Let’s talk Back to School! I hear you! Many of the children haven’t even finished for the summer holidays yet, and here’s me mentioning going back. But if, like us, you have children moving to new schools, you’ve probably already had a uniform session and transition evening? Rather than buy some bits now, then join the millions of ‘end of August shoppers’ for the rest, I always make sure that both children are ready for ‘Back to School’ the day they break up for the holidays.
With Toby starting Middle School in September, and Millie-Mae moving to the Senior part of the school (with different uniform), I thought I’d share with you some of things I have bought, and some that I think are brilliant ideas!
Hydro Flask for Kids Water Bottles
PackThePJs loves Hydro Flask, and we especially love these water bottles. They are suitable for children aged 3+ – so from preschool onwards. They hold 12oz (354ml) of liquid; they keep cold drinks really cold for 24 hours (brilliant in this warm weather). The inside is made of professional grade stainless steel. The flasks have a comfortable grip with a gripping base. And, of course, they are BPA and toxin free.
A favourite feature, other than the sturdy pop-up straw, is the finger grip that is brilliant for young children.
Link to purchase: Hydro Flask for Kids
Personalised Pencil Case and Pencils from Born Gifted
When children go to Middle School, they need their own stationery – and it goes missing, a lot! So when I saw these personalised pencil cases and pencils from Born Gifted, I thought it was a brilliant idea. With Toby needing his own set from September, I’m hoping that these named items won’t stray too far. After all, there’s no one else in his class with his name!
In the set are 8 x named HB pencils, 12 named colouring pencils, a 15cm ruler and a pencil sharpener. The pencil case itself is a good size – will comfortably get everything inside. It has a carry handle at one end. It will look very smart on his desk in September ?
Link to purchase: Personalised Pencil Case and Pencils
Dobell School Shoes
We championed Dobell shoes last year – and they’ve lasted so well, we’re doing so again this year. These black boat-styled shoes have a very strong Velcro fastening and a thick sole that doesn’t wear down too quickly. Toby can tie laces, but a little slowly. I thought that he’ll have enough to think about when he starts big school that I’ll stick to Velcro ones again.
So, Toby will start school in the same type of shoes he’s worn all year. The only difference is that he’s gone up a size – he now wears size 5 (but is still due a long overdue growth spurt)!
Link to purchase: Dobell Boys Black Boat Shoes
Shaken Udder Milkshakes
I don’t know about you, but when it comes to a healthy packed lunch for school it’s really difficult to get it right. You want the children to find it exciting and yummy (you want them to eat it!), but likewise you don’t want a ‘letter home’ from the Pack Lunch Police. A success with our two children are these Shaken Udder milkshakes. Firstly, they find the name hilarious – so this instantly makes them cool 
. They are the perfect size for a lunchbox, at 200mls. They contain British milk, are gluten free, taste great, are suitable for vegetarians and – wait for it – are School Approved!
Millie-Mae is a chocolate fiend, so she loves the chocolate milkshake. Her Shaken Udder milkshake contains real chocolate. Toby is a fruit monster (he dislikes chocolate), so his preferred flavour is strawberry. Again, his milkshake contains real strawberries. Both versions contain 15% of their daily calcium requirement, and 36% of their vitamin B12 quota. We always freeze the milkshakes, and by lunch time they are icy cold.
Link to purchase: Shaken Udder Kids Milkshakes
Personalised Gym Bag from Funky Pigeon
PE bags are often the only ‘bit’ of a school uniform that doesn’t have to abide by any rules. With my children even their school bags should be plain (and to be honest, boring!) There’s never any stipulation over PE bags though, so here the true personality of its owner can take over …
Funky Pigeon have a great range of personalised Back to School stationery, water bottles, lunch bags, bags and backpacks. We particularly like the Marvel Avengers gym bag as it is colourful, fun and personalised. Theses gym bags will certainly stand out in the school cloakroom and being personalised there is no mistaking who it belongs to. If only we could say the same for the PE kit within it!
Link to purchase: Funky Pigeon Marvel Avengers Personalised Gym Bag
Cycle WingLights POP by Cycl
And now for something completely different. And completely brilliant.
Designed in the UK (by Italian cyclists), you may have seen these on Dragon’s Den? They are indicators for your cycle … perfect for the dark evenings if your children cycle to school. They are really easy to install – simply screw them into the ends of any straight handlebar.
To activate the indicator, you simply press it. Then press again for it to stop. They weigh only 58g, are shockproof and waterproof. In typical use, the batteries (4 x CR2032) will last 6 months. Here’s a quick video I made of them working …
We think these are fantastic – if you activate them in a darkened room, the visibility is brilliant. With an RRP of £19.99 for a pair, it’s a small price to pay for the cycling safety of your child. We’ve not installed our set yet, as it’s not dark in the evenings, but when we do we’ll talk about them again on the PackThePJs blog.
Link to purchase: Cycl WingLights POP
Personalised Notebook from It’s Your Story
Now that your child is at school, a life-long love of notebooks begins (well it did with me!) We just loved this A4, hardback ruled notebook from It’s Your Story. It has a knights theme and you send a photo of your child and they add the face to the knight’s helmet. It’s really effective! It’s definitely personal! And there’s lots of pages, so it’ll last for a good while too.
