To be amazed that people still haven't bought their school uniform?

[llamajohn]

Kids go back on Tuesday. WhatsApp Group is alive with "argh, I can't find X item" or "where can I get the book bag"?

As if it's been a complete surprise that their child is joining reception and the uniform shops and supermarkets have been closed since June...

Why would you leave it to the last moment?

Got you this. Hope you like it x

I was far too excited (reception start) so we got everything ordered in June, apart from shoes. To be fair the school supplier shop had a 10% earlybird discount which we wanted to use plus the school was selling new surplus stock for pennies at the parents meeting in July. So there was no excuse.
The novelty will wear off no doubt!

DD started last week though so if I didn’t have it now I’d be in trouble.

I’m usually a last minute uniform person then last year got organised, bought trousers in the M&S school uniform offer in July. They fit then but eight weeks later not only were they too small as he shot up over the summer (he was 13) but it was too late to return them. Hence I’m currently one of the many (judging by the people in Asda last night) still looking for new ones for this year! I hadn’t left it late either this year but he’s over 6ft tall and it’s been impossible to find any long enough that fit him and the one lot that do has been out of stock for weeks.

I always got mine sorted in good time.

That's because I actually had the money and time and headspace to sort out crap like that. So basically it's because I'm privileged. Lots of people aren't, and I have total respect for the fact that they manage to get it sorted at all (and no judgement if they don't. Life is hard enough without trying to find yet another set of sodding shirts.)

If young child I think I would wait till quite late for shoes as feet can grow very fast

I still haven’t been arsed to check if DC’s uniform from last year fits. And I have no idea about PE kit.
I expect we’ll find out tomorrow morning! What’s the worst that can happen?

My youngest has cancer so getting all the high school uniform for my eldest hasn’t been a priority.

Is that a good enough reason?

Maybe to give judgy pants like you something to comment on.

What a smug thread and there are loads of reasons why someone would leave it later to buy uniform.

This.

We've been living in temporary accommodation all summer and we're only moving into our house this weekend.
Buying new school uniforms hasn't been on the top of my list.
I'll be getting what I can tomorrow.

Not everyone is as financially stable and organised and perfect as you - is that what you want to hear?

Pay day. Growth spurts. Plus I pick up a lot of mine second hand via Vinted, charity shops, car boot sales etc so end of the holidays is just about patching up any gaps in the inventory I've failed to fill cheaply.

And yes, you are being smug and judgemental.

Because they are terrible, terrible human beings, clearly.

Am I the only person who's kids shoot up by at least 1 size over summer?
If I bought September uniform in June/July when it all goes on sale mine would be squeezed into it on day 1.

They spend all summer running around outside with their cousins and eat us out of house & home, I'm not surprised they've shot up.
We bought uniform last Friday

I bloody hate uniform buying too - the kids moan, they want stuff thats too expensive/ not school compliant & would rather be doing anything but shopping.

We had picnic lunch afterwards with everyone getting to choose1 savoury & 1 sweet item for the picnic - it was an interesting mix!

I've made the mistake of buying too early in the year before and things not fitting. Actually I have a pack of shirts I bought a few years ago that are now good for ds11

I've just managed to get hold of shirts for ds13 who is 6"2 and in a size 17 . Not the easiest to get hold of

I laughed

There was one year I had to wait until the last minute for pay reasons and another, the day before I got then to try the uniform on and as one had a growing spurt beyond what I'd anticipated and his trousers looked like the cat had died AND my iron decided not to work that night, so I had to run to tesco at 6am to get the next size up trousers and an iron. I wonder if I had judgey people looking at me 🤷‍♀️

A lot of people need to wait until they get paid or cannot afford to buy it all at once so will buy x,y, and z on one payday and the rest on the next payday.

Given that the cost of living crisis is all over the news 24/7 I struggle to see why that is hard for you to grasp, OP?

Because some people are just last minute. Some might have been waiting for payday, all kind of reasons. But I’m an early bird so no way I’d be leaving it until a couple of days before

They grow. A lot.
Payday.

My baby is going into reception.

I'm a single parent counting pennies.

Maybe that makes me over anxious and I've been stocking up from Vinted/uniform swap shop/branded school logo place for months, in his current size and next size up, so I don't have to worry about it. Tbh that seems to be my way. Worry in advance to ease the potential worry later.

I've just spent an hour listing old stuff on Vinted to help pay for it, and wondering if wearing uniform five days a week will end up cheaper than wearing supermarket clothes to nursery.

Financial reasons? Not everyone can save. When DD was younger, no matter how much we WANTED to save, and no matter how much we budgeted through the month, we couldn’t save. We had no choice but to pretty much live hand to mouth. We were lucky because my parents and grandma used to help a lot with her uniform when we were struggling but if we’d been buying it ourselves we’d have struggled to get it in advance.

I do think they either have the uniforms in the shops far too early so it sells out with the early shoppers, or they don’t have enough supply of it to cover right through for the later shoppers. I don’t like buying things too early in case of growth spurts - I’ve always left her shoes until days before she goes back. We don’t always need to buy new for the start of term now she’s 14 and her growing has slowed down a lot so I just look at what she has and see if we need to replace anything.

Because it's not as if it's a surprise that your child will go to school and need uniform.

I've had 4 pay days since finding out which school, and have slowly bought stuff second hand etc to spread the cost.