How many school uniforms

[Mum2SweetCs]

Subbing.
I bought dd summer uniform at orientation but I got her 2 summer dresses but 1 a size up. Now I regret it as the normal one is already huge. Doh. 300 bucks after and I still get it wrong!

We also need to get shoes (school rec clarks) and the joggers need to be as white as possible.

So many items and thats just summer uniform.

[Astrid]

Our uniforms are dirt cheap, I can get them from Target, Best n Less, etc Which really is not great, as the quality does suffer and I can see DD1 in year 6 getting to smelling in all that poly. I would much rather fork out more for clothing that will last, as I doubt what I have bought will last till DD2, certainly all the polar fleece stuff wont, the bottle green looks greyish after wash or 3.

[Tegam]

I have enough to get through the whole week without washing. Means the uniforms are being worn less which = them lasting longer.

Two hats as one always seems to wonder.

Mine wear joggers. Accent joggers are a few more $$ but have lasted the year out four times now. Where as the cheaper ones are having to be replace one a term or semester.

[RainbowRiver]

My DD has:

4x summer dresses
2x skorts
3x short sleeve shirts
2x jackets
5x jumpers (1 school, 4 Big W plain green)
3x long pants
2x school hat

Library bag I got from Big W, art smock, school emblem bag, black enclosed shoes, million pairs white socks

[megs]

Just a tip on the labels. On your more expensive items (such as jackets) i put the label on both the tag and also on the jacket. At my sons school people have been known to cut off the tag. So I make sure it's in two spots. I don't worry about shirts etc as they don't tend to lose them.



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[Liviam]

Thanks for all the help/tips ladies. We are heading off shopping in the next few days. Wish me luck

[2plus1is3]

Wow, my son's school hasn't even had orientation yet! I think it's end of October :eek:

I'm a newbie school mum as of next year my son starts Prep (Qld) too! I don't wash all that often so I'm planning on getting at least 4 sets, my son is a very small build and clothes always last him 2 years, so hopefully, the uniforms i buy him for prep will still fit year one :-)

[Liviam]

Well I've started Today I got her netball knickers and socks. Still haven't tackled the uniform shop - dreading it I think. DD is horrible to take shopping and even worse to try something on.

[Ginger]

i think im just going to start with buying the summer uniform- also need a separate sports uniform. this is going to cost a packet!

[Gigi]

i saved up for my DD starting school, and i easily went thru $500 (and that is public school, so no blazer, and being able to buy Best n Less/Target/Big w generic pieces e.g polo shirt in school colour. i didn't buy one thing from the school, with the school logo on it (much pricier).

What i learnt in her first year of school:

the shops have a major blitz in mid January, heaps of school stuff available and heaps of sizes, specials e.g pack of two long sleeve polos for $15 at Target

i bought a BIT of winter stuff in January, thinking the winter stuff would all be available later in the year e.g winter, but when it WAS actually winter, i noticed, the stuff in the shops was very limited e.g i could not find bilby's sizes anymore and there were zero of some products. So that taught me, note for 2013, buy heaps of winter stuff IN JANUARY cos that may be my only chance of getting it. Ditto about hats. I should have bought multiple hats back at the Jan sales, cos i couldn 't find them to buy (in the right size) later on in the year.

Labels - when bilby was younger, one year we got asked "what does bilby need for her birthday" and i said "name labels", the cloth ones you sew on. So i sewed them onto her childcare stuff, unpicked them and have now sewn them into her school clothes. So the upside of the cloth labels is that you can unpick and re-sew them to the current clothes, which is saving me money, being able to recycle them. But you have another younger LO, and it is an extra thing to do, iron on ones might be more time efficient for you.

If you can't label everything, prioritise your labelling. Jumpers, jackets, the stuff they put on and off the most, that is the most crucial stuff to label. Little kids take off clothing in the playground and run off to play, there goes the school jacket you just bought! LABEL HATS!!!! and yes, people do cut off labels. The laundry textas are good for marking.

For under school dresses, i bought some school coloured bike shorts, made of cotton, that best n less and target sell. (next to the yoga pants).

i found all cotton school colour socks, 4 for $10 at Cotton on Kids. (the school ones are polyester).

best n less is good for plain cotton singlets and knickers (the ribbed ones have great coverage). all cotton, good quality, price is reasonable, no annoying skinny elastic to dig into legs.

Socks - many kids all have identical looking socks - they all take them off to play in the sandpit - so i got bilby's socks, instead of plain white or plain navy, i got stripey gold/navy ones - easy to work out which socks next to the sandpit are hers.

I bought navy corduroy trousers for my child for winter, she REFUSED to wear them, would only wear the navy yoga pants, so that was my lesson - don't assume your child will wear everything you choose.

It's easy to get behind with the washing, so don't have so few that you HAVE to wash every few days. The good thing with the polo shirts, is that they dry very fast, e.g wash the night before, dry the next morning.

