Parents of the HS Class of 2019 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
18241

If anyone needs to fit a lot of stuff in the car for college drop-off, I had a good experience with some Wal-mart items. I drove D17 from Ga to NY two years ago and we fit everything in my fairly small Rav4. For me, since I was doing it myself and I knew I would be tired and stressed once we arrived, I did not want to buy much once we got there. I didn’t want to have to trudge all over town looking for things that might have been picked over and not what we wanted (I do like the idea of ordering ahead of time though). Of course I did a Target trip the night after move in for a few extra things, but most of the things were packed tightly in the car. I got a pretty inexpensive soft but waterproof rooftop carrier and all the bedding, towels, pillows etc. fit in there. I also got a couple of those extra large plastic bags that could be vacuum sealed and that made packing the bedding and towels much easier. We did the trick with the hanging clothes and stacked them and put in sections in trash bags.

FYI, I ended up returning the bed risers I bought because the beds had a lofting mechanism already. Also, both kids’ schools have beds that don’t require XL sheets.

18242

Hi everyone!

Congrats to all the grads, travelers and merrymakers! It’s been a whirlwind of two weeks since I was last browsing here. In between that time, we had senior awards night (where D happily picked up a few!), senior banquet, senior class trip (to an amusement park), graduation rehearsal, our graduation party (where about 80 people stopped by–including some of D’s very favorite teachers!), and, finally graduation (on 6/9).

That was quite busy and somewhat stressful, and so we all had been very much looking forward to D’s graduation trip to relax and enjoy some family time. The trip, scheduled from June 11 (two days after graduation) to June 16, was to be in Punta Cana (as both kids love it there and D would be old enough to do discos, etc).

You see where this is going, right? :neutral:

We began to hear all sorts of concerning reports about the Dominican Republic, and specifically, Punta Cana, the week leading up to D’s graduation. I closely followed news reports and was relieved to not hear anything problematic about our resort, which was American owed and hopefully safer. Of course 12 hours before our flight, the reports surfaced about the Hard Rock (our resort). I panicked and debated cancelling. In the end, we went, had a good time, but were very cautious and did not relax as much as we had planned. While I love the DR, and have been 5 times now, clearly there are some issues. Ones that I hope are solved.

Anyway, we are now onto assembling dorm mountain! And D is in the midst of writing a ton of thank you cards.

Good luck to all those yet to graduate! Take lots and lots of pictures! I regret not taking more :blush:

18243

I highly recommend vacuum bags for moving. It really shrinks bedding and mattress pads into a manageable size.

18244

I bought a pair of Bean boots when I started my field work back in 1995, and replaced them every couple of years for free, since LL Bean had a lifetime guarantee. So while the price was somewhat high for a pair of boots, it was an extremely good bargain for three pairs of boots. I don’t know whether they still have the lifetime guarantee though.

I think that my D will be getting LL Bean boots rather than Timberland, but we’ll see. Because I work in a outdoors field I also have an REI membership, so we’ll see what they have there. I’m following the recommendations of the more experienced parents here for other stuff that D will need for dorms and for Vermont weather.

The school year begins September 1st, so we have not yet started assembling the dorm mountain. D also needs to finish clearing 6 years of accumulated mess in and around her room. She has gone through some major changes in style and in gender identification in those years, so she has a massive amount of clothes she needs to sort through.

18245

@MWolf all of this talk about dorm mountain seems early to me too. Either that or I’m behind in my planning. S19 doesn’t move into his dorm until 8/27 so that’s still eight weeks away. Maybe places start running out of dorm type needs in July? I guess I should at least get a basic list and start deciding what to buy and ship, what to bring on the flight, and what to buy when we get to Maine.

18246

@Mwfan1921 Check out therealreal.com if she’s really attached to a super-expensive parka. I got a Postcard parka (same price point as Montcler and Canada Goose) for $300- (for me, not my D19). Make sure it’s marked “excellent” or “with tags” as condition. Looks like new. They might have Montcler. (Edited to reflect that mine actually is not a Montcler, all styles of which look puffy).

18247

@Vineyarder Congrats on your move back to the States! And the Boston area if I am remembering correctly. Switzerland was our great vacation back in March when we visited our S16 at University of St. Gallen. What a beautiful country.

