Getting Organized for School

It’s hard to believe we’ve been back to school for a whole month now! The first couple of weeks were rocky but we seem to have found a groove. I wanted to share a few products that have helped us get organized for school. These are things we grab for every day! No affiliate links here, just products we purchased with our own money and use and love. Most of these recommendations are good for Children’s Day Out, preschool, and early elementary school kids.

Name Stamp - Right before my daughter started preschool, Molly from Almost Makes Perfect shared a name stamp that she used for her son’s clothes. I immediately ran to Etsy and purchased two— one for each of my kiddos. We have the small-sized stamps in designs 1 and 5 and I use them to stamp some of our more expensive clothing items and those that are more likely to be left behind like shoes and jackets. Basically, anything fabric that I would be sad if it didn’t return home gets a stamp now.

Name Label Stickers — I use our Mabel’s Label’s Preschool Label Pack for everything. Our lunch boxes, bento boxes, water bottles, shoes, pacifiers, school supplies, jackets, etc. get labeled. Your school will drive it into your mind to LABEL EVERYTHING. It’s like Oprah’s old TV giveaways— you get a label and you get a label and you get a label! So many brands are branching out into the label biz and I’ve scored free sheets from several sites this year.

Pottery Barn Kids Backpack — Our preschool had two rules for backpacks. 1. It had to have their name on the front and 2. It had to be big enough to fit a folder. The Small size Mackenzie style backpack from Pottery Barn checked off the boxes. I waited late in the year to order them but it worked out because I snagged ours on sale. I used their monogram add-on service and the shipping was super fast.

Pottery Barn Kids Lunchbox — We have an older style of the Mackenzie Adaptive Lunchbox from Pottery Barn and the rectangular shape is great for the Bentgo boxes. I don’t think their square styles will fit a standard bento box and I’ve found the square versions less convenient to find. I love the exterior mesh pocket for stowing away a water bottle and we usually slip an ice pack in the interior pocket. It also has a reusable ice pack that velcros into the lunchbox and can be used as a divider section.

Bentgo Kids Style 5-Compartment Bento Boxes — These work perfectly for our kids. My oldest isn’t a fan of her food touching so we find it easy to separate her sandwich from fruit and other snacks using the Bentgo boxes. These are admittedly a little pricey but you can often find them on sale. They’re a little sturdier than other brands in my opinion.

Bentgo Kids Tray + Cover — These help with meal prep! You can prep a few lunches and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to pop them in the main Bentgo box for lunch.

Bentgo Buddies Reusable Ice Packs — These ice packs are super thin and slide into the zipper area of the Pottery Barn lunch boxes.

Snacks + Stasher Bags — We’ve started buying snacks in bulk from Costco. Stasher bags are reusable and are great for dividing up portions of Goldfish and Cheez-Its. I’ve gotten in the habit of having a snack in my bag for school pickup and it seems the help fight fatigue.

Water Bottle — A while back we decided to ditch all of our mismatched kids’ cups for one style. The Contigo Aubrey Kids water bottles come in lots of patterns and are rugged enough for everyday use. As an added plus, they’re leakproof in backpacks and fit well in the Pottery Barn water bottle holder sections of the backpack and lunchbox. Slap a name label sticker on them and you’re ready to go!

School Supplies + Homework Caddy — Our school was fairly prescriptive with the school supply brands they wanted so we complied. At home, I have a homework caddy with pencils, a big eraser, safety scissors, gluestick, tape, and crayons. While we’re not quite to the stage of regular homework, it’s nice to have a space set aside for my Kindergartener to get creative.

Does anyone else just love shopping for school supplies? I want to see what’s in your cart!