If your kids wear a Uniform to school

[pklein09]

DS13 has attended the American Boychoir School for the past 4 years (he graduates in June). Because they sing, the boys are required to have 3 different uniforms: regular, travel, and dress. I did not know there was a used uniform sale through the school and bought everything new through Flynn & O'Hara - I dropped about $1000 that day. We had to buy 9 polos, 8 pairs of slacks, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 oxfords, 2 sweater vests, 2 long sleeved sweaters, 1 fleece jacket, 1 fleece vest, and 2 ties through the F&O'H. Navy blue turtlenecks, belts, socks, and shoes could come from anywhere. The quality of the clothes is fantastic. He hasn't grown much, and the polos I bought 4 years ago still fit and still look great. The fleeces and sweaters also have worn beautifully. The only thing I've needed to replace have been his pants....he's gone from a 10S to a 14S. Some pants I've purchased new and some I've been able to get through the used clothing store.

Personally, I wish public schools in our area would do uniforms....it's so much easier!

 

[java]

Personally, I wish public schools in our area would do uniforms....it's so much easier!

I don't because clearly it's not cheaper. Add on "casual weekend " clothing and you have to take out a loan!

 

[pklein09]

I don't because clearly it's not cheaper. Add on "casual weekend " clothing and you have to take out a loan!

I think if you are required to purchase uniforms from a specific retailer, then, yes, it could be more expensive. However, if the uniform is khaki pants and a navy polo that can be purchased anywhere, you have the ability to shop sales and less expensive retailers. Because the kids are wearing uniforms during the week, you don't need a huge amount of casual clothes...maybe 5 changes of clothing max....and because they're not being worn as much, they last longer. Just my opinion after having 1 child wear uniforms for 4 years and 3 children who did not.

 

[irish_trip_mom]

My kids are third graders. I've been lucky and had neighbors pass down jumpers to my daughter, but this year had to buy her two at approx. $40 each. That, 4 blouses and her PE uniform.

My son can wear any blue pants, and we are lucky to take advantage of the uniform exchange for his pants ($1 each or trade a pair in.) PE uniform as well, and shorts for the warm weather uniform. We save a bit on the kids PE uniforms and his polos, as my neighbor has an imprinting/embroidery business, and will do shirts for about $5 less than the uniform store.

I would rather pay for a uniform any day. We don't have nearly as many casual clothes b/c of that (and arguments on what to wear are limited to weekends.) Except for the polo shirts, everything wears well. My son has been wearing the same sweater for three years, and it still looks great.

 

[poohfriend77]

When my oldest DD started kindergarten, DH was very upset that we were "required" to buy all uniform pieces from the Catholic bookstore. The jumpers were $36 (up to $42 this year! ) and of course you can't get those anywhere else. Cardigans were $30, leggings were $20, polos were $20. I asked around, and luckily the school is not that picky about the leggins and polos. So I've been able to get leggings at Target for $5 and shirts at Old Navy for $6-8.

I bought 3 jumpers and the cardigan for kindergarten. Luckily they hold up really well and can be passed down to my younger DD, who is now in kindy.

Then last summer, we accidentally found the jumper on the Dickies web site when DH was ordering a work coat. We ordered one for about $25 to see if it really was the same. It is EXACTLY the same! So we ordered a couple more for them to start the school year. Then Dickies put them on clearance, and DH had a coupon code to make them $9!!! I now have a closet full of uniforms to last the next several years (a few of each size for older DD, plus at least one new one to supplement the hand-me-downs younger DD will wear). We saved money, and DH gets to feel like a rebel because he found a way around the "uniform monopoly."

 

[PixiePlanner]

DH gets to feel like a rebel because he found a way around the "uniform monopoly."

Too funny!

DS is in a new school here. The uniform is VERY strict. School Jacket, a white or light blue oxford shirt, a tie, belt, dress pants (khaki, navy or black) and brown or black shoes. The girls wear cross ties and can wear skirts too.

The only things I have to buy at the uniform store is the jacket and tie. I bought a pair of pants from them and then took them back because Old Navy had them for $10.

I think I have spent about $175 total for him. We were pleased with that.

Good luck.

 

[carone0318]

My dd attends a catholic HS. There is only 1 supplier to buy the uniform from. The shoes can be bought at a couple of other places besides the uniform retailer. They wear a button down blouse, either short or long sleeve, that has the school initials on the collar. In the winter they do wear a blazer. They have a plaid skirt that they wear, year-round. In the winter the girls wear black tights and at the beginning of the school year and the end they can wear white ankle socks that also have the school initials on them.

