Tuck Boxes... please explain to me what in the world these are for.

[CoastalMummy]

Just as the title says. What is a tuck box used for and do I genuinely need to spend £100 on one?

My mum always made a Sandwich Cake, and many people round here call it that - I remember wondering what the difference between a sandwich cake and a Victoria sponge was - we never had cream/butter cream in a sandwich cake

Ohhhh well that makes more sense🤣🤣🤣

Indeed 😂

DH still remembers the embarrassment of his box at prep school being very different to everyone else's. His DM made it and he says it was like a wooden cupboard on its side.She always was the practical sort!
He kept his treasured Dinky toys in it plus unfinished Airfix kits (DH not the practical sort). Sweets etc were kept by matron and given out at bedtime, rather oddly.

I loved Enid Blyton school stories but could never understand why they'd have tinned peaches and carnation milk for a midnight feast.

Strictly speaking it should be called Victiroa Sandwich as it's not a true sponge, which is fatless. It should just have jam in the middle and a little caster sugar on top.

Victoria after Q Victoria obv - allegedly she was rather partial to a slice. Or several.

Jam sandwich - who knew?!

Still have my husband’s tuck box. Makes a nice bedside cabinet.

Speaking as a private school teacher, and former housemaster, I'd be questioning if you can afford to send your child privately if £100 for a tuck box is even a consideration, that's a very small extra compared to all the rest that will be served up in due course.

Just remembered that I used to use my tuck box as a Christmas tree stand, give it a little lift!

Spending is added to the bill?
Can you / do you have to set a limit, or is it something you have to negotiate with your child?

I work in a secondary boarding house (years 9-13) and only the kids who come up from prep school have them and often they are gone by Christmas of yr 9. They have a lockable drawer for valuables (required by ISI and the Boarding Standards). No one’s parents send treats in unless it’s a birthday, they buy tuck from the school shop and stick it on the bill!
But every school is different, I bet there’s a parent’s WhatsApp group- see if anyone has an older child in house who can point you in the right direction of what you actually need. Did they give your child a buddy to email over the summer?

When they started you couldn't set a limit, so we had to agree what could be bought. Now you can, but there's a bit more self regulation!

What worried me more is that they could buy uniform in the school shop without telling us... £100 blazers, £60 puffas!

You need to get one of these OP! 🤣

Just on the Jam Sandwich point, I only recently discovered that a “bun” was a fairy cake… I was at a church fete, and the 90 year old (very posh) lady on “Teas” called them that.

Just a lockable suitcase would do- although as PP said, they will be provided with a lockable space somewhere. I'm not sure tuck boxes are used for tuck so much as contraband- got to keep your burner phone somewhere...

Ive just noticed this on the packing list too - I’ve got a much cheaper one off Amazon - mine is only partly boarding so just to put bank card or money in really I guess I’m not sending anything other than the necessary to school as it all gets “lost” anyway.

The mossman ones do look lovely though - aesthetics would be wasted on my 13 yo boy!

He needs a tuck box if they say he does but not a £100 one, that would buy a lot of curly whirlies...

she's just using bun as a generic term for little cakes there

A bun if you're being specific is the sweet version of bread roll, usually with currents and a glaze, hence sticky bun. They featured heavily at my boarding school, probably because cheap and easy

Oh don't be daft - lots of people budget carefully for school fees, and anyone doing that wouldn't pay £100 for a tuck box. We've put 2 kids through the private sector and you wouldn't have caught me doing that in a million years - in part because it's a daft amount of money on a locked box

being as the OP mentions her kid is coming up from prep school, I'm sure she's done the hard sums

@theunbreakablecleopatrajones

Yes “buns” for me are sweet and bread like with icing, but contextually in the story, I think they were referring to “cakes”.

@HonestOpalHelper I appreciate your concern but we have done 5 years in the private sector with 2 children so far... We obviously didn't anticipate VAT when we initially signed our DS up to his prep all those years ago. It is what it is and we will just cut our cloth accordingly. Rather that than throw them into the state system!!

That was Elizabeth Allen in 'The Naughtiest girl'.

And she annoyed all the other girls so nobody wanted any of her sandwich. If I recall correctly.

Buns = fairy cakes in Yorkshire. Regional differences, though will probably vanish as US terms take over.

Perish the thought

You've had some reasonable responses to your original question, along with a couple of nice digressions. Is there really any need for this attitude?