Regarding LL Bean boots: both my kids have them and love them. They don’t really wear them for every day use but they do come out on rainy, muddy, & snowy days. My son is 21 and my daughter is 18. These boots are very much “in”. Of course we do live in New England so there’s that ?. My son also has many items from REI (he is an avid backpacker & hiker). My daughter has Merrills she wears in bad weather too. As far as Canadian Goose coats, it is absolutely ridiculous how many of these coats we see on kids at Bentley. And they all are identical black coats. Boring. My kids both have Patagonias.

18248

@Stuffedquahog Thanks! Yes, moving to the Boston area – good memory.

I’ve had a pair of Bean boots for several years and love them. They’re probably in such good shape because I haven’t needed to wear them much in the past six years, in London and Geneva. Neither place gets very cold or snowy. They’ll get more of a workout in Boston!

D19 has a Woolrich coat that she got when she couldn’t find a Canada Goose in her size the day we were shopping. Warm and looks good, though it’s that unexciting black.

18249

Another feel good story, courtesy of my D19.

At my D’s HS, GCs each get to nominate students for Posse based on leadership, and, of those nominated by the GCs, who is interested, 10 kids are selected, based on their stats, and are nominated by the HS for the scholarship.

However, aside from nominations by public schools and civic organizations, one of the benefits of being a Posse Scholar or alumnus is that you can also nominate two scholars every year.

There is a girl who was in my D’s HS dance company, who is a rising senior, who is also very active otherwise in social action organizations, etc. My D texted her and asked whether she knew about the Posse program. The girl responded that she had been sad all day, because, while she was nominated by her GC, she wasn’t selected as one of the 10 nominated by the school. My D texted back, asking for her info. About 1/2 an hour later, my D texted her that she actually had been nominated for the scholarship, but by my D. The girl was extremely happy, and had her day turned totally around. She still has to go through the entire selection process, which is pretty rigorous, but she’s now in the running.

The other person who my D wanted to nominate thanked her but turned it down, since they did were not interested in attending any of the colleges that partner with Chicago Posse, so my D asked around among the leaders and active members of the different organizations. One person was recommended by every one of the people my D spoke to, and she received the second nomination out of the blue.

So last week there were two very pleasantly surprised kids, thanks to my D. As she said - “the scholarship has already helped me make the world a little better”.

18250

Ahh, the dorm mountain! My D started hers as soon as she committed to her school! She’s actually almost done, since the bigger stuff we’ll get in CA after we fly out (and once we make sure she really needs it). My other D, who just finished her freshman year, also has her dorm mountain next to her sister’s, all washed/clean and ready for the next go around!

As to winter boots, we’ve basically tried 'em all at this point. For much of the winter, Bean Boots do just fine. But when it gets REALLY cold and snowy, we now swear by Sorel. Learned the hard way–we went to Quebec City for New Year’s two years ago, that lovely week of winter where it was ridiculously, record-breaking cold in the Northeast. No joke, it was dropping down to -13 F there in Quebec City and slush was everywhere. That was the week my youngest daughter’s waterproof Columbia snow boots decided to stop being waterproof, as we were walking around the city in frigid temps. Her feet were immediately soaked, and in sub-zero temps. She was in tears by the time we trudged into a Canadian boot store, asked for a recommendation, and bought her a pair of Sorels. Turned out to be the best snow boots EVER, and we’ve all gotten matching pairs since (when they were on sale at Zappos!). HIGHLY recommend for those of you with kids heading up to places like Vermont/NH/Maine! (that same trip, we ate ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s in Burlington VT in -5 temps!).

My D is SO excited to be headed off to So. California and leaving those snow boots behind, LOL!

18251

For those of you talking about dorm mountain but have kids that need to fly to school, what exactly is your plan? Are you shipping all this stuff, packing it in suitcases, or something else?

The only thing we’ve come up with is having our entire list ready, pre-ordering stuff for local pick up in the college city, and arriving a few days before move in to do all of the shopping there. No need for worry about bringing stuff home the following May, because the school stores the stuff for the kids over the summer. (I know, we are so lucky!!)

So what exactly is your plan of action? I see stuff around (at home or in store) and think it’s perfect for the dorm, but I have no desire to figure out how to lug it there.

Also, D is a clothing, accessory, makeup, and jewelry junky … still wondering how she’s planning on packing all of that in her suitcases for the plane!

