Back to School Shopping

[k3am]

Has anyone started this yet? Any deals we should be looking at? Any shopping anyone could help you out with?

Our PTA posted on FB last week asking where the school supply list. I feel like if there is any organization at our school who should know where the list is... it's them. List has still not been uncovered.

[k3am]

DD would like a purple backpack with her initial on it. So far, Pottery Barn has come up in all my searches. Expensive. Is the quality worth it? Anywhere else I should be looking?

Her $25 backpack from Target got her through the year. Barely. It was hanging by strings and we trashed it as soon as we got home on the last day.

[186momx]

Our district made a change for this school year and now all K-8 schools have a supply fee of $25 for K-5 and $30 for 6-8. Middle schoolers also have to buy PE uniform and something else but the school sells them at back to school night.

DD has asked me to buy her pencils that are just for her. She was extremely frustrated and grossed out last year always having to use chewed on pencils or ones without an eraser. All pencils were kept in a jar and when they walked in each morning they were to grab a pencil for the day from the communal jar.

[twinmomma]

k3am, Try LL Bean. They last forever. We're still using the same ones from 3 year old daycare class. Finally upgrading this year only because we need the next size up, not because of wear and tear.

We don't have to buy supplies. I might have to pick up a couple pencil boxes or folders or something once school starts but otherwise our school supplies everything. It's so nice.

[mommyatty]

We love backpacks and lunch boxes from Pottery Barn. They last forever. They are cute. DD wanted a Target backpack last year. It barely made it through the year. We are going back to Pottery Barn this year. In fact, they are already personalized and at our house, ready to go.

[ilovelucyvv]

Jul 22, 2019 15:35:46 GMT -5 k3am said:

DD would like a purple backpack with her initial on it. So far, Pottery Barn has come up in all my searches. Expensive. Is the quality worth it? Anywhere else I should be looking?

Her $25 backpack from Target got her through the year. Barely. It was hanging by strings and we trashed it as soon as we got home on the last day.

Justice has some with just one letter but i hear the quality isnt as great. DD got a PBK backpack last year that I plan on reusing

[waverly]

We purchased the supply kits from the PTO using a supply kit company. It was shipped to my house, so now I have 2 huge boxes of supplies. The school post the list on their website. I am sure it has been tried, but that is where I would look. Last year the kit were in handled boxes to make it easier to bring to school. And based on my previous post on the terrible back to school night, what I am thinking is bringing 2 grocery bags of big stuff (paper towel, kleenex stuff, one for each kid, and sending what I can't fit with the kid in their back pack once they start school. Especially with them being a bit older, they can figure out how to put it away or better yet, maybe I address it to the teacher har har- sorry teachers.

I posted last year about clothes shopping and it seems most people don't do a major clothes shopping for school, so I will just keep doing my seasonal shopping as needed.

The kids backpacks are from Land End, and they are both in great shape for next year.

[mellym]

We bought DD's backpack from Lands End and it's still going strong 3 years later. She also uses it for summer camp daily. I think they have a lifetime warranty.

We just got the supply list but I usually wait closer to the start of school or when there are sales at the stores.

[mae0111]

We got our school supply list with the summer homework packet on the last day of school. I already bought the supplies. DD1 needed 2 sets of everything because she starts changing classes this year and they keep a set in each classroom.

I second LL Bean. We had Lands End last year and DD1’s broke by April. I carried the same LL Bean back pack from jr year in high school until I graduated college. Love their stuff.

I need to buy new lunch boxes. Lands end has good ones that can be wiped down but are softer than a hard plastic.

Other than that, my kids wear uniforms. DD1 can still wear some stuff from last year, but I have to buy all new for DD2 because last year was sweats and this year is a plaid jumper. I have their warm weather uniforms all set, which they wear from Labor Day until Columbus Day. So a little time with the plaids.

[186momx]

We have a Lands End bag and it is still decent 5 years later (missing on pocket because a puppy chewed) DD has used it for all day camps this summer. DD used a high sierra bag that my mom got from Costco last year and it also held up really well and she will be using it again this school year.

[k3am]

I need to buy new plaids but I'm holding out for the recycle sale that I'm sure they've already planned but will announce with less than 24 hours notice and hold during work hours. (She says, not bitter at all..)

[waverly]

Jul 22, 2019 16:49:24 GMT -5 k3am said:

I need to buy new plaids but I'm holding out for the recycle sale that I'm sure they've already planned but will announce with less than 24 hours notice and hold during work hours. (She says, not bitter at all..)

This is when you need that SAHM friend prepped and ready to go. Hey friend here’s $60 buy me X in size Y. Thanks!

[traveltheworld]

The Pottery Barn ones do last forever. DS has been using his for 3 years now and it's still completely fine. And he has abused this thing - multiple spills, throwing it around everywhere, etc.

DS's school orders supplies for you - it's expensive, but I just went with it. We need to buy a new lunch box for DS and I'm struggling with that.

[mae0111]

k3am - did you see that lands end is now selling plaids? Doesn’t work for us, but might work for you. They’re a little cheaper and you can use coupons and Rakuten/Ebates.

