Daughter Starting Uni?

VickyA_2

2 mugs, 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 spoons, 2 forks, 2 knives. Always very handy when she has friends to come and stay over. Little saucepan. I got all mine from Wilkos when I went to uni the first time. I still use my student cook book even now.

Other vital ingredients: tea bags, coffee (if she drinks them), sugar, bottle opener and corkscrew. I was the only one on my corridor in halls with a corkscrew on the first night, even though alot of people had brought bottles of wine with them!

pin

don't forget PRO PLUS, vital requirement for a university student, especially when a big essay needs to done and during revision time.

crana999

one nice idea is to make your own cookbook for her with all her favourite meals that she might not know how to cook.

juno

One of those things that you plug in and it turns one socket into 4 or 6. You never have enough sockets! I've forgotten the name though

Make sure you send her with enough food for a few days for if she can't get to a shop, and give her a gift card/voucher to spend!

Bogof_Babe

How about getting a second top-up card on her mobile number, so you can put credit on it when you have a spare fiver, and she just might ring back to thank you!

I'm trying to put myself in your position (difficult having never been to Uni nor had any kids) but thinking out of the box, i.e. what she will appreciate rather than what you think she should have... a clock radio/CD player, a sandwich toaster, a bag of easy-cook basics like pasta etc. (as suggested above), a few £5 book tokens (so no need to spend one big one all at once), likewise a bundle of £2 Boots vouchers. A tin-opener .

sleepy

I have to second what JUNO said,an electrical extention thingy with lots of plugs is a must. The average student room only has one or two plug sockets in.
I would suggest saving some of the things you get and sending them to her once a week for the first few weeks. My parents did that and it was so nice to get a lovely parcel. And if you include the odd sweet item she'll make lots of friends. My parents always used to include a coupleof large bags of sweets, my friends cottened on to this quickly and my room was always full of people after a package arrived.

catznine

Lots of good ideas here! I don't have a lot to add as most of it has been covered.

After a fairly chaotic first year, money wise, one thing that we did do at the start of our daughters 2nd year (at her request) was to open a bank account in our name and paid her student loan cheque in plus our monthly contribution - out of this we arranged direct debits to her landlady to pay her rent and also to deposit a regular sum of money into her own account. This meant that she never had to worry about her rent being paid and also that she knew she could rely on a regular sum of money coming into her bank account to cover food, bus fares etc. This also encouraged her to budget (fairly successfully most months) for all her expenses.

As I said earlier we didn't do this until her 2nd year when she was out of halls and into private rented accomodation. Apparently one of friends had this system set up from the 1st year and it worked very well. Don't know what anyone else would think about this but our daughter says it worked very well for her.

hth

pavlovs_dog

a lot of really good ideas here!

i was going to suggest washing powder but lillibet beat me to it.(most parents supplied their kids with the tabs, figuring it was hard enough for their little darlings getting to grips with using the blooming machines in the first place). dont forget a nice big strong bag to get it from room to laundrette (either a holdall, those blue ikea bags, or a lightweight folding laundry bag)

be careful on the candles front - a lot of uni residences have banned them because they pose a fire hazard.

how about things to make her room feel more homely - a nice air freshner, a poster for her walls, a photo collage of the family, a small rug etc

blutack - you can never have enough blutack when at uni (especially as most places wont let you use pins, and you need something to put ya bits on the wall with).

board games or pack of playing cards are great for breaking the ice on the first few nights

nice writing set/notelets so that she can keep in touch with people

if you can track one down, how about a guide to the city she's going to be studying in? they often contain money off offers, and will give the lowdown on all the things to do/places to go in the area when she's not got her head in the book or her liver in the union bar.

packet of condoms. i know you prob dont want to think about your baby girl doing the horizontal, but if she's going to do it, she's going to do it, and im sure you'd rather her be safe and careful than drop out because she's got pregnant.

thats all i can think of at the mo!

Lillibet_2

Just thought, a battery re-charger & some rechargable batteries might be good. I recently bought one (cheapest I could find was Uniross £8.49 plus £3.99 for 4 AA batteries on Amazon) & I am still constantly amazed at the number of things we have using batteries, we must have been spending a fortune in replacements! Now I just have a couple of packs of rechargables on the go, I recokn we've already saved the cost of the re-charger unit. Also a spare light bulb for her bedside/desk lamp if she has them.

crana999

I'd have been pretty embarrassed if my parents bought me condoms! But... depending how well you know your daughter etc, if she's not on contraception or anything at the minute consider arranging for her to see her GP or go to a clinic to sort something out.

It's not that great to be taking something like the pill which obviously has side effects if you don't really need to, but imo it's often a sensible idea.

Bluetack's not allowed in a lot of student residences either!

they do Itchy guides for a lot of major student cities, which are quite student-orientated - http://www.itchycity.co.uk/ - you can buy the books for about £3.

If you're getting bulbs, I'd consider getting higher-wattage/energy-saving ones. I got some free energy saving ones that are equivalent to 100W, and they make such a difference to my room over regular bulbs - they're so much brighter.

Consider gift vouchers/cards to whatever the nearest supermarket to her will be!

If she doesn't have a camera, a cheapy one and some film or a disposable camera would be a nice idea for getting those memories of the first term (and so she can show you her friends' photos when she ocmes home? or maybe just the less offensive ones..)

One of the best things I have got is a set of folding plastic crates - £2 each from B&Q. I have to move in & out every term, which ivolves trekkng all my stuff through an ancient college. The folding boxes are great because they stack on one of those trollies with wheels (my dad has one. very useful) then when I get here they collapse to go under the bed - except for 2 that hold spare cans etc under the bed and one in my wardrobe, which I put my washing in, and also use to take my washing to/from the laundry.

I can recommend https://www.beyondbakedbeans.com and their 2 student cookbooks..

Pack of multivitamins & minerals (superdrug do some good cheap ones)

If you have a family address book, that she can't take with her, an address book pre-filled with relatives etc's addresses.