How Many School Uniforms Do I Need?

No need to get it all now (or ANY of it now actually). Pick up enough season appropriate pieces in the correct size at back to school time for you to feel like they have enough to get started. When it starts cooling off, get more pieces.

That way they'll always have clothes that fit, and you won't end up stockpiled with things they end up not wearing. (for example, if they're running the heat inside and wearing coats outside, you might not WANT them in long sleeves at all, but if it's cold in the classrooms, they may need a couple of cardigans to wear in class. You won't know until they're there).

It won't matter that their wearing the same thing every week... the whole point of limited dress-codes/uniforms is to take the attention OFF of clothing.

My daughters' attend Catholic school. I have 5 full outfits to wear. However, you might want to wait until school starts to see what they actually wear. I started with 2 prs of slacks and 4 skorts and my daughter wouldn't wear the pants so I was able to return the pants and get another skort. I do laundry during the weekend and they have enough clothes for the week. It takes a while to get it figured out.

I would keep it much simpler. Find out what they like to wear and get that for now. If their taste change you can pick up a couple options later. My daughter has been in uniforms for 2 years and I find too many options are just that, too many.

She has:
2 blue jumpers (dresses)
2 plaid jumpers
2 white polos
2 blue polos
1 friday shirt (school logo polo)
1 pair of jeans (friday)

I would not buy long sleeve polos, just get a sweater to wear over the short sleeve ones.

Sounds like too much to me, especially with the bottoms. I would also add sometype of sweater, that way they can wear the short sleeves in cooler weather and put on the sweater if needed.

It really depends on how often you do laundry and how dirty they get. If they wear a skirt, chances are as soon as they get home they will change, so the skirt can be worn again without washing.

Start with 5 or 6 tops and 5 bottoms. You can always buy more if needed.

I would up the short sleeve to 7 and skip the long sleeve.
I would up the current preferred 'bottoms' by 1

Nix the long sleeve polos. I did that with my kids the first year, they don't wear them, they won't wear them, totally not cool in the uniform set. :p It makes perfect sense in theory but not in practice. :)

I am not sure of your climate, do you even need a cold weather uniform?

Personally, and this comes from two kids going all the way through private schools with uniforms. Two skirts, two shorts, five short sleeved polos and make sure they have a couple nice pairs of jeans.

Even though my daughter could have worn skirts or shorts she always went with skirts and wore leggings in the winter. The rest just sat in her closet mocking my stupidity for buying them. :(

Oh, you will love this, four years of high school, two kilts (skirts) they were never washed once! The only reason there were two was because she would misplace one from time to time. God I love all girl schools!!

My kids also don't wear long-sleeved polos, but rather plain long-sleeved t-shirts underneath the polos in the winter if they're cold. I wish my kids were allowed to wear jeans, but for our uniforms they're not & we even have certain colored polo shirts that are allowed (maroon, gold, black, white, navy) vs ones that are not (anything else). You didn't mention if your kids are in public or private school, but mine are in public & the rules are pretty stringent in my opinion.

They both wear shorts a lot though & I would think with you being in NM, yours would as well.

P.S. It seems like they're wearing the same thing every week because THEY ARE. That's the point of a uniform, after all, right?

It is way more than enough. Basically I just make sure she has one uniform for each day of the week and one extra. That's worked great for us.

I will tell you one thing I've found. You cannot find uniforms after December. So be sure you have all you're going to need before xmas because after xmas you just can't find them.

Also, be sure to look at what they're made of. Most of the uniform pants I get seem to be made of like 95% cotton so they shrink. Found that out the hard way. Since the first week of kindergarten I've NEVER put the pants in the dryer.

Your plan sounds good but as mentioned, make sure your girls want to wear skirts. One of my girls does not so she is in pants all the time. She doesn't like to show her legs. I would also consider buying an extra pair of pants to keep on the side and wait another month before buying. They might have a growth spurt in the next month or so. I usually start shopping in July when the school buying really starts up. Unfortunately, at least for girls, once school starts it is harder to find the right clothes you need,. My girls wear tan pants and light blue polos or blouses. In December i had a hard time finding them. For my son, no problem. My girls grew an 1 1/2 since school started.

My boys wear uniforms. They have two regular uniform shirts each, two pairs of uniform shorts, one uniform sweater, and one entire sports uniform. They have three pairs of uniform socks each.

I think it is PLENTY. If your girls LIKE wearing skirts. Mine didn't, so we had more shorts. But if you do laundry mid-week, you really won't even need that much.

Part of the idea of "uniforms" is to make things easier. Once you get going with it, the kids get used to wearing "the same stuff" and it isn't a big deal. It's ok to wear the same stuff several times a week. As long as it is clean. lol

Do you know other kids in the class/grade's parents? Ask what they are planning to do. Unless they are buying their kids a huge variety of colors with the shirts, then I wouldn't either. Stick to 2 or 3 colors. That makes washing easier too, b/c you can throw it all in one load! :)

Forget the long polos, the cuffs will get ruined in kindergarten. Sweaters and jackets will keep them warm to and from school.

Make sure you have at least 5 outfits per child to begin the year with if you plan to wash them once a week, but start off slowly at first so you can see what they'll actually wear so you don't pay for unused clothing, my daughter would not wear shorts or skirts at all, just pants or jumpers. Also bear in mind they will grow, so what fits good in September may be small in March or April, so don't buy everything up front, wait and see how sizing is going.

And accessories can add brightness to their outfits, hairbands, barrettes, ponytail holders, socks, jewelry, jackets, sweaters or hoodies, shoes and backpacks with at least one of the 3 colors along with bright ones to coordinate will jazz things up so it doesn't seem as if they're wearing the same things every week..

I would buy as little as possible to start. I bought my daughter shorts that had to be special ordered (size) and all the girls wore skorts so she never wore them. However, I bought 5 shirts, 2 skorts(she wears shorts under) and 1 fleece jacket.