Essentials for first year halls and what is best bought later

[Busydoingsomething]

DS will be in halls for his first year. I’ve seen lots of online lists of things that are needed but am not sure how many of them are really essential and if there are any other things that people wished that they’d taken but didn’t…
Any advice from people, who have been there and done that, would be great.
He’ll be in an en suite room with a shared kitchen. I think there are 6 rooms in each section. Will they end up with 6 colanders? Is he better getting stuff like that when he’s there, if he needs it?
Any advice would be great.

To be honest, I think we have visions of them doing things like actual cooking and the realitly is very different. I bought very little new stuff.
a collapsable bucket (mine does that drink but if yours does - for puking, or washing or just stuff)
under bed storage boxes
four mugs
basic cutlery set x 2
wooden spoon
small saucepan
medium saucepan
fish slice
frying pan
microwave bowls
s small light
mattress cover
bedding - see what size bed. Also next year may have a double in a house.
an extension lead
possibly a gift card for local supermarket which has home essentials
towels
tea towels
oven gloves
cleaning stuff

honestly, don’t buy too much. They won’t use most of it.

That does depend on your child though DD loves cooking and I ended up buying her more stuff as she needed it.

But I agree most probably won't do much cooking. I'd add a non stick backing tray to that list if they have an oven. Halls don't normally have anything in them.

We didnt really buy much because we gave her some takeaway vouchers for the first few nights and she raided our cupboards for the cooking stuff and crockery she'd need.

The best things we got were

Good extension lead
Nice lamps (uni room lights are blindingly bright)
Mattress topper (we thought we'd get away with not getting one, but I think they stuff mattresses with rocks)

I would send bedding, bathroom essentials including cleaning supplies (can but hope) lamp (unless provided) bin etc for room.

for kitchen supplies I’d send the bare minimum ideally raiding the tatty stuff we all have or hit discount places/supermarket for value range because it will be wrecked. Send a frying pan, a saucepan or 2, wooden spoon, slice, a chopping knife, a chopping board, tin opener, corkscrew, oven tray or 2, 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 knives forks and spoons, mugs, glasses of choice (my dd took wine glasses and margarita glasses!) if you want ease places like dunelm do a starter pack for the kitchen you can get delivered to the halls, any going by public transport will find this option better! If money is type do ask about because most of us have plenty of bits we could do with offloading but seems a waste to discard, eg not matching cutlery

If they are going to do cooking, I would add a veg peeler, and a small knife too.

Tupperware type stuff is good as it can be microwaved, frozen and used in the fridge for leftovers.

for their room - coat hangers are often not provided. A small fan as Halls are usually really hot as windows have restricted opening.

Have a look on the uni website accommodation pages - there is usually a list of things to bring/aren't allowed. There are often restrictions on electrical appliances and things that are likely to catch fire aren't allowed (often including heated airers) Both mine found a small foldable airer useful as uni driers are expensive and rarely get everything completely dry on a single cycle.

Thanks all. I’m not convinced there will be much cooking going on, I think it might be better to give him plates and mugs etc from home to take and buy new for us here.

A radiator airer is useful for drying towels etc doesn't take much space.
Collapsible laundry basket
Nice thermal mug
Pack of bathroom wipes- much more likely to get used occasionally than anything more complicated
Multi socket plug extender (check rules on whether these are allowed)
Aeropress for any coffee fans- makes great coffee and takes very little space
Wonderboom or similar
Command strips for putting things up without damaging the wall. You can get command pegs which are useful for hanging dressing gown or towels etc
Clips on a string or similar for photos of family and friends- you can print out some photos too if you have nice ones

Remember he is going to a university not the far side of Mars- Amazon (or your preferred supplier) can deliver anything he needs and doesn't have, so don't feel he needs everything on day 1. If you don't think he'll cook much, shop on that basis with a promise of more if he finds he's cooking more than he anticipates. Whether he can share colanders etc with flatmates will depend on the people but better in that scenario if he can provide something that is genuinely needed for the flat, not a sixth colander.

Also bear in mind that bedrooms in halls are not big- temptation is to buy a load of stuff to make the room nice but if he has too much it just ends up as clutter.