I bought 3 skirts, 3 short sleeve shirts, the blazer, the shoes (from a different retailer because the uniform company didn't have her size) and 5 pairs of the ankle socks. I also bought 5 pairs of tights around end of October. I do wash every Wednesday to get her through the second half of the week.

Now for her sophomore year, I'll probably buy a few more shirts and skirts, maybe making it so I don't "have" to do wash every Wednesday.

I think in the end it was under $400 for everything.

 

[2disneyboys]

my boys attend a small private school, and yes we have to buy from 1 retailer. my thoughts are
1.. I knew this BEFORE I enrolled him so can't really compain
2... I love the way the clothes wear..they are so durable, that I have been able to save my oldest son's clothes and my youngest son fits them either a year or two later, and they still look great.
3. I also love not having to fight about what am I wearing today... although I suspect that would not be such a big fight w/ boys as it might with girls...

each year I spend about $750-1000 on school clothes for the boys total. (all the way from shoes/socks to jackets and in another $500-750 for "casual" clothes for weekends, vacations, summer, etc and I think that getting by with spending around $2,000 a year on 2 boys clothing is pretty good. I can live with that number! also its not like I spend this all at once and it's built into our budget so actually, it's painless.

I know in 2 years my oldest son will have to start wearing more "formal" wear (the Jr High kids and up have to wear blazers etc) so I'll have to increase our clothing budget some, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

1.. I knew this BEFORE I enrolled him so can't really compain

That is exactly right.

Our provider for uniforms is Sue Mills and their policy is that if the piece wears out during the school year for which it was purchased, they will replace it.

They never told me that, but the school employee who oversees the uniform told me that, and turns out it is true!

Our parents' club also does a uniform resale. Parents bring the outgrown uniform pieces. Volunteers periodically get together and go through them, throwing out ones that are not suitable for resale (torn, badly stained etc). Then all pieces are sold for $5 each. The school is very cooperative with this--there is space in an office designated for holding the uniforms and parents can go there any time, get what they need, and leave a check in the envelope.

In my getting close to 3 years at this school, I probably have spent $250 or less on uniforms (in total). I've only had to buy brand-new pieces a couple of times.

 

[ccgirl]

Not sure what year she is in but I know the first year my DD started I purchased everything from the list. She only really needed a fraction of it.

Her clothes are nowhere near what you paid.

Her jumper (plaids) has to be purchased from the authorized retailer (as does anything else with the logo). I think it is around $40. She has two of them. They last her two years. She has one cardigan. She loses it, too bad so sad go chilly and learn to be more responsible. I only order uniforms ONCE. Bad mommy.

I get her knee socks where ever they are the cheapest. They just have to be navy. She will not wear tights. I can get the yellow Peter pan oxford blouse anywhere I want. I found it online 2 years ago for $2 and got 3 different sizes. She will only wear the short sleeve so I don't bother getting the long sleeve. They have gym twice a week. She has two pairs of sweatpants, 1 pair of shorts, 2 t shirts, and 1 sweatshirt for that.

This is her 3rd year and I have never had to buy all the pieces. I can get at least 2 years out of them. She is working on her 3rd year with the tshirts.

Shoes just have to be black with non skid soles. Usually I get them at Target for $8 when they go on sale. Gym days they were sneakers.

The most I have ever had to pay was $150. They have a consignment locker that I usually go to.

All of the gym clothes I am keeping for when my son goes there. The boys have the same gym uniform. Their uniforms are CHEAP..navy pants (from anywhere), black belt, black shows, yellow polo from authorized supplier. That's it. They can wear navy shorts as well.

 

[Madeleinesmommy]

My daughter 3rd grade has to wear uniforms. All of our public schools in our city are uniform schools. She can wear blue or khaki pants/skirts. I get them from Children's Place or Old Navy. I always get a size bigger and suck in the elastic part on the inside waist band so that I can get maybe a year and 1/2 out of them. I buy leggings to go under them during the cold weather. She can wear any colored polo shirt. I get them from cheapestees.com. I paid about $5 a shirt. I was a bit skeptical as to how they would hold up but they have been fantastic. We have gone almost the whole year and they still look great. They have tons of colors to choose from. Makes it easy. Not too, too pricey.
Hope it helps.

