Back-to-school can get crazy with school issued lists and frugal bulk buys that suck the personalization out of your shopping. I’ve found that even at young ages my kids have definite preferences for having a say in certain aspects of their back-to-school purchases: design, color, etc. Here are some thoughts for helping your children let their personalities shine.
Label it – Kids Love Their Names
We tend to use Mabel’s Labels for our school items, even though we homeschool. What I’ve found is that it is a lot easier to get my kids to accept some personal responsibility for their individual school supplies when those supplies are individual. And clearly labeled.
Gelarti reusable stickers allow my daughter to create her own stickers that she actually uses to decorate her school supply station. We used both the Gelarti paint that came with the kit, but also these brush-tip sharpie markers.
Wear It – Make Backpacks Cool Again!
Some great ways to make backpacks cool are to look beyond the simple and basic. If your school requires the see-through backpacks you can personalize with Mabel’s Labels dog-tags and with Gelarti stickers.
Gutzy gear also has cool tradeable patches that kids can wear on their backpacks and there are lots of designs to choose from.
I also absolutely love this backpack from TerraCycle which is made of recycled Capri Sun juice packs. This is an awesome way for kids to be more eco-friendly.
For younger kids you have to check out the SuperME backpacks that come with not only a superhero cape built into the backpack but a mask as well. Choose your own color scheme and velcro patch as a badge. 
Save It – School Supplies With a Cause
TerraCycle I had heard about for their green cleaning products. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found out about their amazing school supplies made completely of recycled items. Not only that, but students, teachers, or groups can coordinate a Brigade and collect the desired trash items to turn in for credit. TerraCycle will send you free shipping packages, labels, and how-tos to help you know what to collect, and when you send in a box of the appropriate items your school or non-profit will earn 2 cents per item!
The other company I found some amazing green school supplies at is Green Apple Supply. They have fair trade, biodegradable, and eco-friendly items for back-to-school and offices. I absolutely fell in love with the pencils they sent me to review, but on a more practical note are their biodegradable plastic pocket-folders which won’t clutter landfills for a thousand years or more.
Work It – Creating a Homework Station
I love creating a personalized homework station for each child. Even though we homeschool I give each child their own school supply box with the needed school supplies. Everything is labeled with their name and the box gets to be decorated. It makes school time (and clean up!) so much easier and a lot more fun for the kids when it comes time to sit down to work.
Encourage It – Bug ‘Em With Love
I love the Hallmark Bug ‘Em bugs…they hold pencils, candy or other items in their little hands (feet?) and the back unzips into a tiny pouch for encouragement notes and other fun little items. So cool and such an awesome idea for touching base with your kids on a regular basis.
Many of these items I’ve either purchased or were sent for review purposes. Affiliate links may be used.
Those pencils are fantastic! We are ramping up Kindergarten soon and could probably stand to get a few things to make it special since we are doing it at home. Great stuff.
They are very cool pencils – and they have mechnical pencils made with bamboo instead of plastic…very cool. My kids are bonkers over Mabel’s Labels too.
great piece ang, you’re so natural on camera 🙂
Thanks April! It was fun to turn a blog post into a morning news segment.
I have some extra name stickers with my son’s name on them. He would love to label this supplies.
I’m telling you…kids LOVE to have their names on things. It gives them such a sense of ownership over their school supplies and backpacks and things.
Love the pencils!
The homework station is a great idea! I never thought of giving them their own set of supplies for at home.There is always an issue over who left things out. Problem solved! Thanks!
Love your ideas – back to school is one of my favorite times of the year!! I set up a homework cart in my dining room that serves as our homework station.
Hillary
I love the idea of the homework cart! 🙂
You did great, Angela! BTW, love those pencils.
This is such great info and I so LOVE those pencils! 🙂