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Monday, January 24, 2011

Back to School..

The majority of my week has been spent preparing for 'Back to School'  week.  And there has been quite a lot to do with 4 children to prepare! This is the first year that I have had a book list for each of them, so I'm finding covering 60+ books quite daunting!   I ordered the text books and books through the recommended newsagent via the school book list, but wanted to purchase items such as pencil cases, stationary etc at other outlets so everything was more personalised for them (plus, who wants a tartan pencil case in this day and age!).  I was also able to start collecting these supplies earlier in the holidays this way, rather than leave it all to the end, so when I saw something I liked (such as these adorable lead pencils at Smiggle) I was able to buy them. 


 
Book covering this year, as I mentioned earlier has been quite daunting with over 60 books that need covering.  I had intended on buying book covers or contact but after looking into the associated costs, I opted for the method my Mum used for many, many years.. good old brown paper!  5 rolls later, with some additional stickers (Ben 10, Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh) and decorative pictures, posters etc ( for the older kids) the books were covered and the kids were impressed with their personalised books.  I did purchase some clear book sleeves to place over the brown paper (as I'm terrible with a roll of contact!) and some pretty gift wrap for the larger scrapbooks (as I couldn't help myself) but overall, using the brown paper cut the covering costs by ALOT! 



My favourite book covering, which I will stick to largely next year has been the gift wrap, you can get it at an affordable price 50c-$1 a sheet (or a roll if need be) and it comes in so many designs.  I also used a section of it in conjunction with clear contact to jazz up plain folders and pouches etc for a more personalised touch.


As far as labelling goes, this year I decided to mix it up a little.  Last year I predominantly used pre-purchased personalised labels from Moo for my Son's prep things, but as I have a lot more to label this year I have utilised my permanent Sharpie Laundry Marker (for pencils, felt pens, crayons etc..), my Dymo labeller (for labels on glues, markers, rulers, textbooks etc..) and personalised name labels for things such as lunchboxes, drink bottles etc. 

As far as labelling clothing goes, I still have plenty of surplus iron on labels from last years Moo order, so I will continue to use those and with an $80 pair of school shoes added into the mix this year, I bought some shoe dots.. just in case the shoes go wandering.. Which strangely (I say strangely as my stepdaughter loses her drink bottle daily) we have never had a shoe go missing before, but I guess there is always a first time for everything.

So with the uniforms and clothes ironed to cover us til Friday, I'm off to make lunch for the first day back!