 

[labdogs42]

My DS goes to a Catholic school for kindergarten. We are supposed to buy all of our uniforms from Flynn & O'Hara uniforms. I can see having to get the logo shirts there, but I wish I could buy the pants and walking shorts elsewhere! The only propblem is, the "official" pants have the Flynn & OHara logo on the back pocket, so you can tell if they don't have the right brand of pants. I don't want my kid to get a dress code violation because I bought him the wrong pants! He's switching to public school next year, and I'll miss the unofirms, but I won't miss the price of them! One pair of shorts is $25 at this place! For 6 year old! Crazy.

 

[thebeesknees]

My kids have to wear khaki uniform pants or shorts (any supplier), an embroidered white or navy polo shirt or turtleneck, belt, knee-high socks, and DD needs the required plaid skirt for formal uniform days. I started out by getting each child 5 short sleeve shirts and 2 long-sleeve ones, thinking they could just wear a sweater in the winter, but as young as they are, the sweater would come home dirty every day, so I finally went ahead and got more long-sleeve shirts. Now they have 5 short and 5 long-sleeve shirts each, so I don't have to do laundry midweek. DS has 5 pair of khaki pants, DD has 3, and her plaid skirt. All tops, sweaters and jumpers have to be embroidered at $4 each. So for our first year, I think I paid the following:

DS:
5 short sleeve shirts, $5 each + $4 each logo = $45
5 long sleeve shirts, $6 each + $4 each logo = $50
5 pair khaki pants, $9 each = $45
1 uniform vest w/logo(required) = $25
1 sweatshirt w/logo = $11
3 pair khaki shorts, $5 each = $15
Socks, belt & shoes = $30

So about $220 total

DD would be the same, except I got her the required plaid skirt, too, so add another $40 on for that and it comes to $260. This is for 3rd grade DS and 1st grade DD. This was the first year our school has been open, so next year we will have a used uniform sale that I can hopefully snag stuff at. Also, I have tried to pick up pants and skorts throughout the year as I see them on sale. That should help. I think the hard part was having to shell it all out at once. If I'd been able to gather it a bit at a time, it would have been easier on the wallet, but now we are all set and should be able to use some pants/skorts/jumpers next year instead of starting from scratch.

 

[princessmom29]

My first grade DD wears uniforms. I work and we have afterschool activites almost every day, so there is no guarnatee I will get to laundry during the week. I bought 5 full uniforms so I don't have to. She has :
5 Jumpers
5 blouses
5 camis to go under
5 pairs of PE shorts (required under jumper)
5 leggings for cold weather
1 jacket (must have a uniform jacket to wear it inside)
1 pair of shoes (Second pair this year as she has grown 2 shoe sizes)
Grad total- about $250 but so woth it not to have to worry aobut it during the week.

She has gotten about 3 inches taller so she will have to have new jumpers and blouses next year. I bought big, but didn't anticipate this kind of growth spurt!Even with the jumpers let al lthe way down she just makes the length requirment now, and her shirts are getting too short.

 

[Debbie]

Yes, the uniforms are expensive. We have a store to buy from in the city, so that makes it much easier for us. I have 2 daughters that went through uniforms at their Catholic High School.

1. You don't need all of the pieces. 2 Pants, 1 oxford shirt, polo-2 short, 1 long. One DD wore a kilt, one did not. Neither wanted the shorts, (although I encouraged them!) since the school was air conditioned. Christmas bought some extras: rugby shirt, sweater. Oh, and if you DD does want the kilt, don't forget the tights.

2. Look for used uniform pieces. Is there a sale at the school? (should be) Look on kijiji or through your work intranet. (I see some on our Swap shop at school over the course of the year)

3. I love the uniform!

 

[mjacks]

This is the first year that my kids are in private school and I have two that are in elementary. I was livid when I went to buy two pairs of paints and two shirts for each of my kids and the bill came up to $250!! To make matters worse, the school only allows us to buy the uniforms from Buckhead Uniform here in GA, I swear they have to get some type of kickback. I can understand the shirts, but to make us get bottoms and even coats from this store is ridiculous! Polos are $30 with logos added, pants run about $27. Their prices are about 70% inflated and I hate that they do not allow us to shop elsewhere. Add this on top of tuition, aftercare, lunches, and snacks, I would have been better off keeping them in public and hiring a private tutor. I may have rethink this for the next year.

