Hahaha!! I mean light switches!..why do I suggest this? Lots of germs all over the dorm rooms…we visited kiddo’s dorm this summer while back on campus for a tournament…the schoool hosts a summer camp and kiddo’s old dorm room was being used as the camp “sick room”.
ewww. wish I had read this before kid moved in for pre season!
Our dorms have xl twin mattress, I had hard time finding reasonable price thick memory foam, so I cut my own king size 3 inch memory foam in half and spray gorilla glued the two half’s on top of each other. With the price I was going to buy a 3-4 inch topper on line, I bought a new king for my own bed from Costco. It made a great topper specially for a hefty boy.
Seat cushion, foldable fabric lawn chairs. over door hanger, vinyl gloves,(for cleaning, if you care), expandable ikea style closet organizer, spare shower mesh bag and shampoo, etc. for after sports, small carpet, if you have vinyl floors, door stopper, (or a rock!) LED floor lamp , (our kid’s room ceiling light is so dim, it’s depressing) dry nuts and dry fruit.
So, I will tell you one of the things LIzardkid thinks led to his first semester success at boarding school. We sent him with the bare necessities not knowing how big his room would be or what his roommate would be bringing. We wanted to wait for him to figure out what he had room for and felt he needed and after a couple of weeks, we’d bring things down or send via Amazon. Turns out, he likes the simple life. Things stay organized, he can clean up in a matter of minutes, he knows where things are, etc. I didn’t even realize that this was his plan until he pointed out to me that most of the problems kids have on his floor with organization simply boil down to “they have too much stuff”.
Last year at this time, we sent kiddo back to NE with a small & efficient light box that simulates sunlight. It is to help with SAD. It was used by many hall-mates during winter term. If your student experiences SAD or, perhaps, has never experienced the short & gloomy days of winter in NE, this may be a good item to send to school.
At SPS, at least when my kids were there, there was a room equipped with “happy lights” the students could visit.
Labeling clothing – yes or no? (and if yes, best place to buy? label daddy? Mabel’s labels?). stick on labels? or just sharpie? or none at all and just cross your fingers?
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@Calliemomofgirls we just took our chances and did not label anything. Thankfully, everything sent out indeed returned to DD, and nothing was lost or damaged.
@Calliemomofgirls Actually, I forgot - we did label her nice winter coat by just sharpie-ing the fabric care label.
Ok last year we sent kiddo with a phone soapbox to sterilize iPhone . Now we have a big UV box for the lap top?.
We are just labeling things (with a sharpie) that could get mixed up and/or are expensive to replace…so her coat/jackets/rainboots/sports equipment/laptop etc.
If you have boys, you may as well throw in the towel now. One of my favorite stories about labeling was posted by @neatoburrito around the time our son was heading off to BS. Worth a chuckle every time:
love that story!!
My DD2, meanwhile, has some labels on her Pinterest board, so this will be happening, apparently.
@ChoatieMom clearly understands the search function better than I - I’m trying to find the story from D’yermaker (I think) about the blazer that was used to stop an overflowing toilet, and therefore never made it home ?. That’s another great one!
Here you go.
Ski beat me to it, but I have D’yer Maker’s story in a file ready for instant posting. That one is my all-time favorite, but it’s not exactly label-related, so I opted for neato’s hilarious post. Next time someone mentions blazers, though, I’m on it! 
Thanks ski for posting!
@ChoatieMom I love the fact that you have files ready for instant posting! The one you posted above from neatoburrito is one I had never seen before - it gave me a good laugh!
Is there anything besides the list the school gives you that is absolutely necessary?
No.
To the extent you can, it’s better to show up with less and acquire as needed. This is true for clothes as well.
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