Back To School “Cool” with Dollar Tree

My sons are both in Middle School now which sadly means gone are the days of cute puppy dogs like “Blues Clues” and mega-boxes of crayons.  Now they need more sophisticated school tools like mechanical pencils, calculators, protractors and staplers.

“Cute” has turned into “cool,” but their definition of what is cool enough for school is not always easy to find, nor often easy to afford.  Which is why this time of year, I love to turn them loose at Dollar Tree.  They get to have full control over what they select and at $1 per item, there’s a huge inventory of back-to-school items available, and I’m not facing a ridiculous bill at the end of our shopping trip.  Total win-win-win!

An interesting thing happened on this year’s shopping trip. Though they were free to pick up what they needed, I made a few suggestions along the way, but instead of accepting my additions as they normally would shrug off in the past, if they felt they didn’t need the item they told me so and gave me a reason why.  Reasons which primarily consisted of ideas to recycle items they still had from last year that were in good shape or reminders that we might still have some stuffed in our designated school supply cabinet.

I’m. So. Dang. Proud!

Really wonderful to know that they are taking our recycling initiatives to heart and being more conservative in their spending habits.  Chalk up yet another win during our Dollar Tree trip!

The boys found styles they deemed “cool” enough for school.  The oldest opting for camouflage and race car patterns, the youngest gravitating towards the Marvel branded products.  They both agreed to split things like pencil grips, erasers and highlighters as they felt they wouldn’t need double (another win!) and then found specific items on each of their school supply wishlists like sticky notes, binders and clipboards.

Dollar Tree has just about everything you can think of or find on your back-to-school supply wish lists or classroom lists.  In addition to traditional supplies, you’ll find lunchboxes, containers, snacks, poster board, locker decorations, tissues and a wealth of other handy items to help you and your children have a productive school year.

If you’re curious to learn whether Dollar Tree can meet all of your back-to-school supply list needs, you don’t even have to step out of your home, just pop on over to the website at http://www.dollartree.com/ where you’ll find the latest shopping ad along with a wide variety of items that may be purchased in bulk.

Ordering bulk items online is a great way to ensure you can find the exact amount of items you need for classroom use or for larger groups like school clubs.  Also handy for ordering personal items you know you need a large quantity of through the school year like socks (with boys, trust me, you can never have enough socks!) or batteries and tissues.

Have you checked out your local Dollar Tree for your back-to-school supply needs?  What tips do you have to help curb costs while getting the “cool” tools your kids want?