Winter Gear New Vs. Second Hand

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, we've already had to dig out the winter gear.

As usual, we're taking stock of what we've got, and what has to be bought.

My daughter was in need of winter boots, she rec'd a great pair from a friend last year, but she needed a new pair this year, although the others I believe will still be awesome as a second pair. We went to a second hand shop recently and bought her some absolutely new condition fabulous winter boots, complete with requisite disney princesses for $3.99. She LOVES them. She also picked out the pinkest pair of snowpants I have every laid eyes on (And of course loves those too) for another $3.99. She can wear her brothers hand me down snow pants, but hey for $4 she can have pink ones. :)
My son did not need winter boots last year (they still fit from the previous year!). This year, he does. This is where the debate starts. Do I spend hours (maybe days!) searching for a pair of second hand BOYS winter boots? Anybody with a son can tell you, it's a rare pair of boots that can withstand a winter with a boy.
So do we buy a pair only to stall having to eventually buy a pair of new ones.. or do we just go and buy the new ones while the stock is still plentiful. He is a very active boy and wears his shoes and boots to threads (or treads I guess). In his case, I believe it's worth the $25 to shell out for new boots because he will get our moneys worth. However, I am going to take a quick look in the online classifieds just in case there is a super deal to be found first. I think we'll still get a pair of second handers so that he has a second pair.
And for some reason, we need to keep buying mittens! Those have to be even more devious than socks, we can always seem to fine one, but not the other. Baskets devoted to each kid, color coding, labelling, etc... and we still seem to have that problem.
For the most part, we have started buying our kids shoes new as I have problems with my feet and understand how important fit and support is, but every so often, we'll find a great pair of barely used shoes that are in near perfect condition, and we'll buy those.
Every little thing helps. Winter jackets, and snow pants are so expensive to buy new there are wonderful deals to be found second hand.

It's bundle up time!