As a mom of a 1st-grader now, I am totally profesh at this whole school-mom thing. So consider this me bestowing some of my infinite wisdom upon you all and sharing a cool tip that will make life easier when you have kids in school.
Or, you know, it could also be me making a post out of something I knew I had to do to try to stay sane and not appear like a negligent parent this year.
Either way, I present to you this thing I actually did and am actually hoping will actually make my life a little easier this year- The Last-Minute School Kit.
Now, I’m not saying all of these items will be requested from our teacher at the “last minute.” I’m just saying I usually only remember I need to send them at the last minute. So. That’s where that comes from
1. A container of some sort for your kit. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You can use a tampon box. I won’t judge.
2. Ziploc bags are good to have on hand for when you need to send small items to school and it’s like the ONE time you don’t have any and think you’ll have to send 100 M&Ms (for the 100th day of school because, WARNING, THAT IS A THING) in an empty but still dirty chip bag, or something.
3. Tape & envelopes definitely come in handy when you need to send money to school, and want to be sure that money actually makes it to the teacher and not the bottom of your child’s backpack or piggy bank.
4. A small notepad of some sort for writing notes to the teacher like a proper grownup who is entrusted with raising a child so you don’t have to resort to the back of a Wendy’s receipt.
5. Blank notecards for when you want to get fancy. Great for writing Thank You cards, or for your child to draw/write a note of appreciation for their teacher on holidays.
6. Stationary if you want to get even fancier. Totally not necessary, but I’ve had some for forever, and I need to use it up.
7. A few gift cards in small amounts to universally loved places like Starbucks or Target. Great to slip into a holiday card or a thank you card. Also great to send to the nurse after your child projectile vomits all over her if you’re in the giving mood.
8. A pen & a Sharpie that are TAPED TO THE CONTAINER. Because we know kids purposely hide proper writing tools and get great satisfaction out of seeing us write absence excuses with a nub of eyeliner.
9. Post-its are great if you need to add notes to homework or folders and such.
10. Pictures of the school kid and family because YES you will need them, and NO you can’t send your kid to school with the iPad and the Flickr app open. Do yourself a favor and print them all old fashioned style on paper like people did in the 90s now.
11. Small change and dolla bills, yo. Because they are forever coming home with scraps of paper that say crap like, “2nd grade is selling bubble gum this Friday for a quarter!” and your kid will NOT go to sleep until they know you have at least 3 quarters to send with them. And sending 75 pennies you dug up from the floor of your car is generally frowned upon, I think. Not to mention you’ll smell like French fries the rest of the day if you have to resort to that.
As you can see, I have plenty of room left in my box. What else would you add?
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12 Comments
I would add a package of sticker labels big enough for your child’s name, the date, and some other random but required info. Why? I had to stick those suckers to a few dozen random items throughout the year last year. The 100th day bag, yup. The sack lunches required for field trips (and the also labeled juice box packed separately,) yup. Folders, containers, and boxes of various descriptions, you got it. Do yourself a favor, buy them now, label your child(ren)’s first and last names across the tops, leaving space below for 2 rows of other info and toss those in too, you’ll need them. And you totally don’t want to be the mom (ie me) that has to resort to paper under packing tape or sharpie on duct tape, right?
A plain white tshirt. We were asked at least twice last year to bring in a tshirt for an art project and had two days to get one.
Crazy socks. A handful of mismatched socks that have lost their mates and when combined become “crazy socks.”
You need ribbons and hair spray and crap like that for weird color/spirit days like I had Ravens day at my daughters MIDDLE SCHOOL the day after they won the Super Bowl and apparently she was not allowed to buy her lunch until the last five minutes of the period because she wasn’t wearing purple or white. Also as of last year, Nelson Mandela day is a thing and she had to wear South African colors but this time I was prepared. She went to school with green hair that had white ribbons in it and an orange dress. Only for her to come home and tell me that I’d dressed her in Indian colors. The terror.
Ha! Yes, the spirit days are intense.
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