Things to take to boarding school for the 1st time

[thekidstaxi]

Other than the obvious, duvet set ect. What are the things your child really found useful, fun or wish they had thought about taking when going to boarding school for their first time? And what did they take but have never used or needed?

Forget slippers and take slides instead. They all wear them with socks - the brand new slippers we bought remain unused.

There’s a fad of decorating dorms with LED lights at my DDs school. Gone are the days of fairy lights.

Depends on how old the child who is starting is, and what their room / dorm set up will be, but large fabrics to pin to the walls if they are single/double rooms.

Crocs.

Easy prep food packages like pasta etc. You know, the naff stuff that you just add water too. School food gets repetitive very quickly. Also squash, and if access to a microwave popcorn.

Games - bop it was a huge hit. Cards.

More than one pair of trainers for sports/gym because they are insanely difficult to dry and used often.

Flashlight / Head lamp

Double towels and double bedding - at our school washing took a week and you can only do your own in sixth form.

Check the torches, alarm clocks, led lights... everything electronic they are taking to see what is required to change the batteries. A small Phillips screwdriver (or similar) might be required. Consider a few spares too, particularly any of the more unusual type batteries.

If your kid is using fountain pens, a piece of rubber or vinyl or some other surface they can put onto their desk.

The whole fountain pen and stationery topic is one that some schools will cater to wonderfully (a couple of decades ago Berkhamsted School had it’s own shop where students, including boarders, could get their supplies and it included excellent paper, perfect for fountain pens, that was quite difficult to get elsewhere), whilst others do not put any importance whatsoever in helping kids match their writing tools with appropriate stationery. Finding the right pen with affordable replacement nibs and paper that takes the ink well and is a pleasure to write on is a gift; a child will probably write many more miles over the course of the next ten years than they will in all the years that follow leaving education.

Boys : Sliders, reading lamp, crap clothes, crap haircut, some junk food and their phone which they will never use to call you with 😂. Sports paraphernalia or whatever extras they need for their hobbies/electives. My ds has 11 sessions of sport a week at the moment (many of those are electives) . He is in heaven.

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought about battery supplies or a screwdriver!
I'm making a shopping list, will add l.e.d's and sliders. She already has a wall fabric which she is saving to take with her and cute pins for the pin board. It's actually a fun thing to look forward to, a good girlie shopping trip to get supplies.

Mattress topper if it’s not already on your packing list too. The mattresses at my daughters school aren’t bad but it does make a big difference.

A calendar that you can mark on important family dates, term dates, and visits.

Mattress topper.

Sliders/crocs.

Bedside lamp.

Net washing bag for underwear washes.

Pot Noodles or other crap food.

DD likes to take a room fragrance, but this would have to be agreed by all room occupants.

Lots of data on her phone in case the WiFi is rubbish.

Fluffy blanket.

Never used -
Shoe polishing kit.

Slides.
Extra underwear.
Extra runners.
Extra towels.
Crap food like insta soups, popcorn, noodles etc.
Torch.
I hid some money in a pair of socks - I was popular that day!

Soft (very large) bags for transporting everything in as trunks are too difficult to store and carry ( quite often up very narrow staircases over several floors).
Some items in house colours as I often got a call saying I need x & y for the weekend for some house event.
A decent tuck box including some tins or microwaveable packs for the occasions they might not want to go to the dining room. Often DD used items to trade with others too lol.
Sliders

AirPods
Sliders
Pot noodles
Check if allowed - extension cable

brilliant lists, thank you. I'll not pack polish and will hide treats and cash! great ideas

Mattress topper.
Good supply of sanitary products.
Good supply of all toiletries
Teddy off she has one
Sticky plasters for grazes and blisters
Snacks and drinks supply
Hair elastic supply
Razors
Towel big enough to wrap in and spare plus hair towel.
Hairdryer.
Nail file
A few party clothes

Mattress topper is a must. My DD also takes her own pillow which she has in addition to the biscuit-like one provided by school and also a blanket.
Earplugs
An alarm clock (many schools take phones away at night and gone are the days of matron ringing a bell by your head, apparently)
DD has a battery powered reading light which clips onto her bed
Snacks, cereal bars, biscuits, popcorn. Noodles (pot noodles seem to be the snack of choice)
Coat hangers
A sharpie / sticky labels for naming stuff

Check what bags they are allowed- our school says no trunks as limited storage for them during term. DD took a big suitcase she could fit other bags into. Tuck box is useful extra storage.

A fabric standup laundry bag was dd's random request last September.

Her wardrobe is tiny - my top tip is to pull off ring pulls from drink cans, then you can slide those over a hanger and hang another hanger on that and so on (if that makes sense!) which saves tons of room.
When she first started, i ordered a load of photos on the 'retro' prints with captions and got a string and pegs to hang them all up.
Her favourite things of all over the last year or so are her Amazon account and Disney plus. They watch a lot of crap as they can't do usual activities at the mo and if she needs anything desperately she just orders it. Hopefully activities will resume soon, so your DC will be out having fun!

Oh also, those mesh bags for laundry. She can bung the whole bag in for washing and may find fewer socks go missing!

Boy or girl?

Boy..... food.
Girl.... the entire contents of their bedroom.

Caveat: This is only based on my own survey of my own children.

Oh, I forgot - some fancy dress things as well. These are pretty essential, even if it's just the fabric squares that can be fashioned into different things.

Themes are usually gangster, animals, vicars and tarts, heros and villians etc.

You can get vertical hangers that hang ten cloth items rather than two. And some storage boxes as well - small and medium ones.

If no drawers underbed then underbed stroage boxes.

@Lessofallthisunpleasantness [laugh] that's so funny, I'm beginning to realise that I'll just be duplicating her entire room.

@Polly99 I was pondering the disappearing sock issue, will be putting a mesh bag on the list!

@Superstardjs great tip about hanging space, thank you

@LemonRoses do you mean play clothes? or do you find they dress up for parties in house?

so glad I asked, I wouldn't have thought of some of these and with no induction events this year I want her to as prepared as possible and not arrive without something that will make life a bit easier settling in, so thank you all for responding x

Some other things:

Bath matt for her bedroom floor
Nail kit
Hair ties and clips (like ten times the amount you think she will need)
Extra Throw / Blanket for bed
Hot Water Bottle

Batteries

Ours went out to local restaurants for meals, went to friends at weekends and there were sometimes parties or in-house parties or events.

Battery pack phone charger - most boarding houses make the children charge their phones in the docking station. But portable battery pack means he can loll about on his bed with the phone fully charged rather than putting it in the docking station for 2 hours.

My two always received a tuck parcel from their grandparents every term.

I used to send little parcels of say, 10 mini Pringle tubs, so DC would be super popular!! They both loved getting parcels delivered.