As the summer days come to a close, children and parents alike begin preparing for the back-to-school routine complete with early morning wake-ups, quick and easy meals, school supplies, afterschool activities, and more! While this can be an overwhelming shift, back-to-school is a great time to create fun traditions and routines that you and your children will look forward to for the rest of their school years. Here are some of our best tips for making back-to-school a breeze and a few examples from the White Label Studio family.
- Shop for School Supplies Early. Everyone loves getting new supplies to prepare for a new year. It sets the tone of a fresh start and it creates excitement for the school year ahead. We recommend shopping for school supplies early so you avoid crowds and potentially out-of-stock items. Stock up on essential items like pencils, paper, notebooks, and binders a month or so before the first day of school. Once your child’s school or teacher releases their specific supplies list, purchase those items either online or at a local store to avoid out-of-stock issues and crowds at big-box retailers. Also, if you need any personalized items for your child, plan ahead and order those 4-6 weeks before school starts to avoid delays. We love labeling lunchboxes, backpacks, and other school supplies, so kids don’t get their items confused with their classmates. It also allows your child to pick their favorite color, design, or theme!
- Create a Back-To-School Meal Plan. If your pantry, refrigerator, and cupboards are all cleaned out from summer break and 100 snack breaks a day, make a back-to-school meal plan to help ensure you have plenty of essentials on hand for quick and easy breakfasts, healthy school lunchbox options, after school snacks, and dinners. Also be sure to set up payment for school lunch if your child eats at school and send cash for snacks with your children. Trust us, putting the effort in to create an easy and healthy menu for back-to-school is well worth it!
- Lay Everything Out the Night Before. We’ve all forgotten to lay out the kids clothes, lunches, and our own supplies for the day ahead, and while it is bound to happen from time-to-time, it makes life much easier when everything is laid out the night before. So whether you get home late or just feel like binge-watching your favorite Netflix show, carve out 10-15 minutes before you start your bedtime routine to lay everything out and set yourself up for success the next day.
- Create a Bedtime Routine. If you read bedtime routine in tip #3 and thought “bedtime what?”, we highly recommend getting a bedtime routine in place. Kids thrive off of a routine and honestly, adults do too. It helps create predictability and your body will internally prepare for bed as you perform the same routine night-after-night. A few good practices to include in your routine are: turning off your phone 30 minutes before bed, brushing your teeth, washing your face, getting into comfortable pajamas, reading a book or mediating, and turning the lights off or dimming them.
- Add in a Fun Tradition. Our previous tips have focused on preparing you and your family for the new school routine, but we also want this to be a fun time that you and your kids look forward to. Plan out a pool day, take the kids to the zoo or a movie, or get the whole family together for a backyard cookout. You can tailor your back-to-school tradition to your unique interests, but the point is to have something the week leading up to school starting that you and your kids look forward to. This will reduce the anxiety of a new school year and give you a fun way to say farewell to the summer. Continue this routine every year and it will easily become one of yours and your child’s favorite memories.
We hope these tips will help you get into the back-to-school routine. We also wanted to share a few of our team members’ favorite back-to-school traditions and memories. Here’s to a great school year ahead!
Mollie, WLS CEO
“Summer is so much fun, but I think we all look back to getting into a routine at our house. We might be total nerds, but my two daughters and I love school supply shopping. We love all of the fun pencils, notebooks, and erasers. So we make a day out of picking up colorful school supplies and a few new outfits for school. Caroline selected a pink horse book bag this year, and Charlotte selected a tie-dye the bag with :-)‘s. Before school officially starts, we try to squeeze in one more day of fun to say goodbye to Summer.”
Shira, VP of Digital Marketing
“When it comes to Back to School supply shopping, my goal is to get in and get out before the crowds. We shop for school supplies at a local school supply store vs. the big stores in the mall to support small business and avoid the crush of people. I find the kids get excited to do their school supply shopping earlier in the summer because they know they still have a lot of vacation days ahead of them. I also wait until the first full week of school to stock up on new uniform shirts; that’s when the stores are empty and the sales staff are a lot more relaxed. It makes the experience a lot nicer!”
Hope, Operations Director
“While my little guy isn’t quite old enough for grade school, I am still enjoying starting back-to-school traditions with him that we can continue for years to come! Before “school” officially starts, I try to pick a day to spend some one-on-one time with him doing some of his favorite things which currently includes swimming at the pool and running around outside. I also like to get him a cute first day of school outfit and spend some time refreshing his supplies like sippy cups, backpack, and classroom necessities. I remember looking forward to back-to-school shopping and even picking out what breakfast, lunch, and snacks I would have the first day/week of school. I look forward to making him some of his favorite foods and building anticipation for this special time!”
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