Back-to-School Essentials – Shoes, Backpacks, Stationery and More

I am always sorry when the summer holidays end, as I love the freedom of days out and no stress from the school run!  I do love the feeling of a fresh start that back to school brings though.  It heralds the transition into Autumn, still warm days and golden leaves.  Plus – new stationery!  Who doesn’t love stationery, right?  So, I was prompted to do a review of back-to-school items, and so here we are.  I’ll break them into categories (you might notice a recurring unicorn theme – unicorns are very popular in this house!)  This post may contain compensated links, please see my disclosure page.

School Shoes

Buying back-to-school shoes is a bit of a rite of passage at the beginning of term.

 

Term Footwear

We were asked to review Term School Shoes and Miss H chose the ‘Zara’, primarily because it has a butterfly on the strap (the current discussion on gender-neutral has completely passed her by.  Term are great at cool non-girly girls shoes though!).  I was happy when they came as they are really solid shoes, not your typical girly ones that don’t offer much support and are sorry looking after a couple of weeks. From £39.99.

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Dobell Shoes

I was really pleased to be sent these boys’ school shoes to review.  Master T goes through school shoes like anything – I think he views it as a challenge to see how quickly he can wreck them!  These Dobell shoes look promising – very sturdy with a thick sole and velcro (because the boy hates tying his shoelaces!).  Thick sole and deep grips.  Very reasonable at from £29.99 too.

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Stationery

This unicorn pencil holder is absolutely perfect for Miss H!  It’s from Find me a Gift and comes in at £8.99.  We’ve already had compliments and ‘where did you get that?’ questions. We love all things unicorn!

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Unicorn Tape Dispenser.  How cute is this?  The tape comes out to make his tail (or rainbow unicorn poop – you decide).   You can buy it for £7.99.

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JM Barrie’s Peter and Wendy Notebook, £4 – in homage to the wonderful legacy left to the hospital by the author of Peter Pan, JM Barrie, when he left all the rights to the Peter Pan story to GOSH after he died.

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Patient Design A5 Spiral Notebook £3 – the artwork on the front cover is based on drawings done by children cared for at GOSH, during a special workshop run by the hospital’s arts programme ‘GOSH Arts’.

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Little Brian Paint Sticks.  Now, I have had a play with these and they are great.  In my opinion, they are a cross between crayons and paint.  So the convenience (and no mess!) of crayons but the vibrancy of paint (plus it goes on easy). Around £7.99 for 12.

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Cupcake Pencil Case and 10 Scented Pencils Smencil Bundle from Crafty Arts is £15.95 and the sort of thing I would have loved as a child!

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Lunch Box

Miss H believes that she is a cat so was delighted with this lunch box set with Pusheen on it (you can see Pusheen on a series of gifs/emojis – that’s where she knew it from!). £7.99 Find me a Gift

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These lunchboxes from Smiggle are ingenius – they come with a set of permanent markers so the kids can colour them in and personalise them.  They also have a zip up pocket to hold their drinks. Smiggle are great and even do advent calendars.

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Backpacks and Bags

You may already be aware that we LOVE everything Disney, so you can imagine how I feel about these products from Samsonite.  Brilliant Darth Vader back pack.  

Star Wars Ultimate Backpack £45

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I desperately want this Minnie Mouse bag for myself – definitely would not be letting Miss H share!

Disney Suitcase, MINNIE ICONIC £99

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I Believe in Unicorns Backpack – featuring Agnes’ unicorn from Despicable Me. This can be bought from QVC and independent retailers. This is the one Miss H will be taking to school with her.

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Another back pack featuring Agnes’ unicorn is actually my favourite as it’s so bright!  It can be bought from Photobox.

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I love this statement Spiketus Rex back pack from Room to Grow!

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Back to School Greetings Cards

Hallmark have done a range of ‘first day at school’ greetings cards that can be found in many independent stockists, as well as over on Amazon. Cards start at £1.25 and go up to £4. 

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They have also produced some tiny toys that can be smuggled into school and not noticed! These ‘itty bittys’ can be found over on Hallmark and are also available over on Amazon and in many independent stockists across the country. They retail at £6 each. 

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Many of these products have been sent to me on a complimentary basis to review.  I chose the items I liked the most and hope you do also.  The opinions expressed, as always, are my own.

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