I recently was lucky enough to receive a $250 gift card to one of my favorite stores, COS, but I’m a Libra, so naturally, deciding what to actually buy has been next to impossible. Now, it’s been at least four months, and I still have yet to swipe once. It’s not for lack of worthy options—trust me, there have been plenty of tempting items. Instead, it’s that there are too many good picks to choose from, from staple basics that I know I’ll wear on repeat to standout designs that will no doubt warrant compliments. All that’s to say I need your help.

I’ve successfully edited down my favorite under-$250 COS items for spring 2026 in the mix below. Now, my job is to puzzle one or two pieces together that fit inside my gift card’s limit, all the while creating the illusion that I spent a lot more than that. My taste tends to lean more toward $2500 than $250, especially at the start of a new season when all kinds of new runway arrivals are making their store debuts, so I’m hoping to make this purchase really count.