Buying school uniforms on a budget?

[crazymomof4]

I guess I'm experiencing "anticipatory grief", grieving the loss before I've actually experienced it and making it bigger than it really will be.
I know one thing.......she will have the cutest darn play clothes that she's ever had! I will have to get my "cute fix" fulfilled with her afterschool and weekend clothing!
The thing is, I've put 3 boys through this elementary school (DS10 will be going into 5th grade this year- he's my last son) and they stopped letting me dress them "cute" at about the middle of 1st grade! After that, it was no fun anymore.........like I said, jeans and tees, everyday! I had just one year (kindergarten) of dressing up DD up for school and ...................well, enough. It's out of my control, I just have to make the best of it when the time comes.
That was the reason for my OP to get ideas to help myself and other make the best of a situation that we are not too keen on.

 

[crazymomof4]

I understand what you are saying, however, what you appear to be inferring is that if one is OK with uniforms, they don't care about their childs appearance, especially if they have DDs.

No, really, what I was saying is that if the clothing thing is not a priority to you, then the school jumping in and regulating it is probably easier to accept. There is a difference. Any inference beyond that is not intended. It's often difficult to express subtle differences in this type of format- w/o facial expressions and inflections in voice. Ya know?

 

[Gillian]

There is a possibility that we may change DD's preK school for september, and I am looking into a private school with uniforms (the ugly plaid ones I mentioned before). DD did not like the idea of wearing a jumper or skort every day! She wants to go with her friends, but not dress like them. I'm sure I could force the uniform on to her, but she's just rip it off as soon as she could, and then she'd have to go to school naked. And since it's a Christian school, they might not like that. So I guess no uniforms for us.

 

[gower525]

Our District is enforcing "standard school attire" this year for the first time. Each school gets to choose 4 colors plus navy and white for shirts. They must be solid colors with collars. Bottoms can be black, khaki, or navy - shorts. pants, skirts - no cargo. It is going to be hard to remember which school can wear which colors! This is craziness. DS will be in first grade and is quite upset that he can't wear jeans or t-shirts anymore. All his pants and shorts are cargo with pockets on the side. I need to find him all new shorts, pants, and a bunch of shirts - if I can just remember what color.

 

[eh24fan]

Our school district can't seem to make a decision on whether they are doing uniforms or not, add to that the fact that they aren't even sure what the "rules" will be...school starts on August 27th. This week I went out to do some school shopping, that Children's Place sale was calling my name. I headed to a few other places too and couldn't find a single polo in my 7 year old's size in the colors they are probably using. Navy blue, light blue, white or gray. The ones I did see were the wrong size AND the wrong price. $14.99 for one shirt for a 7 year old??? Not in the budget thank you. I'm madder than ever about this crap. I could have bought him soooo many nice shirts at the Children's Place sale for $3.99, but didn't bother because chances are pretty good that he won't be able to wear them to school, so why waste the money? Our local Wal-Mart is in the middle of their remodel crap...they had 3 blue polos that were only $4.88, in the wrong size. <Sigh> I haven't been thrilled with the uniform thing from the beginning, now I'm just madder than before. This is going to cost me far more than a normal school shopping because I buy on sale, always. Now I have to buy uniform stuff AND clothes to wear other times. I don't even know if they can wear cargo pants or not. It's ridiculous.

 

[dementia412]

For some reason the hardest size I've dealt with is 7. I find so many 6x which don't come close to fitting my DD7, but 7s are immposible to find.

Has anyone had luck with dying stained white blouses to cover the stains? White shirts are so easy to find, but one wear and they look like garbage. We have a large stack of these which I will not let the kids wear to school again.. if I can't do something with them they will just go in the trash... even their nastiest play clothes look better than stained white shirts!

I can't believe someone said they are allowed red crocks (even the Mary Jane type)! We are allowed black, brown, or dark blue shoes with no decoractions and they must be completly enclosed. No tennis shoes (they must be nice and uncomfortable for walking to school in )

As far as the expresion issue, it's opinion based so we will never all agree.

This makes sense only if that is how you shop... I don't. I would go to a thrift store or yard sale and get say 2 shirts and 2 pants for a total of 8 bucks, but because uniforms are difficult to find I end up buying maybe 1 piece at the thrift store for a couple bucks, but then still have to go buy the other pieces retail. For those who shop retail for everything uniforms are usually cheaper or at least no more expensive, but even then you have to get the non-uniform stuff which still brings the price higher. Last night I found one pair of pants for my DD for school (yeah)... now if she was a 12 I could have bought her a whole new wardrobe!

 

[dementia412]

forgive my spelling in the last post

 

[Nik's Mom]

If any of you have a Mervyns, they have Lee Polo shirts for $5.99 each. That's not too bad. The are pretty sturdy and hold up well.