It’s July and your kids may not have even broken up for the summer yet but it’s not too early to get back to school ready for a seamless September!
In fact, July is the perfect time to get organised, whilst you are still in work / school mode before the long summer days of late July and August hit when all you want to do is light a BBQ and get the paddling pool out for outdoor fun! Plus, if you need to get new uniform, it’s always wise to buy early as I find that the sizes you want are usually in scarce supply at the end of the summer!
I have pulled together a ‘Back to School’ checklist for busy mums, so you can ensure that you have everything under control, and I have also shown you a few of my favourite items that I can’t manage without!
My main lifesaver is a good diary to track both my own appointments and reminders and the kids too. The Mum’s Office School Year Diary is excellent as it has dedicated space for me plus up to four children and runs from 1 August 2015 to 31 August 2016 so you get 13 months of planning space! As I have two children, I use the other ‘spare’ columns for my meal planning and my appointments, leaving the large main space allowed for ‘Mum’ free to include all my daily tasks.
Small children will need to put their name in each item of school clothing so that it doesn’t get mixed up on PE Day! You can use a laundry marker to write their names onto the tags, but Stuck On You sells incredible labels that can be customised with colour and a logo to go into your child’s clothes and shoes. They also sell personalised lunchboxes and stationery and this year I have got a personalised towel for each of my children that they can use on holiday but also at school for swimming lessons! Keep reading to the end of this post for a giveaway you could enter to win a £20 gift voucher to spend on the Stuck on You website.
Teenagers are always asking parents for money and an easy way to ensure that they spend it on food is to give them a gift card for Greggs! Since my eldest has started High School, she doesn’t want to eat breakfast at home, preferring to get something from the school canteen with the rest of her friends. Of course, younger kids eat at home as they don’t have such a ‘grown up’ option, but my daughter also loves to visit Greggs for their meal deals and bacon rolls. Kitting her out with a gift card like the one pictured, enables her to have her ‘social’ breakfast with her mates, whilst not having to carry money with her. The school has a no cash policy so this is a safe way to give her the freedom she wants and I can just top it up when necessary.
Back to school checklist:
So here is a list of things you’ll need to consider to be prepared for when the children go back to school.
Stuck On You Voucher Giveaway: ***NOTE THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED***
Stuck On You have agreed to give one lucky JuggleMum reader a £20 voucher to spend on their website! To be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is visit the Stuck On You website and have a look around, then leave a comment on this blog post telling me what your favourite Stuck On You product is! One comment will be drawn at random from all the comments left by 12pm on Friday 24th July 2015 and you will be emailed a voucher that you can use online! When you are commenting on this blog, you have to enter your name and email address, so please use an email address that you check regularly as this is where your voucher will be sent! The winner’s name will be announced here on 24th July. Good luck!
***UPDATE: The lucky winner is Claire Davies – thank you to all who commented***
Love the drinks bottle and the name labels would be perfect with little man starting school
I really love the water bottles – I’ve had to replace lables which washed off before. I also love that they do replacement lids – we’ve gone through and broken 2 bottles but only the lids because little bro likes to use school bottle at the weekend and isn’t gentle!
My favourite item is the Budding Artist Kit – a really lovely idea for all those that love to draw and colour. Wonderful site, lots of great present ideas.
Well done Claire! The competition is now closed and you are the winner! Look out for an email from Stuck On You soon with your prize!
Thank you very much – Brilliant news!
I will be coming back and checking this post for more great ideas.
I have already made a list for what uniform I need to get this summer. I do love those towels with the kids names on, I think I will be investing in some of those.
Oh I do love a good bit of stationary and the personalised diary looks fantastic! What a lovely review!
These are all great tips. In the Netherlands, where I live,w e don’t have school uniforms, but the idea of name-labeling clothes is sitll great for PE day.
Some good ideas I have to say on this blog post some not even thought of.
So much to think about 😉
I’m not too worried about getting the kids ready this year at the minute as I’m all sorted with the uniform and my daughter is going shopping with her friends to get everything else she needs x x
Sounds like you’ve got it under control Cass – it’s best to be organised isn’t it!
You are so right, I love to be ready for going back to school right at the beginning of the holiday, it eases the stress. I know you need to leave shoes until last but I hate how crowded the shoe shops get so my tip is find a small back street one, it’s bound to be quieter. we have one quite local that sells Clarkes shoes 🙂 I’ve visited Stuck on You and I love their water bottles, you can’t beat the stainless steel ones, they last longer and look so pretty too.
Ooh great tip on the back street shoe store!! Thanks for commenting!
My son starts school in September and I have already bought all his uniform apart from the school shoes. I do love the personalised diary and I need one for the coming school year.
What a great check list I totally admit I used to love the stationery buying part of back to school.
You are far too organised although we have bought next terms uniform. I love stuck on you
Great tips. I have finished the uniform shopping and now just have to label it. I use a stamp with permanent ink. It is so simple!
Oh nice! Marianne Weekes showed me the ink stamp system on our recent #MumsLikeUs virtual coffee morning which you can see here! https://youtu.be/D4U4edCsseo Thanks for the tip.
Loving the cool kids value pack-iron on clothing labels, so very handy, good value for money and pretty too!xx
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