Can I realistically get all my son's university essentials at IKEA?

[Superscared]

Son is off to uni - am I being overly optimistic or is there anything I CANT get at IKEA? I’m planning a single trip, with a list, and hoping to get everything in one go. Is this realistic??

Taking your bedding from home means you’d have to bring it all back again for any holidays before next summer, or, god forbid, weekends visiting home

For heaven’s sake

DD wanted to go out and choose her old things. She didn't panic too much, knowing she could get whatever she really needed when she was there. The day after we dropped her off, her and her roommate happily went off shopping.

Absolutely agree. Well, except for pans! Horrible stuff.

I've done this several times and I would say you can get everything your uni-bound DC need in Ikea and your local large supermarket. I have even done it for year abroads, going to their local Ikea to get kitchen stuff, bedding, lamps, cushions, plants and clothes drier. Enjoy your shopping day!

So?
Put it in one of those vacuum pack things and shove it in a suitcase.
Don't people usually have more than one set at home anyway?
Or yeah....just buy a new set from the shops I suggested 😂
Not exactly a big dilemma.

Just seems like it’d probably be simplest to have a set for halls and one for home, that’s all!

Also then if you are going to make the student bring their duvet home for every weekend visit, you will of course need to buy them a vacuum for the vacuum packed bag 🤣

Valid point.....🤔

To be honest I was thinking more the quilt/pillow covers rather than the actual quilt/pillows.
That's just because I like the quilt covers I have and I would probably want them with me 😂

Yes. I’ve had children who were international students and I’m now a grandma to international students. We stay in a hotel when we arrive in the Uni town then next morning we go to IKEA and kit them out with everything they’ll need for their accommodation.

Put a blob of nail varnish on their Ikea stuff so they know it’s theirs. I did Ikea and dunelm. Although just been to Tesco’s and got some bits he needs for year 2!

We got the student box from Ikea for DS, it came home at the end of Y1 largely untouched 🙄(he's still not great at cooking for himself). DD wanted to choose different things, so hers took longer. And the yr DS started Uni, DD had a year abroad, so that was also challenging working out who needed what.

Beware bedding - make sure you know what size bed they're having (DS left his home bedroom that had a single bed for a small double in halls. Now he's got a proper double at home and is going to a single for Y2).

DD got loads of stuff from car boot sales last year. They're great for crockery and everything is unique so she's had no trouble knowing which plates hers etc.

We did the uni shop at IKEA, you can get pretty much everything - we saw the ready-made box at the end but TBH we had already been given some stuff that was in there so didn't need all of it. Also DC does cook so wants a little more kit than average student - I've bought a hand blender off Vinted, for example, as they make a lot of soup.

My DD wanted the traditional IKEA pre uni trip and did get things like a throw, a couple of cushions, plates etc but most of her stuff came from elsewhere, mattress topper from dunelm, big frying pan from lidl (that has survived brilliantly despite being used daily by everyone in the flat), towels from The Range and a fair bit of stuff from a friend's mum's house clearance. The beauty of old stuff is (as a pp said) that it's unlikely to get mixed up. DD loves her green handled cutlery.

I think aldi and lidl are currently doing student stuff.

Is Boundry Outlet (if you have one) or B&M or Dunelm not a cheaper option?

Car boots and charity shops are even cheaper than IKEA.

Everything except bedding which isn’t always standard sizing in ikea

My dcs never came home for any weekends! I didn't go home for any weekends either as a student many years ago! I thought that was normal...?

In my experience, not just of my own kids, most will at least a few times and especially in first year. I’m sure it’s not universal but it’s certainly far from unusual

My view on the OP's question is IKEA is fine, or cheaper if you can get it. And they need less kitchen stuff than you'd think.

Agree

We did it the other way round - went to visit them a couple of times a term (more like 4 times in the first term) for events in college. Also, terms at their uni (same as mine) are only 8 weeks long.

Should add that journey time was just under 1.5 hours, so could visit them for the day or even an evening.