5 Back to School Must Haves (Preschool and Daycare)

1. Labels. You should label everything from clothes to shoes to bows to water bottles because otherwise it gets lost in the preschool/daycare black hole. Pick something easy. We love these labels because they are stick on and are dishwasher/ washing machine safe and oh so easy to use! I usually buy one Multi pack linked above and add some of the smaller labels for clothes when I start to run low. Use the code TWINSIE at checkout for 10% off!
2. Backpack. Ask your school if they will be sending home artwork and/or other items with your kids. If so, you may want to skip the infant backpack and opt for something a little larger. Here are a few options we love:
   • Skip Hop
   • Preppy Sear Sucker – consider monogramming these — so cute!
   • Pottery Barn Backpack
3. Lunchbox if you are packing lunch. And I love these bento boxes because they are so fun for kid and give you a good healthy guideline of what to pack. Plus variety is great for toddlers. I pack these with an ice pack inside an insulated lunch box.
4. Water Bottles. I really love these contigo kids water bottles because they don’t leak or break and I throw them in the top rack of the dishwasher every night. Don’t forget to label them with your new Mabel’s labels!
5. Clothes and shoes that you don’t mind getting ruined. Consider buying clothes from a gently used store or on a mommy exchange for school. School clothes get lost or ruined (don’t forget to label), so I’d skip the fancy outfits. We love Cat and Jack from target for school clothes and Cientas for school shoes because they are easy to walk in and machine washable (plus they smell like blueberries). That being said, you may want to consider one cute outfit for the first day! We love cute outfits from Mud-pie for special occasions like this little swan outfit. AND Don’t forget to snag a picture of your little on the first day. We used a small chalkboard like this to capture the date and first day note!

One more tip to consider: Save your child’s artwork from the year in a airtight bin like this. At the end of the year take photos of your child’s artwork and create an album, then toss them. Don’t have time to DIY?  Send it off to Artkive, and they will do the work for you. Use this link for $20 off your first order.

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