Best places to get uniform and when to get it.

[Allthatglitters789]

My eldest ds starts reception September and I am clueless when it comes to uniform with him being my first, so I was hoping someone could fill me in on where the best place to buy from is and when it's best to buy? I don't want to get it so early he grows out of it but I also don't want to leave it so late theres nothing left! Thanks

Ours is mostly M&S but it was fairly empty by August. Other bits are supermarket - good cotton jumpers from Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

Boys wear a lot of trousers. If they don't drop half their lunch in their laps, they go mud-diving at playtime. Expect to wash a pair a day, and buy accordingly. Ditto jumpers, annoyingly.

Boys wear a lot of trousers. If they don't drop half their lunch in their laps, they go mud-diving at playtime. Expect to wash a pair a day, and buy accordingly.

Yup. DS is wearing shorts now so they last a bit longer but he was getting through a pair of trousers a day by getting them covered (and I mean covered!) in mud playing football.

I bought most of his bits in M&S when it had the 3 for 2 deal. I bought the Stainaway (or Stainguard?!) polo shirts first time round which have lasted well but I bought the cheaper versions in the next size up and they are very thin. He's now grown into them yet so we'll see how they do. He's also had polo shirts from Asda that have lasted v well.

M & S usually have a deal on just before the children break up in July. I normally buy it all in one go, an age up than their current age, so it lasts the year.

Ask the school about second-hand uniform sales. At our school most parents donate stuff back to the school and they sell it for £1 or £2 a pop.

For plain stuff, M&S is good. £3 for a pack of two polo shirts. Tesco prices weren't much cheaper, although the Tesco stuff I have has lasted ok too.

DD mostly wears M&S, mainly because it is also the easiest for us to get. I order and pick it up from a Simple food near work while the next large Sainsbury is 30 min drive and you never know which sizes are in stock. I also wsn't impresed by their cardigans. tesco and Asda are equally bad distance wise. I had bad experience with their website description.

I had to buy John Lewis cardigans recently as M&S was out of our colour and was impressed. Similar size, nice and thick pure cotton ones.

I bought DD's first set in July and was glad, especially the small sizes seem to be out fast.

But wait until you have more information from your school, they may do good deals for logo jumpers, ours are great and fairly cheap so most boys wear them. They also may hold a sale.

Also m&s seems to be the only store that sells slim fit trousers. My DS is slim and the regular trousers look like he can fit a chicken or two down his legs. So slim fit is good.

DD needed uniform for nursery last year and I was told to buy in July - was very glad I did as there were no small sizes left by mid-August.

I liked Sainsbury's for polos - M&S ones are thicker but harder to do the buttons up for little ones.

BHS also have really nice uniform - bought most of DD's pinafores there or in M&S.

You will need at least one change per day unless you do multiple lots of washing a week.

you can buy school jumpers with school logo on them at Tesco if your school is signed up for it. The jumpers have lasted very well. I brought polo shirts from asda they have lasted very well but if your school polo shirts are an unusual colour I would order/buy early.
Pinafores, summer dress skirts and PE Kit are all brought from Asda

I have bought from asda, tesco, matalan, next, bhs, M&S, etc. I always found M&S to be quite small made and their polo shirts would shrink too.

M&S pinafores come up small.

M&s come up huge for skinny kids. Sainsbury are better in that case

Four pairs of M&S flat front trousers (the 2 pack ones) have done ds all year, I bought a combination of school, M&S and Matalan polo shirts, and the Matalan ones are still the whitest, but a bit out of shape. Not sure about shirts but will stick with Markets trousers for next year

I was wondering about uniform too Allthatglitters my ds starts reception in Sept too. Seems like we'll need more trousers than I thought!! And I'm thinking Ill buy in July now too!!

Buy the cheapest white shirts that you can find if your DC has school dinners - the pasta sauce/curry/chilli/cottage pie/barbecue sauce stains everything and is virtually impossible to shift

DS has managed two terms with four pairs of trousers but I've just thrown out two pairs this week as they have holes in the knees. We would have been ok with one jumper as DS hates wearing it and it's been stuffed in his book bag for most of the year.

Bear in mind that you can buy uniform all year round once the initial mad rush is over so don't go mad in July to find that you have loads of unworn stuff.

Oh, meant to say that M&S shirts were really small. Tesco have been the best by far for us.