A friend of a friend and blog reader April emailed me this week asking for Mother's Day Out advice for her daughter. She has her new school chosen for the fall and is ready to purchase all the fun back to school supplies required by enrolling your child in such a program. We decided it would make a good blog post for everyone!
Nobody paid me or asked me to share their products. I just have them and love them!
LABELS
Good washable labels on all of your child's lunchtime supplies is important. I've read great things on other blogs about the labels on the left and we have and love the cute ones on the right. You get so many in one order that they last forever!
I have raved about the Inchbug rubber labels before- we have 8 of them and they've been invaluable on keeping Abby's stuff with Abby! You even get to build your own- pick colors, name and cute little icons!
Inchbug is just a really cool site overall- I love their allergy labels. I have been discussing we need some of these for Abby Lu to wear at parties, field trips, etc. She has a very severe peanut allergy. I didn't take peanut allergies seriously until she had one. Wow!
LUNCHBOXES
Most programs require that you bring your child's lunch and most of the time, it sits in a cubby or hangs on a hook all morning. A good insulated lunchbox is important!
While in Savannah we bought Abby the owl lunchbox below. This Skip Hop line of animals is just the cutest! The lunchbox is great for snacks or small meals. It doesn't hold a whole lot- a thermos would take up most of the room, unfortunately! I like this size to pack cheese, fruits and vegetables when we go out to dinner. Abby often eats the main meats we are eating and we pack the extras. It saves money and is often much healthy that the fries offered with all kids meals.
This is Abby's new lunchbox and I can't wait for her to use it. Pottery Barn Kids has so many cute options and this one is a good size. I love a good monogram! They are on sale, too!
I also love this seersucker one from The Monogram Chick and the old school metal boxes from The Pink Giraffe.
BACKPACKS OR BAGS
I am a sucker for a new purse and I've transferred that to a love of cute bags for Abby. We are at the point where a diaper bag isn't really necessary, but we need a little bag for necessities, toys, medicine, etc. They are good for MDO if you are bringing a change of clothes, swimming gear for special days, extra diapers or wipes, etc.
We have the Vera Bradley on the left- I bought it on ebay super cheap. Many of my friends have the middle backpack- it is perfect for monogramming big on top. I love all of my Lands End totes- they are super durable! We use the large one for our pool towels, toys, sunscreen, etc. and it still looks brand new. The small and medium would make great toddler bags, especially for boys!
I gave Lands End totes as gifts for a good year straight. They would go on sale and I would buy the next 3 or 4 birthdays. I did them for Christmas also!
We also have the bumble bee bag on the left. It is so stinkin cute! Santa Claus brought it to Abby. We keep it packed with a change of clothes, bibs, playdough, Epi Pens, benadryl, wipes, etc. It goes everywhere with us!
Having just quit my job to be home with Abby more and do MDO twice per week, I had my own shopping spree recently. Thanks April for the great post idea!