Link to Purchase: Personalised Notebook
Piccolo Squares Organic Meditteranean Snack
Piccolo Squares were actually made for teething babies. In fact, when you eat one, there’s a definite ‘rusk’ texture to the squares. There’s also a strong mango, or coconut, flavour. These snacks are gluten free and all-natural, and make great school snacks too. The puffed cereal wafers are made with rice, chickpea, quinoa, buckwheat – along with coconut or mango. 100% organic – something different to mix up their breaktime snacks!
Link to purchase: Piccolo Squares
Personalised Unicorn Pencil Case from Personally Presented
We just had to include this personalised pencil case as it’s so sweet. And there’s nothing more ‘on trend’ at the moment than a unicorn! From Personally Presented, this generous-sized strong pencil case can be personalised with your child’s name. It has a carry handle at one end.
Personally Presented offer many styles and designs, for non-unicorn lovers! We think this is a great product and will last the rigours of school life. And it’ll look really cool on any desk!
Link to purchase: Personalised Unicorn Pencil Case from Personally Presented
Sticky Name Labels by Sticker Jar
We have a motto at our school. Label absolutely everything – then label it again! It’s the only way to track down a missing jumper, school coat, water bottle, sun hat, PE shorts, shoes, football boots … the list is endless. Over the years we have tried every possible type of name label. From the entry level Sharpie pen to the most-faffy embroidered ones to sew in. Here’s the confession – I don’t sew. With 10 shirts, 4 pairs of trousers, 4 jumpers, 2 coats, 2 full PE kits (shorts, joggers, base layers, shirts, fleeces) to name … it would take me the entire school hols! Yet I want the labels I use to stay in place for the duration, not fall off or fade. Iron-on ones work ok, but I often end up creasing them during the application and my child’s name appears somewhat odd!
And then I discovered Sticker Jar – labels that you simply stick into clothes. And they don’t fade or fall off. Result! Each year I buy a pack of 60 clothes labels per child, and 100 ‘skinny pencil’ labels – which are great for water bottles, lunch boxes, note books … or pencils/pens/stationery. I wholeheartedly recommend these – it at least gives you a chance of retrieving missing items.
Link to purchase: Sticky Name Labels by Sticker Jar
Reima Kids Training Shoes – Fresh Slip On
Before I talk about these amazing trainers, let me make it clear that they are FAR too good to be used as school trainers, in their current state of newness. These are Toby’s ‘best’ trainers for wearing outside school and during the holidays. However, because they are lovely and lightweight, and breathable, and assuming Toby’s feet don’t grow too much, by the time next summer comes around, he can wear them for PE.
Apart from looking fantastic, they are slip on trainers, and are machine washable. Perfect for travelling with and wearing on holiday. We are a huge fan of Reima clothing, and this is the first pair of their footwear we’ve ever owned, and the quality is excellent. Toby says they are really comfortable too, so light you forget you have shoes on.
Link to purchase: Reima Kids Training Shoes Fresh Slip On
Toasted Tasty Treats by munchy seeds
‘Healthy snacks’ always cause us issues … can’t be chocolate, can’t contain nuts, must be low/no-sugar. The children love carrot sticks, but they get fed up with the same thing every day. To mix it up a bit, we tried some of the ‘sticks of seeds’ from munchy seeds. High in vitamin E, iron and fibre, and packaged in 25g ‘fingers’ the range consists of such combinations as:
- Honey Seeds (honey roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds)
- Choccy Ginger (dark chocolate coated seeds and crystallised ginger)
- Sesame Sprinkles (savoury toasted sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds)
- Choccy Apricot (Belgian chocolate coated seeds and dried apricot)
I have to say that the chocolate coated ones were the biggest hit with our children, especially the Choccy Apricot snack. It’s nice to have something different to pack them each day.
Munchy seeds also sell large 120g tubs of ‘toppers’, like the Salted Caramel toppers in the image above. These are fantastic as sprinkles on top of ice cream or yoghurt.
Link to purchase: Toasted Tasty Treats by munchy seeds
Personalised Football Boot Bag
Two years ago, I bought one of these (in her favourite colour purple) for my daughter’s school football boots. She still uses it every week and it results in any mud being contained! No more emergency PE kit washing because the boots have dirtied everything in the bag.
With Toby needing his first ever pair of football boots for September, with no hesitation I went online to order him a boot bag in his favourite colour (red). I bought ours from ebay, from a store called Sports-Superstore, the link is below.
Link to purchase: Personalised Football Boot Bag
I hope you agree that there’s some really good ideas and helpful suggestions above? Some were sent to us to include if we felt they were suitable, but most are items we’ve purchased because they are simply the best! I still have a final few bits ‘n’ pieces to sort out before I can draw a line under our ‘Back to School’ efforts, but I still have a week before they finish for the summer. We can then forget all about school for 6 whole weeks and concentrate instead on having loads of family fun!
We’d love to hear of your ‘must buy’ Back to School items – leave a comment below and we’ll go and check them out 
x
