Easy Back to School Shopping

Back-to-school = stress. Forms to fill, carpools to organize, and new schedules to plan. My nemesis is shopping for school supplies, probably because my son's school list is insanely long and specific. It usually takes me three or four shops to get everything his teacher requires.

This time I played it smart. I went to Walmart, spent an hour shopping and beat the back to school rush! I found 93% of everything I need for both my son and daughter in one shop (plus a little something for mummy).

If you haven't done your back to school shopping yet, get going! Although the stock is constantly being replenished at Walmart, there is nothing worse than finding only three of the four binder colours on your list - forcing you to race around town looking for one elusive colour.

This time I experimented with leaving the kids at home. I wanted to be in and out in record time. I highly recommend it if at all possible. The only problem I had was picking the right back pack design for my daughter - there were so many cute styles to choose from. I ended up with the groovy flower bag, although the peace sign motif is very trendy. For my son I went with a more “rough'n tumble” back pack that can hold the weight of all his grade 6 homework.

Here's an important tip: if you're trying to get it done in one shop: remember that everything you need for school isn't always in the school supplies area of the store.

For example, the lunch bags and Thermoses in the back-to-school area were way too young for my kids. But the housewares section had great ones. My daughter is going to love her sparkly flower insulated lunch bag. And I made sure the Thermoses fit easily in each of their new lunch bags.

My son's school list is long and specific, but I was able to find everything in the office supply area - except the recipe card holder (see, it is a crazy list).

And while I was there I picked up a few adorable fall outfits for my daughter, plus socks and undies for both of them.

Of course mummy needs to play too. I couldn't resist this George top ($12) and skinny stretchy cargo pants ($19). I also bought the pants in khaki. Wouldn't you?