3 MUST HAVE ITEMS for Back to School!
/Back to school prep can be so stressful! There are so many products available and so much on the market, it can be tough to figure out where to start and what products are the best! I hope these 3 simple tips help you get your kids ready for their first day at school quickly and easily so that you can get back to enjoying your summer.
My oldest son will be going into his second year at school and my youngest is starting pre-k so it’s not the first time (or the last) that I’ll be preparing them for their first big day and lucky for you, if you’re reading this, I can let you in on a few secrets that I’ve learned (mostly through trial and error)!
COLLE À MOI SCHOOL LABELS are a MUST. I’ve tried other brands, and nothing compares (I’ve unfortunately had to find out the hard way that not all brands are the same quality when it comes to school labels)! Colle à Moi labels stay stuck and will outlive most of the school supplies you stick them on! They’re dishwasher safe, self-adhesive, washer and dryer safe and are super easy to apply to just about anything (we use them on markers, crayons, pencil cases, shoes, clothes, backpacks, water bottles and more!).
The fun designs will have your kids begging to help you label everything which is a win for me because it means I have helpers to label school supplies. This year I chose the Dino theme for my youngest, since he’s currently in a T-rex obsessed phase and chose the Cool theme for my oldest! Colle à Moi also makes it easy to figure out how many stickers to order thanks to their School Combo packs! It will give you more than enough labels to cover everything you need, but if for some reason you need more, Colle à Moi always offers free shipping in Canada which I obviously love!
2. A LIGHT AND COMFORTABLE BAG is next on my list of must have items for back to school! Kids will come home with snow pants, lunch boxes, water bottles, rocks that they’ve collected and more so the lighter the bag, the better the chance that it will end up on their back instead of dragged behind them on the floor because it’s too heavy.
My tip is to find a bag that your kids love but that is light weight and can be easily carried. Once you’ve found that bag, don’t forget to label it! Nothing is worse than trying to replace your kid’s favourite bag halfway through the school year when they lose it! We love the Colle à Moi bag tags – they’re a thick durable plastic that can be easily seen in case the bag gets lost and left behind somewhere.
3. DURABLE BENTO BOXES & WATER BOTTLES is the last of my recommendations! I can’t think of any items that get used, thrown, dropped, washed and dried more than my kids’ food containers and water bottles. I generally search for a metal water bottle and have found that they’re much more durable than the plastic ones for my kids so although they can be a bit more expensive, they are worth the investment and with Colle à Moi labels on them, they’ll always find their way home (or to the lost and found) if my kids leave them at school.
For food containers, I always search for ones that close securely because the last thing any of us want is to open our kid’s bag and to find leaking food all over! A must have feature for me is also being dishwasher safe so that I can easily clean them every day. We always label our food containers for school with Colle à Moi labels because they’re dishwasher safe and I was pleasantly surprised when last school year, every single label was still perfectly stuck by the end of the year!
If your containers come apart (like a thermos), don’t forget to label the top and the bottom!
I hope my tips help you feel better prepared for back-to-school prep and guide you in the right direction! You can use my code TOVAH10 to save on your order at Colle à Moi!
If you have any other tips that you think I should add, leave your suggestions in the comments!