 

[MineMail]

Buy the jumper, skirts/pants and the sweater a little big bigger, so you can get two years out of them.

Keep the shirts and extra sweater in the original packaging - if you don't need it, you can exchange it for a larger size for next year. We had Flynn & O'Hara as well. One year, the sweat pants (which the girls wore daily for winter) were really lower-quality. Someone (not me) took them to the Principal to ask if it was what she expected. The answer was no and everyone exchanged the pants. Typically, the pieces were much higher-level quality than the stuff from the discount clothing places, but on par with what you could buy at JC Penney and Target.

We had a nice little hand-me-down system where outgrown uniforms were passed down to younger girls through a uniform exchange run by the Parents' Association. The school also accepted clothing donations and discreetly passed them on to families that could use them.

Put your last name in EVERYTHING, especially that sweater, so you have a hope of getting it back if she does leave it somewhere.

With three girls in Catholic School, we set out a hamper in the hallway exclusively for them to put in their uniform pieces. Skirts, jumpers and sweaters can be worn more than once without being washed, so they were hung up after school. Shirts and socks went into the hamper and we did that laundry twice a week, so we ordered more pieces.

I miss my kids wearing uniforms for school. It was so much easier than "discussing" why their choices aren't appropriate and arguing about why the suddenly-unfashionable shirt should be worn instead of hearing "I have nothing to wear!"

More importantly, shopping for the right size was so much easier. The uniform store could handle kids that didn't fit standard sizes. (My oldest is very tall and the regular-length skirts just didn't meet the fingertip-length minimum for the nuns.) Going to the store with teenagers to find the "right kind" of skinny jeans is a waste of time.

 

[hambirg]

My kids went to Catholic school. Dennis was our supplier. When my oldest first went to kindergarten I bought her two jumpers, 3 polos, 2 peter pan collar blouses, 3 logo sweatshirts, 3 pairs of pants, one pair of shorts, some knee socks and a few hair ties. That was the last year I bought that much and I'm thinking the last time I bought from Dennis.

!. I learned quickly that they didn't enforce the polos, knee socks or blouses. After that I would buy them at JCPenney if I needed to,

2. There is a uniform swap at the end of every year. In the PTO room there were racks full of jumpers, skirts, pants, shorts, sweatshirts. . .well everything but socks. I would simply take my kids stuff in and pick out the sizes that they would need for the next year. BEST THING EVER!!!

3. You can often find items at the local thrift shops.

4. In a pinch, you can find items on E-bay.

HTH

 

[scootch]

Wow, I hardly spend anything on uniforms. My kids go to a catholic school. Blue or khaki bottom and blue, white or green polo. We also have a uniform exchange, bring in ours that have outgrown and pick up new sizes of used ones for free. Can buy anywhere, get most of mine from JCP and shop clearance, rarely pay more than $8 for a shirt/skort/pants.

 

[NotUrsula]

Wow, I hardly spend anything on uniforms. My kids go to a catholic school. Blue or khaki bottom and blue, white or green polo. We also have a uniform exchange, bring in ours that have outgrown and pick up new sizes of used ones for free. Can buy anywhere, get most of mine from JCP and shop clearance, rarely pay more than $8 for a shirt/skort/pants.

Most of the time regular Parochial schools or public schools that use uniforms are not picky about where you buy the generic pieces as long as they conform to the rules (no visible brand logos, no cargo pockets, etc.). Independent private schools are often much pickier, and outfitting girls tends to cost a lot more than outfitting boys, because of the darned PLAIDS. When you get into items like blazers and ties the cost can skyrocket.

I buy my DS' khakis and plain polos, and plain gym shorts, wherever I want. The only things that I have to go to a special supplier on are his sweatshirts and gym tees. This year he started a new HS, and they use Land's End. With reward dollars, a coupon code and the $.01 monogramming special, his special items cost me $40. (That's two sweatshirts and two gym tees.)

DD, otoh, attends a private Catholic preschool run by a convent order, and the plaids she needs are MUCH more expensive. Their shirts are tees, but they are appliqued tees, and the darn things cost a fortune. For her, two plaid skorts, three tees, and one sweatshirt, all in size 4T, cost me $155. The skorts are $38 each. We do have an exchange, but these being preschoolers there are very few pieces that are still in usable shape after a year.