[k3am]

mae0111 not our plaids. Bummer. I’ve heard their quality is really good.

[sandandsea]

Jul 22, 2019 15:35:46 GMT -5 k3am said:

DD would like a purple backpack with her initial on it. So far, Pottery Barn has come up in all my searches. Expensive. Is the quality worth it? Anywhere else I should be looking?

Her $25 backpack from Target got her through the year. Barely. It was hanging by strings and we trashed it as soon as we got home on the last day.

PB backpacks are great. Ds is rough on them and they last at least one or two school years. They also go on sale quite a bit so look for that.

[sandandsea]

I bought some pencils and glue sticks on prime day. That’s as far as I got. I’m hoping to reuse last years scissors.

[sdlaura]

Our pta supplies everything, luckily.

k3am, DD has a pottery barn backpack that is still in good shape after kindergarten and first grade, plus use all summer for camps. The only sign of wear is that the water bottle pockets on the sides are stretched out. I think she might get a new one for her bday in a few weeks only because the pattern of her current one is rainbow unicorns and I think she wants something a little more grown up for second grade.

[abs]

You can order school supplies through the PTO so I do that every year. I actually like shopping for the pencils and folders and all that but buying the pack means that I don't have to hunt down mythical unicorn music books or crazy sized paper.

Last year DD used a backpack from Justice. It made it through the year but it looked pretty beat up by May. This year she picked out one from Pottery Barn Teen and I am hoping we will get at least two years out of it.

She picked out a bunch of tee shirts the other day at Old Navy so clothes wise she should be in good shape until it gets cooler outside. 3 more weeks! I'm so ready to get back into a routine.

[mae0111]

Lands end has 50% off all backpacks and lunch boxes today. If you go through Rakuten, you get 10% back. FYI!!

[rere]

We don't need many supplies. However, I am out $440 in laptop fees in a public school. Yay.

[mellym]

I checked at home and we have both Lands End and LL Bean and both have held up great. Can't go wrong with either one.

[covergirl82]

We have had great luck with Land's End backpacks. They usually have some good coupon codes this time of year. DS has an Under Armour backpack that is still going strong after 1.5 years, so we're going to have him use it again this school year.

I have done nothing else. We haven't received supply lists yet. Old Navy generally has some good clothing sales in late July/August, so I'll keep an eye out for those, but generally it's still a lot of warm-weather clothes, and we need more long sleeves and long pants for most of the school year, so often I have to wait until September to buy clothes.

[mustardseed2007]

The only school supply we have to buy is our kid's back pack and lunch box. Last year DS had a very heavy binder and I was not prepared for that (he was in 1st grade!). His back pack from target only lasted a few months before it broke. We then ordered a pokemon one on wheels which got us to almost 2 weeks before school was out, when that one broke too. I then gave him a back pack I just had from a triathlon.

So this year we went with a rolling back pack from pottery barn. Expensive? Yes.
But DS was excited about the super heroes and glow in the dark features, and everyone else's pottery barn back packs looked new at the end of the school year.
I'll add that I bought DS' during a recent sale. I think they're often on sale.

For DD, she's in pre k and she'll only have a folder to bring home, so I got her a toy story back pack from the disney store using a gift card we already had. Target had some cute toy story back packs too, and I would have done that if not for the gift card.

[phdmomma]

We are going on year 3 of a lands end backpack, it’s still in great shape after school years and summer camps use. We have lunch boxes from them also, still going strong after 3 years of daily use and washable.

I just ordered all of our school supplies from target, list is on our district website.

[covergirl82]

phdmomma, I'm planning to order a Lands End lunch box for DS today. The one he had last year literally started coming apart at the seams about 2 months into the school year. (Luckily it made it through the whole school year, but I'm going to get a well-made one this year.)

[ilovelucyvv]

I haven't bought any school supplies yet other than a new lunch box. I am way less excited about DD starting 1st than K, probably understandably so. Her school specifies the brand name they want for nearly every single supply. Since they are so specific, I wish having the school buy the supplies for her was an option. Its a lot for her to bring in all of this stuff on the first day anyway and 90% of it will be used communally.

[covergirl82]

ilovelucyvv, my kids' school has some items that are brand-specific and quantity specific too, like wanting a 24-count box of Ticonderoga pre-sharpened #2 pencils.

PSA...I recently learned from another mom at our school that Target (at least in our area) has the supply lists for all the schools in the area (that share them with target). This mom said for last school year, all she had to do was select the school and grade(s), pay, and then pick up the items when they were ready (I think 24-48 hours). I will probably do that this year. I would pay a little extra to have 1-2 hours of my life back.

[mommyatty]

We were at Kroger this week and they had pre-boxed supplies for the public schools by grade and in some cases by teacher.

[k3am]

We got the list. I hate this specific brand specific quantities. And none of the quantities sync up to how stores actually sell them. 4 large glue sticks? They come in packs of 3, 6, or 12.

I wish we had the option to send $$ and have someone buy in bulk. Target would even deliver it all directly to the classroom. Probably better for the environment too.