First-Day-of-School Shirts
Order first-day-of-school shirts and a staff kickoff tee before your district's start date. No minimums, kids and staff ship together.
Unlike a pep rally or a spirit week announced with two weeks' notice, the first day of school sits on the calendar for months before it happens. That's the advantage: there's no reason to be ordering shirts the week before, because you've known the date since spring.
First-day outfits for kids
A Youth Tee ($22.99) or Youth Hoodie ($39.99) with the grade, homeroom, or "First Day of [Grade]!" printed on front turns the first-day photo into something worth keeping. Gildan sizing runs true to size and a little roomy through the body, so if a kid is between sizes, sizing up is usually the safer call. Colors run Navy, Red, Royal, Black, White, Sport Gray, and Forest, with Gold on select garments — match whatever the school already uses.
A kickoff shirt for the staff
Week one is also the only time all year the whole staff is back together before students arrive. A matching Adult Tee ($24.99) for the kickoff meeting, or a polo Polo ($32.99) for anyone stationed at drop-off, puts the team in one look without a separate order or a separate vendor. This is a single kickoff shirt for the start of the year — for the appreciation-week gift later on, see Teacher Appreciation Gifts and Staff Shirts.
Order sometime in summer, done
Because the start date doesn't move, there's no tight countdown to manage — just don't wait until the last week of summer, since that's when everyone else finally orders too. Any point from early summer through a few weeks out gives plenty of room to try a design, ask for tweaks, and get it approved before drop-off. There's no minimum order: one shirt for one kid is a full order, and a whole grade or a whole staff ordering together is just as easy, with youth and adult sizes shipping in a single checkout.
How it works
Describe the design in plain English, or upload the school's logo, then ask for changes until it's right — designing is free, and payment happens once at checkout. Everything is printed to order by US partners and ships with tracking, so nothing sits in a warehouse waiting on a school year that hasn't started yet. Custom prints can't be returned for a size picked wrong, but if a shirt arrives misprinted or defective, send a photo within 14 days and it gets reprinted or refunded.
Design your first-day shirts now →
Need the full rundown on youth and adult size runs for a whole class? See Custom School Shirts and Spirit Wear, or browse the full school spirit wear guide.