1. A high-quality lunch box that keeps food separate and — thanks to an ice pack that goes in the bottom — fresh by the time it gets to lunchtime. Plus you're going to save money on plastic bags since you don't have to individually wrap each item.
Promising review: "Love that it comes with the ice pack inside. It is very affordable and has a cute design." — Halguth Price: $12.
99 (also available in a shark design) 2. A set of joke-filled lunch box notes for writing down an encouraging word while your little one gets used to the school routine. Promising review: "These are super cute and my child loves receiving her lunch box.
" — Mom of one Price: $8.99 for 60 cards (originally $10.99) 3.
A set of fun sandwich cutters because cute lunches are more-likely-to-be-eaten lunches. If you're going to be making lunch after lunch after lunch, you might as well have a little fun with it. Each set comes with a dinosaur, butterfly, elephant, and star cutter.
Price: $9.99 4. And a set of fruit slicers to help you cut up fruit for lunch quickly and with zero hassle.
Slice apples and oranges without feeling like you've finished a cardio workout. This set even includes a slicer for the always-time-consuming mango! Promising review: "For a long time, I’d been making a mess when I cut fruit. It always looked pretty tacky.
The Cuisinart works perfectly as advertised. This is a must for anyone who cuts up fruit." — PSLSanta Price: $16.
99 for three slicers 5. A set of reusable storage bags to help reduce the amount of plastic you're using every day for snacks, but at a low enough price point to not stress if they're forgotten at school every now and then. They're also leak-proof, and they wash easily, saving you from unfortunate spills in the backpack.
This set comes with a 1-cup, a 2-cup, and 4-cup bag, which should cover most day-to-day snack bag needs. Promising review: "Love these bags! I use them daily! The stand-up feature is fabulous! They are very easy to unzip and unzip! I like the texture of the bags. Thinking about purchasing some other!" — SEXXYLYPPS Price: $19.
99 (available in five colors) 6. A pantry organizer to help you quickly find what you need when you're throwing together lunches and snacks for a long school day because you do NOT want to figure out that you're out of Goldfish exactly when you need them. Promising review: "I have type1 diabetes and I used this as my snack tray when my blood sugar drops.
So now I can easily see what I have and my family can get something quickly as well for me. This could be used for so many different things. Great product!" — mzmullis Price: $19.
99 7. A set of durable, no-iron labels for all of the times your forgetful kid needs to scour lost and found for their jacket they left on the playground. Seriously — I've lost count of how many times I've had to dig through the lost and found.
I understand the parenting urge to drop serious money on adorable, personalized labels, but most kids genuinely do not care — those labels are purely for us. These utilitarian labels are going to get the job done at a fraction of the price and your kid and teacher will be just as happy being able to find their stuff. Promising review: "These water-proof labels are very versatile! We use them on our kiddo's clothing and water bottles, etc.
They withstand a lot of wear and tear. When you need to remove them, they peel off with little effort and don't leave caked adhesive. I have purchased this item from Target at least 3 times.
Great product. Great price!" — Fastlane Price: $5.99 for 54 labels 8.
A Cat and Jack backpack because they do not need a super expensive backpack in the earlier grades. They aren't lugging around heavy textbooks, their interests change from year-to-year anyway, AND choosing a new backpack is a fun back-to-school activity. We get these backpacks every year and they have held up the entire school year.
I like spending less at this age (early elementary for my family) because the Elsa backpack they HAD TO HAVE last year is suddenly boring and uninteresting. When they get older, I'll invest in something that'll last for a few extra years, but there's a very real "new year, new me" vibe that comes with choosing backpacks for my kids. There are SO many backpacks to choose from, so I've rounded up a good variety for you: shark , daisies , horses , pizza , unicorn , purple and blue space , and blue color blocked .
Check here for a variety of dinos, flowers, leopard, and butterfly options. Promising review: "This backpack is beautiful. My daughter loves the metallic and pink color combo.
The backpack is perfect for a younger girl. My daughter is turning six and it’s the perfect size for her. I t’s also incredibly light weight so it’s easy for her to carry.
I love that it has an interior pocket for holding papers/folders. Also, the exterior cup holders are great and our water bottles go in and out easily. Overall great purchase.
" — Mama2three Price: $18 (available in five colors) 9. A large supply of tissues for the classroom because fall colds are coming, most teachers have to pay for tissues out of their own pocket, and the alternative is brown paper towels. Buy the tissues you want your kid to have access to — because they will 100% be using them all year.
Promising review: "One of the best brands for tissues. Tissues are very soft and not overly thin. Theres a lot so it lasts a long time.
Helps prevent rash from constant booger cleaning." — Ana M Price: $2.99+ for a box of 72 (available in square or rectangle boxes and also in packs of four or eight boxes) 10.
A sleek, dry-erase wall calendar to help keep everyone's appointments, practices, and due dates in one central location. Sure, your phone's calendar CAN work, but there is something really helpful about having a visual reminder around for everyone to see. Don't forget a set of fine tip dry erase markers .
I use a different color for each family member to help keep things even more organized. Promising review: "Love how it looks on the wall! Easy to install, and clean." — Barefootmama Price: $20 11.
A leak-proof water bottle that can withstand the daily abuse of a kid in school. Their water bottles will go everywhere — recess, lunch, snack — and they need to hold up against your kiddo haphazardly throwing them into a lunch cart as they run to the playground. If you have a younger child, there are lots of designs in the 12 ounce bottle , too! Promising review: "We have purchased this thermos water bottle in different variations for the last four years! It is the only brand we have found to actually be leakproof! The only time we have ever had a leak is if one of my kids throws their backpack and the button to open the kids hits the floor then it will obviously open and spill the water out.
