You have the school supply list, now what?

I always loved back to school shopping because I love office supplies! I am truly that dork.  The best thing about back to school supply shopping has always been that you could stock up for super cheap! Crayons for less than a $1.00 and all kinds of stuff for great deals! 

What about the box the school lets you preorder?

If you don’t want to brave the back to school sections at Walmart or Target, there is also another option to buy the school supply box offered at the school.  It’s a complete set, packaged all together and will be delivered to the school in time for your kids first day.  In most cases this is the most efficient and cost effective way to get supplies for your kids.  It doesn’t matter how cheap those crayons are if the reams of paper, tissues and additional art paper are still expensive and hard to find. If buying the box is still an option, definitely do it!  Another benefit to buying the box is that it won’t hurt so much when all the supplies you picked out get added to the class stock pile and some other kid gets to use all the stuff you picked out with your child’s favorite color or character.

PREPARING LUNCH

Instagram has ruined lunch making for the regular mom!

In the past few years it has become a instagram favorite to post daily lunch boxes of creative designs and food sent in kids lunch boxes.  For those of us without a creative bone in our bodies there is a saving grace! Sometimes the box helps to make it look like we tried! I have shared some great boxes and even some cute accessories that can help level the playing field! 

Water bottles are also a key piece to send with the kids and while you don’t want to send an expensive bottle they might lose, you also don’t want to go cheap and have it break quickly!  These are some of our favorite bottles both because they are robust and because they aren’t as common as some! 

I also highly recommend investing in good personalized stickers for everything your kid takes back and forth! 

TAKE CARE OF THE TEACHERS

When you go to Meet the Teacher, ask for the classroom Amazon Wishlist!

Classrooms can deplete their supplies pretty quickly and a lot of the additional supplies that go to your kids will get paid for directly out of your teachers pocket.  Find out up front what you can do to help support them so they can focus on the kids!