Preparing for Boarding

[ChildrenOftheFarawayTree]

It's that time of the year again. We're getting ready to go off to boarding. By far the most onerous task being labelling things. Are people doing this themselves or are you using someone else e.g a dry cleaners? If you are how much do they charge? So far everywhere I've called have said £1 per item . We've got socks, underwear, tops, trousers, beddings, towels etc all needing labelling.luckily school have done the uniforms for us, but just curious what other people are doing.

Can't you just write the names on with a sharpie?

For shoes and shinguards etc yes. But for any fabric items pen will wash off over time, given the somewhat industrial nature of school laundry systems.

I made dd do her own nametape sewing, she got quite into it after a while. [evilmother]

Can I join in? Very unexpectedly my DD has been offered a place at a specialist school for sixth form. We found out today, and she leaves on Sunday.
First time boarding, currently at the local comp, huge changes! But absolutely the right move.
However, I am a complete novice!

error, how exciting!

Where are you up to in terms of organising and when does term start?

And I the re read your message 😂

I read it earlier and meant to reply but was ironing name tapes onto socks 🙈

What do you need to know is a better question?

Ideas for personalising the little bit of space you get please!
At least that feels like a start

error, a primark or a TK Maxx would be a great place to start. What we Mums used to have in terms of "posters" aren't a thing at all 😂 but there's usually a shelf and a board.

DD has a lightbox (£8) that's battery operated, and some cushions. Small photos of family, friends and pets are popular mostly pets.

It's good practise for all boarding schools to do a night time fire alarm in the first week or two, so make sure she has a dressing gown and slippers that can go outside right from the start. I know it's hard to get trendy ones. I managed to find one in Next in the end that weren't immediately dismissed 🙄

But anything else pretty much you can order on Amazon or anywhere and have delivered to school so don't worry you have to send everything they need right away. I've had tights, socks, etc just sent to her on next day delivery.

I've ordered Stikins with ds's House and name on.They attach to the label so will be ok for clothes with labels.Not sure about towels or duvets .I've used them before and they seemed to be pretty hardy as I absolutely hate sewing on labels.

Thank you!! I've found some old unused name tags luckily so we've been busily sewing.
New fluffy dressing gown bought, slippers are fine for outside apparently.
Cushions from current bed chosen and covers washed, pins bought for notice board, and set of small fairy lights packed.
I'm not sure about chocolate/sweets, I think they might be more into healthy eating (performers) but surely everyone likes sweets!
I've ordered some zip up bags that go in the washing machine to keep socks etc together. As sixth formers they're responsible for their own personal laundry but I'm told they often do a load with their room mate/s so I think these may be helpful, but I've never used them. Are they any good?

Zip up laundry bags are perfect error

And yes, all dancers still need sweets 😉 They burn it all off anyway 😂

I know with it being a rush, you probably haven't thought much about Sunday drop off itself but if I was to suggest one thing, it would be to declare now between you that yes, you will miss each other to bits, but the actual goodbye itself is going to be quick.

We do a kiss, hug and then LEAVE. No hanging around or just waiting for a bit as it makes it worse for them. They can then instantly just be consumed by it all and start making friends.

First weekend home, she'll then probably then want to take you through it all and what it was like.

You might get a wobbly phone call at some stage in the first few days too. Decide now to be sympathetic but very reassuring that it just needs a few days.

Thank you, great advice. Not a dancer though, starting a drama course, - though the school has lots of dancers so may be room sharing with some, good to know they'll all enjoy some sweets.
Brilliant advice re tomorrow, thank you. We are (still) labelling, buying toiletries and packing today before going out for a family meal tonight.
Then a leisurely start tomorrow, leaving at 11 for 2pm arrival.
Then the next chapter begins

Check the information you have about what it's OK to take, eg some schools say no cushions etc (fire load).

DS was worried about waking up (watch alarm too quiet apparently and phones will be taken off them at night) so one thing we chose with care was a bedside light/alarm clock.

