I'm making DD a leaving homebox!

[KatyMacWho]

As she is hoping to go away next September and a bit a week/month is better than loads at once in August next year.

So far I have got
2 pans & a frying pan (not much use if she ends up in catered halls!!)
Mini Blender
8 tins of custard(expiry date summer 2015!)
Clothes pegs

What else should I be looking out for to add to it?

trying desperately to be positive

KNIFE !
Sorry.....

This is one of the things DS really enjoyed before leaving for uni.... Buying all the things he might need. For him it was the first step to leaving home and an independent life.
Mind you he did return the bed sheets that cost £50...that were coloured black!

Sorry to be a kill-joy on the 'listing' ... but shouldnt your daughter be thinking about this, not you?

If she cant fathom what she needs to set up on her own (or contribute £ towards it) then how is she going to manage 'on her own'?

A wheatbag for comfort and tummyaches, safer than a hot water bottle.

Yes, good kitchen and bread nice, kitchen, nail and general purposes scissors. Your DD may have trouble buying them.

A good frying pan, cling film, tinfoil and a set of clip lock boxes for sandwiches left overs in the fridge.

An underbed box of tins of everything that can be done in one pan or a microwave. Multi packs of Coke, water, long life juice

Money is great, but when you don't have a car bulky things like storage boxes, frying pans and saving money on blocks of juice or four packs of soup is a problem.

The four things that improved my room were a bedside table and light and a TV and 'stand'. The stand was the TVs box, upside down covered in wrapping paper.

Today TV and stand, probably equals lap top and some sort of lap tray to put it on (both the DDs over heat if left on soft beds).

A Slanket - halls can be chilly.

A digital photo frame loaded with family/hols/home pics.

A failsafe plant.

I wrote DS a long letter as well. Things I wish I'd known. Like not to obsess that somewhere, someone is having a more exciting time. That the best conversations and the most important friends are there in your little kitchen. To prioritise friends over romance, given the odds of being with your first love when you're 82 are about 10bn to 1, but the friends you make at uni will be there to mend your heart time and again.

I may have cried a little bit as I was writing it...

Based it on this letter I did for his sisters:

likepeasinapod.com/2013/01/23/an-open-letter-to-my-daughters/

OP aren't you worried that some/a lot of this will be a waste if she goes into catered halls or ends up somewhere she doesn't need it?

Could you just stick to the things she will definitely need like condoms and vodka?

So far all we have bought were the pegs & the custard (& she will need packed lunches, whatever!)

So while we are collecting freebies I'm open to anything (as I can carboot/charity anything she doesn't take)

But yes bought things will be more practical.

WRT to her doing it, well even at 19 when I went I needed input & support from my parents about what to take at 16 this will be quite significantly more imo & rightly so

Nice, Knife

Even in catered halls there are days when you miss meals, can't face the queue or simply want beans on toast while doing some revision.

Many places don't do hot food 7 days a week.
Such places cooking facilities can be very basic. A bit of thought can save a fortune on takeaways.

DD1 will also be leaving to go off to Uni next year. At the moment she and I are constructing a list. So far I think we are at about 200 items!

A table lamp perhaps? The lighting in student rooms isn't usually very homely.

What a fantastic letter stinkingbishop. I will adapt it (though only slightly) for my DD when she leaves home next year.

cooking oil and a wooden spoon (otherwise the pans will be wrecked first time - make sure she knows you have to use these things)
sharp cooking knives.

why custard? Solid sugar. Tins of beans, fruit etc will last.

Tin opener! When I went to uni first night we realised none of us had one! Also bottle opener!
Super noodles, tea bags & mugs! Also powdered milk handy to have when milk is off/run out. Hand washing powder. Our washing machines were expensive, useless & always busy. Always handy to be able to wash undies in the sink to save a trip to the machines.

She's a dancer so we have to pack the calories in. Pasta, rice pudding, custard (often custard on cereal) are all staples I'm afraid!

Great ideas tho'

Custard is the last thing recommended as a dancer surely? Full sugar! You want full fat. Ie full fat Greek yogurt/ avocado/ cheese

Btw bionia rye bread has a long shelf life unopened ( think 8 ish months). So can't buy now but could in sept and would last a while to eat with toppings at weekends etc

Watching with interest as my oldest dd is about to move to her own place some time in next few weeks