Primary uniform - how much?

[Fleurchamp]

Growing up my mum bought the bare minimum of school uniform. I remember feeling dirty and grotty most of the time.

My DS is starting reception in September and I am starting to get uniform together, I don't want him to feel that way but I don't want to go crazy either.

Can I have your thoughts on the number of items, please?
Trousers x 5
Shirts x 5
Pull over x 3

Is that ok?

I would get 2 or 3 trousers and 2 pull overs personally
And all the socks, I never had enough and they all had holes

I got DD 5 long sleeve shirts, 5 short sleeve shirts, 5 pinafore dresses and 3 jumpers. She also has 4 summer dresses.
She gets mucky every day, so never gets more than 1 days wear out of her uniform before it needs washing! This way I dont have to worry about running out!

Hi I went with 3 x tops and 2 x trousers, 1 x school shoes.

Depends if you work or not. I'm a sahm so have 2/3 of everything, as I have time to do the washing. Everything is worn once then washed. If I worked full time, I'd have five sets of everything in case I didn't have time to do laundry.

Jumpers and trousers are likely to get filthy everyday. So you'll need a clean set everyday, so depends if you can wash midweek.
I found 3 of each item a minimum amount. Plus at least 10 pairs of socks.
I only ever bought one logo jumper per child, but their school wasn't fussy

My son is in yr 6 and needs clean clothes every day. He has 5 jumpers, shirts and trousers so I only have to wash them all once a week.

It depends how organised you are and how often you wash. We have lots of uniform as I have boys who come home filthy and don’t wash every day. I like to know on a Sunday the uniform is ready for easy mornings for the week.

I always did 5 tops and 5 bottoms when DD was little because you could pretty much guarantee she’d come home with something all over her every day.
3 jumpers is fine but if your DS is anything like my DD expect them to go missing on a regular basis.

Depends how often you wash.

I would say
5×shirts
2×jumpers (maybe 3 if your kid likes to wear jumpers, my kids just carry then to and from school in their bags)
3/4xtrousers. (Though if the school allows shorts and your kid prefers them then you might some of those as well)

15xsocks

Check with the school about PE kit. My ds is in reception and loads of parents bought 5 sets of uniform only to find that from January they go in PE kit twice a week. I got 4 polo shirts, 4 pairs of trousers, 2 school logo jumpers and one PE kit and it's been fine. As it was our first time I bought a pack of trousers and polo tops from Aldi and a pack from Debenhams to see if they were worth the extra money. They've all lasted quite well really, the thing that have faded and stained are the logo jumpers and PE hoodie- the most expensive bits!!

Sorry you felt that way as a kid

My DD starts reception in September too.
I’m planning on getting
5x polos
4x skirts/pinafores
2x cardigan and jumper.

So not far off what you have. I think I might see how it goes for a few weeks and get more cardigans/jumpers if I think she needs them.

I usually have to do a dark wash mid week so can turn most of it around if I need to.

I went with three blouses, two pinafores, two summer dresses, two cardies. More socks than I can imagine.

That sounds about right. If u do alot of washing u could get away with 3 trousers but 5 is good too. But get the cheaper ones as they get ruined and grown out of.

Lots of pants socks and vests too.

Thank you - I do washing through the week but ironing is mainly weekends. My DS is at nursery and comes home with a bag of washing every day!

Noted about socks! Do they need name labels?

5 jumpers
10 pairs of trousers
5 shirts
2 tie
A million pairs of socks
2 pe kits

I put a spare pair of trousers, socks and pants in their pe bags just in case of accidents. Also dc2 in particular is always falling over and getting holes in his trousers.

I think that seems fine. My DS started school last year and I have went through 9 pair of school trousers this year but he seems to be accident prone, continually ripping the knees 🙄 but my nephew who is 3 month younger has lasted with 3 pair for the whole year, think it just depends on your child.

The one thing I would say is to get short sleeved shirts, my DS’s shirts always end up so dirty around the cuffs and I have tried everything, I just can’t get them clean.

You may need PE kit too, DS needs a polo shirt and shorts for two days a week, rest of time it’s shirts and trousers.

If the school has a blazer, would also question if you need this as DS has wore his twice the full year, was a bit of a waste of money xxx

Yes to name labels. "My name tags" are great, just stick them on and they stay there forever. If you have more than 1 dc and your surname isn't Smith or something like that then just put your surname on the labels and save even more time when clothes get handed down.

For jumpers, write their name in big letters on inside of collar, makes it easier for them (and teachers!) To retrieve from the jumper box or list property.

Assuming it's suitable for machine washing and drying I would have 2 jumpers (usually the most expensive item) 3 trousers (most schools suggest one pair stays at school at that age in case of accidents) and 5 shirts. You can always buy extra if he's getting really messy - but remember they grow fast so may need a bigger size by summer term

Ps invest in custom woven name labels - they come in packs of 144 usually. I bought them for infants school and they have lasted through 6th form (I cut them out!)

That sounds perfect! My sons uniform is three pairs of trousers, two pairs of shorts, around seven shirts (but that’s mainly because he’s nearly outgrown some of them), three logoed jumpers. He probably has about six pairs of school socks and then the PE kit. Coats he has a couple of thick ones and a couple of thin ones.

Expect to lose stuff in Reception. Label the clothes everywhere. I use bright red Mr Men laundry labels from nametags but I know a lot of people use the stamp you can get online.

Oh and I agree about short sleeved shirts. I got that tip from people on here and it’s worked well. No dirty cuffs to deal with.

If your child is likely to spill dinner down hand me selves every day then you will need a clean set for each day. We have never needed 5 of everything though (except socks/tights). I think in reception we had 2 or 3 jumpers/cardigans, 2 or 3 skirts/trousers and 3 polo shirts. We go on the basis if it isn’t dirty, you can wear it again tomorrow. We were quite lucky to be given a couple of extra second hand bits (some schools also have second hand sales too) which are ideal to pick up a couple of extra bits to use as spares just in case. If we had bought 5 of everything, sets 4 and 5 would never have been used so glad we didn’t buy that much of everything. You can always put on a quick wash mid week if it looks like you are running out.

Cannot not have enough socks - plain colour so that if you loose one it won't matter!!!!

I would think 5 trousers, 5 shirts, 3 jumpers & 5 socks would be fine.

My dd gets through less but ds gets grubbier so I like having plenty.

Also we were advised to only buy short sleeved shirts as the school's well heated & there's no cuffs to get stained.