Paulina Gretzky generated fresh online buzz with a stream of social media posts, including photos of herself in a black bikini aboard a yacht beside a black panther statue, drawing reactions from followers and commentators alike.
The 37-year-old, who turns 38 in December, was the focus of the latest edition of OutKick’s «Tuesday Screencaps» column. Writer Joe Kinsey celebrated Gretzky for continuing to post that kind of content, arguing that too many semi-famous women, especially during the #MeToo movement, hit 35 and suddenly acted as if they could no longer be seen that way because it would hurt their credibility. He presented Gretzky as an exception to that trend.
The commentary about Gretzky shared space in the column with a very different kind of story: the money American parents are spending to furnish their children’s dorm rooms ahead of the fall semester. Kinsey asked readers to send in their own numbers, and the responses painted a vivid picture of how costly the moving-in process has become.
One reader, identified only as Kevin, said his wife had spent roughly $800 on their daughter’s dorm room, covering items such as a padded headboard, sheets and a comforter. Kinsey admitted the figure sounded outrageous to him at first, but the emails he received over the next day suggested Kevin’s experience was far from unusual.
A reader named John, who described himself as a CPA, said he was in the middle of buying everything to move his son into a dorm at Boston College. He put the cost of necessities at just under $700, a list that included an iron he expected to go unused. Adding about $250 for cold-weather gear, which his family does not need in Hawaii, pushed the total to roughly $900. His breakdown: bedding at $187, bath and gym items at $231, laundry at $104, miscellaneous supplies at $166 and clothes at $253.
John noted that his wife handled most of the shopping and seemed to be enjoying herself, offering their son choices that were almost always met with «I don’t care, anything is fine.» He added that the family may be getting off easy, since there are companies that specialize in dorm decor with design themes and professional setup.
Brandon, a reader from northwest Houston, described a similar experience as his youngest prepared to head to Oklahoma State University within a week. His wife had been going crazy on the dorm, with enough Amazon boxes arriving to build a life-size fort. Purchases included a closet hanging organizer, a medical kit, a shoe rack, a mattress pad, a clip-on fan and a clip-on light. She even had him calling carpet stores about putting a rug on top of the dorm’s existing carpet.
«He’s about at his wits’ end, but he understands that it isn’t about him; this is all about her making sure he has everything he could possibly need and is comfortable,» Brandon wrote, noting that the family had bonded over running in recent years and that August would be rough.
Other readers chimed in with similar stories. Chris B. in Houston said $800 was not a surprising figure once you added up a mattress pad, sheets, pillows, a comforter, lamps, decorations, possibly a mini fridge and assorted supplies. When Kinsey questioned the need for decorations, another commenter said moving away can be hard and students need to make the room feel like home. A commenter going by Diesel offered a simpler philosophy: dorm rooms should be decorated with finished cases of Busch Light beer.
Kinsey was unconvinced, particularly when it came to decorating sons’ rooms. He recalled the days when a couple of posters from Spencer’s at the mall was enough to call a room decorated.
The broader exchange reflects how much the back-to-campus ritual has changed for American families. Between bedding, storage, lighting and decor, the move-in list now carries a price tag that surprises even parents who have been through it before, and for many readers the spending was less about the items than about helping a child leave home prepared.