18252

We are thinking about this too @SunnyFlorida22 I am concerned if we wait to order some things online so that they arrive at school (direct ship) when allowed, that some things will be out of stock, like the Costco mattress topper that everyone loves.

For now, when flying there DH, D19, and I will each check two bags and take a carry-on. So that should fit her clothes, shoes, etc. We may ship some stuff from home, for example the mattress topper if I execute on that earlier rather than later. The rest I will ship from Amazon or BBB directly to the school. We can also buy some stuff locally at Target, BBB, etc.

Would like to hear others’ strategies too!

18253

Hi, do you mind sharing which Costco mattress topper is a favorite for students?

18254

This one:
https://www.costco.com/Novaform-ComfortLuxe-Gel-Memory-Foam-Mattress-Topper.product.100115178.html

There are several threads on dorm room must haves, including this one: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/2083695-dorm-room-extras-that-made-life-more-comfortable.html#latest

We are trying to keep is simple though, which is more difficult to accomplish with a daughter!

18255

@Mwfan1921 That thread on the must haves is fun reading. Not sure how my son survived the first two years of college without all that stuff. I actually laughed out loud about “non-wrinkle” sheets. Seriously…who cares weather sheets wrinkle? I just wanted them to actually get washed every once in a while!

And remember…kids are supposed to experience some discomfort in college and get out of their comfort zone. :slight_smile:

18256

Evidently D19 doesn’t because she asked for silk sheets, the most wrinkly of all! ? Not to mention they are the hardest to clean, not durable and really expensive. That request, along with the one for the Moncler coat up thread, have provided for some interesting exchanges this week ?

18257

@sunnyflorida This is the first I’ve heard of free summer storage. My recollection is our girls have a common destination.

She’s done campus summer programs and this mattress topper thing has never been an issue.The plan was to let her decide if she needed one and online order it then. Hmmn, looking at the Costco topper.

She is less of a clothes horse, and more of a “stuff” horse. I figure between Southwest and 3 adults, we’d get it done. Then parent’s weekend is 6 weeks later. We only arrive at 9am the morning before fall move-in. Assumed that would be enough time to do any pickups and probably a Home Goods and Home Depot run.

On the frugal note, I’ve started collecting Command Strips with my Joann’s coupons.

18258

@Mwfan1921 Oh boy! Fortunately my boys don’t care about these things for the most part…though admittedly every once in a while they will fixate on a brand for a certain item…Patagonia fleece for my oldest and a certain laptop for my youngest. My oldest learned quickly about dorm washers and dryers…essentially how they like to destroy clothes. :slight_smile:

18259

@Mwfan1921 we have the same plan. Two bags each checked on the way there. Try to send stuff to the dorm in August. Pick up last minute stuff - school supplies, toiletries, etc and anything we figure out we need that we didn’t think of - while in Maine. S19 is being ridiculous. Said he doesn’t need shower caddy. He’ll just bring a bar of soap back and forth to the shower! lol. And no robe. He’ll just roll up his clothes and bring them to the bathroom to change. He’s clueless. We didn’t rent an SUV. At this point, I really don’t think we will need one since are planning on buying things through amazon and just having them sent. We’ve never done this before. I hope I’m not missing something. I do think this will require some organization and a list that checks off where everything is coming from. And I hope we don’t run into any issues with shipments. I’d really like his room to get mostly set up when we are there!

18260

@sunnyflorida
There’s an ikea bag that people recommend. It’s cheap, lightweight, folds up small and can hold up to being checked baggage. I’m planning to get some of these for the stuff we’ll bring from home. We can each check 2 bags plus carryons (x3 of us). We’re lucky southwest flies direct and allows 2 free checked bags.

We’re arriving the day before move-in and will have some things shipped to store at target or bbb. Sheets and towels I want to wash before we go, so we’ll bring those with us. But bulkier items, like a plastic storage unit, a fan or even the mattress topper, we’ll ship to store and pick up there. And we’ll ship Amazon prime if she gets there and realizes she’s missing something.

For clothes (she’s a clothes hound), I’ve told her that she should take a summer/fall capsule wardrobe and then I can ship her colder weather clothes later. Also told her the secret to doing laundry less often…have lots of underwear. :smiley:

The ikea bag…
https://m2.ikea.com/us/en/p/frakta-storage-bag-for-cart-blue-90149148/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4Oax4MX24gIVElqGCh0pkggCEAQYASABEgKqsfD_BwE