Monday, 3 September 2012

Who knew school uniform could be so exciting?

It does not say a lot for our summer that my kids can not wait to go back to school.  Or is it the other way and we have done so many wonderful things that they have now just overdosed and need some routine and discipline back?  I think actually truth be told they just miss their mates.  There is only so long that adults can keep kids truly entertained, I have never been the best at make believe play!

When we returned from holiday last week I told the kids that we had some school uniform from Tesco waiting at the post office for them.  They all insisted that they come with me to collect it and then there was a frenzy as they opened the boxes and delighted in their finds!  I do love it that they are so happy to please sometimes.



We were lucky to find an abundance of clothes in the boxes. Tesco have kitted my kids out top to toe and considering the best school trousers JJ has ever had were from the Tesco Signature range a couple of years ago I was very pleased.

Over the last few years I have had to buy a lot of uniform and some of it has come from Tesco's and I have always been pleased and found their uniform to wear and wash up well. The prices are very good value, especially for white polo shirts which we get through a ton of.  There is no point in me paying £6 a top for logo ones when JJ stains them every week!  You can even buy a basic cotton polo shirt for just 75p but I prefer to follow the ethical route and buy the fairtrade cotton 2 pack for £4.00 which is a good £2.00 cheaper than the equivalent at M&S.  However I have to say that I do find Tesco clothes to come up on the small side, which is not a problem as I know that, so I just buy them bigger.

Just look how smart my bunch look, the girls were bowled over with their long wool blend coats with big chunky flower buttons - very gorgeous but to be honest a bit impractical for two 5 year olds who are not very good at buttons and certainly do not have enough care yet to have dry clean only coats, so I think I'll be exchanging those at our local store for some practical hooded winter coats.

JJ loves the trendy 'jean' styling on the trousers he received and his winter coat is gorgeous, it looks really warm and stylish and retails for just £14 in his size, an absolute bargain I feel.


Another great benefit of buying your uniform at Tesco is that you will receive Clubcard points and you know how much I love to receive those and change them for quadruple value and get great days out deals. But equally you can change your vouchers for double value right now to be used on school uniform.  You can shop directly in the store or make it easy and order online and it is delivered for free to your local store.  Orders of £50 or over can also be delivered free to your home too.

Tesco carry school uniform the full year round as well which is very useful.  I have even found before that when it was not on the shop floor in my local one that when I asked one of the staff were happy to go upstairs and fetch me some uniform they had in stock.

I like the fact that Tesco listened to customer feedback and have made some changes to this years back to school range. They say they have made 5 steps to a better quality uniform -
  1. Teflon fabric protector has been added to all the best selling trousers, skirts and dresses.
  2. There are now adjustable waists in all sizes.
  3. They have changed how they seem their clothes, so they last longer.  They now use a french seam if that means anything to you (nothing to me!).
  4. They are now easier to iron (that is a feature I am very happy to hear about)
  5. All polo shirts and knitwear are now 100% cotton.
All in all I am really pleased with me what we have received, the range of styles are good, the prices excellent and the feels just as I would expect.  I can send my kids to school looking smart next week.  Thank you Tesco.


Disclosure:  We received this Tesco school uniform free of charge for the purpose of this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.