How many sets of uniform does everyone get?

[Dottydoodoo]

Hi there,

My DS is going to be starting in reception in September, and I am clueless about how many sets of uniform I need to get him! The school haven’t said anything about needing a fresh set every day due to covid, I feel like he will need a clean uniform each day because he always used to come home from nursery filthy and his day clothes have always got something on them by the end of the day! It feels excessive to get five of everything though, what does everyone else do?? Neurotic first time school mum here

I just remembered he also needs a spare pair of trousers in his PE bag too in case of an accident. I’m going to have school uniform coming out of my ears aren’t I!!!

I usually buy two pairs of trousers, two jumpers in the current size then the same in the next size up which can be used as spares. We always end up with 6 polo shirts as they tend to come in 3's. I put the uniforms through on a quick 15 min wash on Tuesday night then a proper wash at the weekend- they dry over night in the airing cupboard.

However DC's school have requested clean uniform daily and said they can wear joggers as they'll be spending more time outside. So I've got them four pairs plus some we already had as I'm thinking they're going to get really muddy.

My son has just started primary 1. I got 4 jumpers, 6 polos, 4 shirts, 4 trousers, 2 shorts. All Sainsburys which are fine quality wise. I thought it was too much but actually I wash it all on a weekend and I'm not having to make sure I've enough whites for a full wash. Two polos have whiteboard pen and a shirt is tomato stained so I'm glad I have the spares.

We got 5 sets of the daily uniform (so that we only wash uniforms at the weekend), and 2 PE kits (one for the school bag, and one spare)
But only one pair of daily shoes, and one pair of PE plimsoles (feet grow fast)

Both working and 4DCs so not much time for doing laundry.
10 pairs of pants, 5 tops, 3 bottoms, 3 jumpers.
DD has 2 bottoms plus 3 summer dresses/pinafores and tights, so many, many tights 🤦🏾‍♀️
Can’t tell you how many socks I get them a new pack and each but they just vanish 🤷🏾‍♀️

This year I’ve got them 5 vests each too as the school H&S includes having doors and windows open.
If they need new trainers, I steer them towards dark coloured ones that might work as school shoes when they (inevitably) go missing.
Also label everything with a sharpie on the actual garment - not on the labels.
You can get away with much less if you can launder more frequently though.

It's a good idea to buy jumpers a size up, I got a size 6 in jumpers, then a size 5 in trousers and polo shirts for my average sized 4 year old. They are easier to take on and off a bit bigger at first, then they will fit for longer as well.

Usually a 5 pack of shirts or polos, 3-4 cardigans (I tend to get two packs though so it usually is 4) and about 3 bottoms. I've got more this year as the uniform requirements are clean every day and the dippy younger one is moving into juniors where they're expected to be a lot more self-reliant so she's going to lose every bloody cardigan constantly and covid means I can't go into school to go through lost property.

Both my children's schools are asking that they wear P.E kit to school on the days that they have P.E. This means that, for the first term at least, they might need a little less actual uniform.

I personally would have 6 sets of each. Primarily it means that you can have a weekend without washing in time of go away and still have uniform for Monday.
Thinking you'll wash and iron midweek I find to be pie in the sky, especially when it's wetter colder weather and you're reliant on indoor drying. Unless of course you don't iron and throw everything in the tumble dryer accepting the shrinkage and need to replace quicker.

Five of everything, so it's all hanging up ready and I just grab a hanger ready every night for the next morning. But the oldest started secondary last September and whilst I still do it for trousers and shirts I did only buy 2 blazers and 2 ties. It's nice when the uniform looks clean and ironed every day (not that the same can be said by the end of the day!) 🤣

Thank you everyone, this is very helpful. I have got 4 jumpers, 4 shirts and 6 pairs of trousers so I think enough for now! He has two sets of pe kit too. Think I may need to get more socks though, they are always disappearing! I do put on a wash midweek so should be able to get things washed and dried in time - I’ve washed all of his little jumpers this morning in preparation and they came out of the machine more or less dry so that’s good to know for when I can’t dry anything outside!

After having a right fucking nightmare finding them for beanpole DD1...check if they're going to be wearing PE kit all day and get the flipping jogging bottoms ordered now if they are - they have been out of stock absolutely bloody everywhere in the size I wanted for days - and I've had at least 2 orders go out of stock while I was going through the checkout!

My son starts reception. I wanted a full set for every day plus a full spare set.
He has 6 trousers (3 packs of 2). 7 shirts (1 pack of 5 and 1 pack of 2). Both from Asda. Currently only 3 jumpers as these have to be the ones from the uniform shop with the logo and cost £16 each. And we didn't have the money to get 6 straight away with having to get everything else as well. But we will be getting another 3 ASAP. And 2 ties.
1 pe polo shirt and 1 pe shorts.

For my DS in primary, I had 3-4 trousers and would do a mid week wash as they mainly came home filthy at the knees, one official school polo and a multi pack of plain ones so he could wear clean every day, and two sweatshirts, one logo-ed and one plain. He went in clean and smart every morning, but rarely came home the same way! Some schools are quite fussy about you having all the official logos on the uniform, but once the weather is colder and he's wearing a sweater or sweatshirt, no one can see what is underneath!

I’d say 3 is the minimum of everything.
I had at least five trousers and tshirts and would wash them at the weekend. I got by with 3 jumpers but both my sons are generally “warm”
And don’t wear them all the time so quite often they’d come home like new.
Logoed jumpers were expensive but pools and trousers available v cheaply.

Polos not pools

@happymummy12345
2 mucky sons and I never had more than 3 jumpers. Like yours ours are expensive. I generally got to the weekend without having to wash but sometimes did and still managed fine.
I’d recommend saving your cash.

6x polo shirts (ours are white so it's useful to have a spare), 3x jumpers/cardigans, 3x bottoms. My dc are remarkably clean at school & spend 1 full day in pe kits so it's more than enough to last me & have clean each of the 4 days if needed.

I have a fresh one for each day, with the exception of school cardigans. I have 3 of those, which I wash mid week so they are always clean on.

The thing that caught me out was when DS1 had a growth spurt at Xmas and I couldn’t buy white polo shirts anywhere because it wasn’t ‘back to school’ so if you can afford it I would be tempted to buy a size up now (I still do this with DS1).

6 shirts each, 4 trousers each, three school jumpers for primary aged DC and two school blazers and one school jumper for secondary DC.

Mine had 3 sets as they needed fresh every day. But I pretty much wash everyday anyway so it was plenty .