It’s That Time: School Supply Shopping #BagItForward

Yes, I know that I am breaking all types of unwritten rules by giving you two school supply shopping posts in the same month. Throw me a bone though. The cellist starts school in a little over two weeks, and we’re getting a bit antsy. Not necessarily in a good way either. Mostly because we’re still dealing with teacher, government negotiations, yadda, yadda, yadda.

We’re going to make this a happy post though. I promise

To be honest, I actually like the supply portion of back to school shopping. There’s nothing that I look forward to more than picking up brand new packs of pencils, paper, notebooks, GLUE, rulers, and the sweet spot of ALL new supplies – a new backpack.

Even as an adult, shopping for office supplies rocks my world. Hate me if you want, but I know that there are more of you out there!

So, today,  I was able to visit my local Wal-Mart and go do a little back to school shopping, not for the cellist, but for a teacher at the cellists’ school who I think is pretty awesome. She isn’t the only awesome teacher there, but one that I often go to for supplies when I’m doing some sort of Fundraising project, and I know that a LOT of those supplies are paid for out of her pocket. It’s nice to be able to give back, although I know that it won’t be as great as it could, or as great as she deserves, it’s a start.

I was also able to check out the new Elmer’s 1st Day App in the store by scanning the QR code on the display box and going from there.

This app allows you to take photos of your child on the first day of school, and share with an audience that you control. You can create folders for each of your children and organize it to share with loved ones all over. No need to print and send anymore (although I still know that *I* like getting snail mail, so send that too) and grandparents, aunts, and uncles can get the first day photos on the same day as they are taken.

As we all know, Wal-Mart is a one stop shop for all items at great low prices. Elmer’s glue and glue sticks are a HUGE request for teachers, so I decided to pick up some of those as well as pencils, crayons and a cute little reusable crate for her room. I’m noticing now that lots of teachers do community supplies, so this should be able to help out with those students who may not be able to get everything on their school supply list.

Sidenote: Do you SEE that they make colored glue sticks now?! Where were these little stick of fabulosity when I was a kid?

The ladybug went along with me as well, and encouraged me to get other sparkly items for the class, but I had to break the news to her that kindergartners aren’t quite into using pens with the schoolwork yet.

I will say that I kept the basket simple. While I know that I would have loved nothing more than to deck out the entire basket with doodads and thingamabobs, I did want to keep it virtually clutter free, since I know that she will be getting TONS of photos and other things to take home throughout the year. 😉

While you may be a little miffed at me for mention back to school shopping so early in the summer, I would like to encourage you to definitely put a little extra into your cart for a teacher or another student that may need some help with school supplies. We all know that with budget cuts and a less than fantastic economy, ALL of us need all of the help we can get. #BagItForward

You can follow Elmer’s and the #BagItForward mission by clicking on any of the following links:

Bag It Forward website

Elmer’s On Facebook

Elmer’s On Twitter

Bag It Forward On Pinterest (great teachers gift ideas)

1st Day App Download

For another chance to possibly spread some back to school cheer, join Elmer’s and the #BagItForward team in a Twitter Party! During this hour, you can share tips on how you help Bag It Forward for others.

Twitter Party Details