My DD will be boarding for the first time. Just wondering how many jeans, jumpers, tshirts, dresses etc you send yours with. I had it in my mind DD could swap things over for a change on exeat and leave weekends, but she seems to want to take loads.

I'm off today to buy two new duvet sets plus looped towels and pyjamas and school shoes .
Why have I left it so late?
I fear H&M and Dunelm will be glad to see the back of me after today.

teta I spent ages sewing on loops onto towels last year and then realised Ikea sold them with loops! If you are close to an IKEA...?

Loops on towels
Why didn't I know about this!!
Help - how do I add loops (neither Dunelm nor Ikea for 30 miles)

If they haven't asked for loops, don't bother!!

But if they do, you can either use an oversized name tape or buy some plain tape from a sewing shop.

12 years ago I had to sew flaming long loops on every single item of the eldest's pre prep uniform and sport uniform (bloody lot of work, all so the entire kit can hang on one hook in the changing room 🙄) so I have a load of spare tape left 😂

Ifonly4 I'd suggest keeping non-uniform stuff to manageable levels. Jeans and a skirt, maybe 3 or 4 tops and a jumper - then at first exeat start swapping in stuff for cooler weather. At half term she'll have a better idea of usual routine and you can work out together how much she actually needs.

At my daughter's prep she needed very little mufti as their schedule meant they rarely changed after school and she was in uniform part of the weekend as well anyway. Now she's at senior school (going into year 10) she does need a bit more, but still not loads.

We're still getting over jetlag and I've got to finish unpacking the case that needs to be packed to go back on Monday ... Must get over the inertia ...

How old is your DC? And how responsible? When I worked as a houseparent, as long as stuff was labelled it was fine. Just thinking if you did use a sharpie, could you rely on your DC to rewrite his name if it fades? If I ever noticed that a girls name was faded, I pointed it out to her. I don't know what other schools are like but there we got the laundry back all mixed in one bag and we sorted through. I appreciate if it's sorted out of house, this might not be practical

Ifonly4 - my DD seems to be taking her entire wardrobe too, but they are in casual clothes/drama blacks the whole time. Uniform is for special occasions only. Still I suspect we will bringing stuff back tomorrow.
Ginandtoast - again thank you x
Eton2017 - good advice. I can't see there are any restrictions, so will let her take the cushions, and can bring them back (with the excess clothes)

I have declared the laundry room closed for business. Anything not already there will not be washed and dried by tomorrow.

Just almost cried standing in the teen's bedroom door though 🙄 You are never immune to the odd wobble, however much you do it. I have already laid plans for the first exeat weekend.

My little one is going to be boarding two/three nights a week as well starting this term and I haven't even thought about her stuff 😂 I hope she isn't expecting to start it on Monday 😳

Good luck to all tomorrow. We've got this!
🤜🏻🤛🏻

Gives head a wobble
Yes we can do this!

error, hope it went okay. DD is going into Sixth Form and has a scholarship. It's a great opportunity for her, but I'm not looking forward to Tuesday.

Grass - thanks for that. We have piles of stuff everywhere so will work on her cutting back.

Well just got back home, going back today really reminded us why this looks like the perfect school for DD.
Quite a long and emotional day, but held it together pretty well (I think), DD has met and been welcomed by such a lovely group.

And all the clothes fitted in the space!

The house feels soooooo quiet 😔

I am having a glass of wine and missing her. Hope everyone else is okay!

Roll on exeat weekend (the 22nd!)

Can I ask a really stupid question?
How do you transport duvets and pillows bearing in mind we have to walk from the car park.Do I try squishing everything into a suitcase or keep these in their box/bag?.I think we already have one suitcase of towels/blankets/dressing gown plus a possible one of uniform and then the duvet box plus two pillows🙄🙄.And what do people do about tuck boxes?Can't I send him with a tin of home made chocolate chip Cookies?Does it have to be a really expensive lockable tuck box?He's only a weekly boarder.On the other hand I don't want to look like Steptoe and Son.