However, I noticed in some of the newer designs there is now a lock to flip over the open button to prevent this from happening. With the new flip lock I have zero reason to complain about these water bottles!" — HappyMama Price: $13.59 for a 16-ounce bottle (originally $16.
99; available in 17 designs) 12. A pencil sharpener for at-home use because there's nothing quite as humbling as realizing you have absolutely zero tools to help them do their homework, you know, at home. Promising review: "Sharpens in an instant and comes to a perfect point!" — Steph Price: $15.
29 13. A two-pack of scissors for small hands because if your child comes home with a project that needs cutting, your kitchen shears are not going to *cut* it. Keep a pair of them-sized scissors around to ensure there's less struggle when homework comes.
Promising review: "My 4-year-old loves to make things with different types of paper, but the normal toddler scissors just weren't cutting it for her anymore. I got her these because they are reasonably priced and have the blunt end as opposed to pointed end. She loves them.
I love that it comes in a set of two because I can't tell you how many times she has misplaced one pair of scissors and we are thankful to have the other pair to give her until we can find the original pair." — Loe Price: $1.49 14.
A pair of volume-controlled headphones to help them get rid of distractions while working — or making sure you're not hearing whatever it is they're working on. Price: $14.99 (originally $19.
99; also available in pink) 15. A classic pencil box that can fit pencils, markers, crayons, glue, scissors, or whatever else needs to be kept close-at-hand. Promising review: "Great pencil boxes.
We buy them every year." — Fivebyers Price: $.99 (available in three colors) 16.
A pack of large erasers because the ones that go on the end of the pencil — or even worse: novelty erasers — are more trouble than they're worth. Your kid is going to be making a lot of mistakes — have something that will actually erase. Promising review: "I love these erasers.
They’re the best for getting the job done." — Mal Price: $1.49 for a three-pack (originally $1.
69) 17. A bottle of pre-mixed bleach cleaning spray — look, when it comes to stomach viruses, vinegar (or other household cleaners) and *good vibes* aren't going to kill that virus and prevent it from spreading and completely ruining your next 24-36 hours — depending on how many are in the household. Bleach.
Bleach will kill it. This is a helpful cleaner to have on hand anyway, but key for stopping germs from spreading. Promising review: "I love to use this product it gets the work done and it disinfects.
" — perla Price: $4.89 18. A touchless thermometer because back to school means back to viruses and you need to know if your kid is staying home without the wiggly, spitting out, angry thermometer dance of a regular thermometer.
Just point, get the reading and make the call. Promising review: "I had such a hard time finding a non rectal thermometer that actually works. The one I received as a gift at my baby shower never accurately got a reading.
I decided to try this one and love how easy to use it is. The results are accurate (compared to doctors readings) and I just love how the color changes based on temperature reading (red for a fever). The readings are so quick that even the squirmiest of kids can’t get away.
" — cwalls Price: $16.99 19. And a package of saline nose wipes to keep on hand when they do bring home a cold.
These are so gentle on the nose and help clear it, too! A little extra comfort is 100% worth it. Promising review: "These things are amazing. I thought it was a gimmick when I saw it talked about online but whoever invented these must be a genius or darn near close! I truly wish they had these when I was little.
All the times of being sick and having a raw nose were the worst. My child will never know that feeling as long as these exist. These dissolve the snot and where the snot has dried from sleeping with having a runny nose.
Strongly recommend these, you won’t regret it. Grab a pack for yourself too for when you inevitably catch the crud from your little one coughing in your face!" — HiyahCarrot Price: $5.69 for 30 wipes 20.
A set of multicolored pencils to keep at home because I don't recommend bringing anything to school that your kid would be upset at losing — lots of kids are still learning impulse control in taking things they like. However, having cool writing utensils at home makes actually using them much more appealing. If your kid uses mechanical pencils, check out these fan-favorite pencils in rainbow.
And if your kid is older and onto pens , this is a great brand that is still colorful, but only has black ink — because multi-colored pens can be really hard for teachers to read. Promising review: "Ticonderoga pencils are the best!!! My kids loved having the colors." — Rosieposie218 Price: $3.
99 21. A set of Post-it flags so they can highlight important concepts in books without the dreaded dog ear in a borrowed book. Promising review: "I like the colors and they stick well.
I use them for annotations in my books for school." — Brandy Price: $2.99 for 100 flags 22.
A three-hole punch to help all of those handouts store easily rather than becoming a jumbled pile in the bottom of their backpack. This one is pretty enough to be kept out but small enough to store in a drawer if that's more your style. Promising review: "This product is classy and elegant.
It can be used as a two- hole and a three-hole punch." — Veronica K Price: $15.99 23.
And a stapler so your kiddo can keep multi-paged assignments together rather than standing in a long line of kids trying to staple before the bell rings. Don't forget to stock up on staples — you're going to need them! Promising review: "I love the look of this stapler. It has a heavy duty feel with a dainty look.
You do not have to staple too hard to get it to work." — Brittanye Price: $18.99 24.
A book bin to help keep books borrowed from the school library in good shape and easy-to-find. Promising review: "These bins are sturdy and I love the color!" — JRod Price: $3 (available in four colors) 25. An electronic toothbrush set with a built-in timer so you can give them a little more independence while getting ready for school without wondering if they actually brushed their teeth in 15.
5 seconds flat. Since you have enough to deal with getting everyone out of the house on time, giving up even one job on the to-do list is a major help. Promising review: "Very easy to use and my children love the lil characters.
Bought one for my son years ago and just bought my daughter one. The fact it’s electric makes it easier for them to brush properly. Also love the fact it has replaceable heads.
Only thing I don’t like is that it’s a lil' pricey, but given that my son has had his for two years and it still works and the two pack of replaceable heads are inexpensive makes it worth it." — lily Price: $19.99 Reviews have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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