Shoes - first term we had school sandals (first buckles). Second and third term we had closed in shoes that did up with velcro, they died a month shy of term 3 holidays, replaced with lace up sneakers - at this stage bilby was ready and able and motivated to do up laces - that's an individual call, i had no idea WHEN she would have the motor skills to do that, she surprised me by wanting to be independent. Term 4, i'm sure i will have to fork out for new sandals, and HOPE that over the summer holidays, she doesn't grow out of them.

so i skimp on the clothing and buy one pair of supportive school shoes. She's always in the school colours, which is the criteria of the school. She was the only girl NOT in a summer uniform dress, something i can't get at the cheap shops - and i'm finding the "school culture" of 2nd hand uniforms, like a secret society. When i finally work out HOW and WHERE to buy the 2nd hand uniforms, i will buy her a 2nd hand summer uniform dress. I think her school does this by private networking, not on an official basis.

oh, and don't ONLY look in the school clothing part of shops. For e.g our school colours are gold and navy. I found some good stuff in the "normal" girl and boy sections, e.g plain navy jacket in the girls, plain navy trousers and shorts in the boys. School uniforms seem to start at Size 4, and as i had a Size 3 child to outfit, i found the "normal" sections very helpful, because then i could buy the size 3's she needed at the start of Reception.

if your child has hair you intend to put up each day, best n less have bulk school hairties/headbands/clips in the school colours. Price Attack has them too.

School expenses don't stop at uniforms, i saved up the year before she started school and now she is at school, i save up every fortnight, in an Education account, so that i CAN come up with the money when the notes come home for "$30 for school swim lessons" etc, as well as the big outlay in January.

i bought a LITTLE winter stuff Jan 2012, but come Jan 2013, i will take it more seriously, buy multiple hats. And a school cardigan, even in Jan 2012 i could not get Reception size..

Recently, Target was selling off winter school colour skivvies for $1.83, so i bought up her size for next winter. I'm rarely in the shops, so was glad to stumble across that clearance.

i think "pull up" clothing, like elasticised waist shorts, trackypants, yogapants etc, are great for Receptions, toiletting independently at school. My child could not go to the loo in a skirt or dress, without getting naked !!!, back in Term 1 this year LOL. She didn't have the motor skills and co-ordination to manage the clothing AND go to the toilet at the same time. So maybe it was a blessing i coudln't get her a school summer uniform dress.

If your kid can't yet do laces, don't worry, unless it's a private school that stipulates "must wear lace up shoes", you can go down the velcro sandals route or velcro sneakers. I worried about shoes too, then found out the school was quite relaxed about shoes. They need shoes to climb and run in, lots of playground time in Reception, so grippy shoes are important i think, for their safety. (but that is my own opinion, safety first).

buy the stuff, keep receipts and tags on. Try it on your child BEFORE removing tags.

Then you have the whole mindset of lunchbag/lunchbox/drink bottle to get your head around - that sounded so simple, and took me ages to work out ha ha. (to get it all fitting in the school bag).

i need to buy bilby a pair of skorts right now, can only find size 16 skorts at Target now in Sept, i doubt they've restocked since Jan!

[2plus1is3]

Wow Gigi such an awesome informative post! I think I need to find out from my son's school exactly what he'll need for uniform next year so I can keep an eye out for generics (its a public school so hopefully generic stuff is ok)

[nothing2lose]

Gigi, what sort/color is the summer school dress? I might be able to help.

[anney]

Don't stress too much about trying on in the uniform shop. Sizes are fairly standard for the littlies and the ladies in the shop will tell you what size to get. Usually everyone just gets a size 6 so it has a little room to grow. The prep girls always look gorgeous and the dresses are too big but they look fine in grade 1 and will last you to through to grade 3. I find school dresses really good value.

[LoveKnowsNoBounds]

I'm with you on 1st time mum!! I'm incredibly nervous about the whole thing. Can't believe our babies are going to school next year!!!

[LuluHB]

Gigi's comment about hair clips and bands from Best & Less reminds me - if you have a girl who has fine hair then make sure you get the clips that have the little teeth in them (Best & Less's do). I can't tell you how many clips have never come home from school of the normal slide variety, but the "teeth" ones usually make it. And buy them by the bucket load at the start of the year because they disappear too once the school year is under way.

[Liz]

The polo's I bought have a space for their name on a 'patch' sort of thing, so not something you can cut off. Same with the school hat. Just depends on the clothing I guess

We haven't lost a hat or jacket yet that hasn't been returned to lost property. Only thing we've lost is a lid to a sandwich container lol.

Definitely agree with getting winter stuff in January.. Impossible to find even a pair of trackies come autumn/winter!

[Gigi]

Gigi, what sort/color is the summer school dress? I might be able to help.

i might PM you the school's website, cos there are photos of girls wearing the summer dress on the website, i'm not sure how to describe the dress in words, thanks N2L.

[nothing2lose]

No probs