School uniform - how many of each item?

[vacaloca]

DD1 starting school in September. She's very excited about it and I thought we could go and buy her uniform next week. How many do you buy of each thing. She's got to have a school sweatshirt and everything else is up to us: polo shirt, skirt, pinafore, trousers... I was thinking of getting 2 of everything, perhaps 3 polo shirts? Or do I need 3 of everything seeing as I'm not the most organise mum in the world?

Any other top tips about uniforms? Do girls often wear trousers? I was thinking of getting one pinafore (because they look sooo damn sweet in them) and one skirt.

All from Tesco and Asda so cheap, but does need replacing for dd2....apart from the summer dresses that are M&S.

I'm liking this - lots of good tips. Must add the shed to the shopping list to put all the socks in.

What about nametags? I haven't even managed to make up my mind between iron or sew-in.

I got a couple of summer dresses from charity shops in case she wore them in September (but she didn't). They do still fit her but it would only have been £1.50 wasted if they hadn't! I also managed to get a sweatshirt and cardigan and schoo coat from charity shops too.

So in total I had:

3 skirts
1 pinafore dress
1 pair of trousers
2 cardigans
2 sweatshirts
6 polo shirts
A pack of 6 long socks and 6 short socks
4 summer dresses (2 bought last year, 2 bought this year)

Once it got colder I bought tights but dd decided she didn't like them and wouldn't wear them!

The 3rd skirt went in her PE kit as a spare. DD is a devil for drinking enough and tends to get urine infections. Every now and then she has spates of having "accidents", so the spare skirt at school was very useful.

The rest of it I found was just right for dd and our lifestyle. Enough for the times when she spilled lunch on herself or had an "accident" and needed a new set, enough for the times when I got really behind with the washing and ironing (and I'm a bit of a slattern).

Oh and the other thing I found was that dd couldn't get herself in and out of her pinafore, so the easiest thing to put her in for PE days was trousers. She also had a preference for trousers.

Neither - get a laundry marker - much easier

Sew in. It doesn't take long honestly and they last forever and do not fade. I have spent the morning going through the schools lost property box and I cannot believe the amount of un-named stuff in there .

When DD started school in recpetion I had iron in name tags in everything. As the terms have gone on and as we near the end f Y1 - I find I make do with writing her name on things with a laundry pen. Much quicker

DD was great with her pinafore. It had a big long zip down the front. She could step into it so much easier than over the head. She struggled more with her polo shirts oddly......

Sew in look nicer .

Yeah - but I realised that noone actually saw them as they were inside her clothes.

.
The amount my dd leaves hers lying about the place lots of people have seen hers .

We also have a school cap.

Ah, you see, I'm having to reconcile my snobbery with my slatterness (is that a word?) so although I like the look of the sew in, I know I'm more of a laundry marker type. Maybe I should at least make an effort the first year - or will that mean that I order all the nametags but fail to sew them in and finally end up using the marker pen at 1am the night before school starts?

We were in Spain when DD1 was 2 and going to the local nursery. I nearly fainted when I noticed all the children at nursery had their name cross-stitched on their overalls! I had to learn to cross-stitch in one afternoon and oh how I cursed giving DD1 such a long name! So maybe sew-in tags won't be such a pain...

I did name tags - great value as you can re-use
IME - Pinafores will only be worn by preference until yr 3 ( Brand new going cheap!)

5 short sleeve shirts/polo shirts

2 cardigans/sweatshirts

2 trousers

2 skirts

Summer dresses - unless strictly required after yr 4 - not cool

Plus PE kit

Loads of peer pressure on the day - long socks - short socks etc! Gets worse as they get older

Yes, you will order all the nametags & 20 years later they will nearly all still be in your sewing basket (voice of bitter experience )

I ordered 144 for DD1 - what was I thinking??? I hate sewing! Then 72 for DD2...and I think 48 for DS1...they're nearly all still in my basket. (I did use them, with sellotape, for recorders though )

DS2 just got the laundry marker!

Have a look at easy2name though - you get a discount, MN get commission I think, & they are v useful labels; you can use them for socks & even get sticky bits to put them in shoes!

(Go to SHOPPING at the top of the page & click through to give MN the commission.)

I too am new to this and have very messy boys who seem in capable of eating a meal without getting it all down themselves.

Going with

5 poloshirts
3 pairs trousers
2 sweatshits
1 fleece

each

Its crazy as its early july, but local shops are already selling out!

3 of everything but if your polo shirts are white like ours are I'd get 5 of them - but that's mainly because I only do a white wash once a week.

can you get laundry markers anywhere other than Adams?

Finally went shopping yesterday and got her a pair of trousers, a skirt and a pinafore. She likes the pinafore and skirt best but I thought the trousers would be a good idea. She seemed to have no problem getting in and out of pinafore. I also bought 3 polo shirts, but will see if I need more once she starts. I bought the laundry pen from a stationery shop.