What a summer it’s been and I’m thrilled that we still have well over a month before Back to School.
It is never to early to start back to school shopping though. You can begin slowly & not have a crazy rush at the end if you do. I love chillin’ with my kids & choosing all the fun things they want for the school year!
I also have a Back to School Pinterest board that is regularly updated for your convenience.
Items in collage above: Plaid Backpack | Room Seven, Easy LunchBoxes Cookbook | Amazon, My Little Village Backpack | Room Seven, Weelicious Lunches Cookbook | Amazon, Back to School Cookies | Etsy, Crunch a Color Cards | Amazon, Easy LunchBoxes | Amazon
Back to School Shopping Tips
- As soon as you get the school supply list try to get things out of the way. Target is great for those items, both the online and real deal stores.
- Get your kids involved no matter what their age. If they help to pick out their lunch boxes, backpacks, shoes, clothes, etc…they will be way more likely to use ’em & wear ’em.
- Be sure to get a lunchbox that has easily washable containers. Have a few handy so you can toss them in the dishwasher. Easy Lunchboxes are great for this as are many selections at Pottery Barn Kids.
- Start collecting during school & after school snacks/pantry items. It’s helpful to have lots of those on hand.
- Purchase cookbooks & food magazines to inspire school lunches.
- Set a budget and try to stick to it. (This is very hard in our house!)
- If you need to order clothes or shoes…order a few sizes and return the ones that don’t fit. Companies like Zappos offer free shipping and returns.
- Try to think ahead as much as possible so favorite items are not sold out.
Think Ahead!
- Print out these freebie LunchBox Love Notes to pack in your kiddos lunchbox. They LOVE to know how much you LOVE them…besides it makes you feel good to pack kisses.
Favorite Online Stores
Because I live in very remote Telluride, Colorado we are gonna do 99% of our back to school shopping online this year. It is relaxing & simple to shop on your own time…you have the freedom of before & after the stores open. You can check out my Amazon store (affiliate links) for excellent lunchbox selections. They are often the best price over there too.
Peek & shop in my Project LunchBox category…quite a few brands in there.
Also check out GREAT snack ideas here…
Clothes & Shoes
Lunchboxes & Backpacks
School Supplies
Snacks
- Amazon You can search for anything, this is the Paleo Snacks link
- Local Grocery Stores
- Nuts.com
- Wholesale Clubs
Share your favorite places to shop in the comments. We can never have enough GREAT resources!
This is so fun! For some reason all my life I have loved back to school shopping! I will have to try and take my little sister so I can get my fix! Great tips!
I love this post, but I am SOOO not ready for school to start, and for my girl it starts way too early this year, Aug. 21. What happened to summer? Thanks for the ideas, I pack her lunch every day and we get into a rut. This is going to dig us out 🙂
This is an awesome post and resource, Marla! Thanks for including such great ideas and links! Hard to believe it is almost that time!!!
It’s just another month..and your ideas are fun and useful. Thanks for the links.
This is fabulous! I don’t have kids, but I will be cooking with kids next month and these are such great ideas for the whole family! Thanks Marla!
Cute post!
Online shopping is key to back to school supply shopping now, I have twins and it’s just easier to have them help me pick out what supplies they really want. I was trying to find the perfect place to find backpacks for my twin boys. I found this great place where they can choose the color of their backpacks and the personalized image on their bag. They loved sitting there with me and choosing everything with me. I just love letting them feel included in everything. Here is the site that I found the backpacks: http://www.kidstravelzone.com/