It’s that time of year again. Hopefully, you’ve gotten your carpool pick-up and drop-off figured out, your alarms set and your kids’ favorite lunch items ready to go.
But there’s one more thing you need to do if you haven’t already. Back-to-school shopping — you know, backpacks, school supplies, and clothes.
KIRO 7 Reporter Frankie Katafias tells us when you should shop. But what you should shop for depends on the student’s age, grade, and school.
And because shopping lists vary, she decided to take one big question to some local experts.
For this, she went into the KIRO 7 newsroom. Producers, reporters, and anchors there have all done the first day of school thing a number of times and all have at least 12 years’ worth of back-to-school shopping experience.
With their expertise, these are some of the must-have items to consider adding to your checklist.
“Pee-Chee folders,” said producer Lauren Padgett.
“Pilot G2 Pens … the gel pens, they’re the best,” producer Tori McArthur said.
Morning reporter Kevin Ko needed a second to remember its name but said it’s a staple for any student.
“Oh! Dr. Grip! That’s what it was called,” said Ko, referring to the mechanical lead pencil. “Because you could just hold onto it a little bit better.”
And for those long writing days or expert notetakers, our anchor Deedee Sun is a fan of a particular notebook.
“It’s the 5-Star spiral notebook that has the cloth covering,” said Sun.
And while morning anchor Michelle Millman was more of a 64-pack-of-Crayons-with-the-sharpener-on-the-back-girl, the mom of two says for her boys, it was something different.
“The big deal for them was the backpack, and when they were younger, it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Winnie the Pooh for the little one,” said Millman.
Now, school supplies are important to us but so is that first-day-of-school outfit.
“Do you know what I loved most about school? Wearing clothes,” said reporter Deborah Horne. “And I wanted something new, too.”
For evening anchor Monique Ming Laven, something else was important.
“It was all about the new pair of shoes I got every year for school. I’d unwrap it, put it on top of the shoe box and just stare at them,” she said.
The best rule of thumb is to wait until your child goes to school before you do any major shopping. If you haven’t gotten a supply list yet, chances are you’ll get one during your child’s first week of school.