretchy waistband things you can tighten, but when no amount of tightening can make them stay up on a typical 7 year old with the smallest pants they sell (size 'S' / 6) it makes me wonder.

 

That said, my son really does like them. He kept playing with the leg zippers in the pew next to me on Sunday (Scout Sunday). Even better, the weekend before, he got his Light of Christ award from the Archbishop of Portland, and told me that he and the other boys in the front pew had a great time taking the zipoff legs on and off during Mass.

 

Boys will be boys. :-)

[Federalist 10]

That made me smile and laugh a little, my son did the same thing during mass on Scout Sunday.