Last week we went on a mini shopping expedition to one of our favourite out of town retail parks South Aylseford retail park on the outskirts of Maidstone, Kent. It’s just down the road from us and has a Smyths toy store, M & S food hall, Homebase, Pets at Home, Halfords, Currys PC world, Harveys furniture store, it even has a Nandos and Costa Coffee for a pitstop. There’s a soft play centre nearby and a few more shops. It has free parking and I’ve always got a space easily. We go there often. The aim was to get back to school supplies and film a little on some back to school hacks on Instagram stories. It’s the first time outside of a blog event that I’ve filmed myself chatting to camera in public. If you’re feeling nervous about it I say just go for it, no-one batted an eyelid and I got some great content out of it. I put all the clips together to make a video. Here’s the video:
In summary from the video and a few more general back to school hacks:
- Label absolutely everything, including socks, pants and vests
- No need to sew labels on, use iron-in, stamps or a sharpie laundry pen
- Lay clothes out the night before
- Use photographs in your child’s room with what they need for school to help their independence
- Stock up on bulk birthday cards, small value presents for birthday parties
- Pack envelopes with your child’s name on it in their bag
- Put hair bands on a carabena to keep track of them
- Have a hook for their bags and coats
- If you have a shoe shelf, draw around their shoes and write their name to encourage them to put their shoes away
Lunch box hacks:
- Freeze sandwiches in bulk
- Make grab packs of a drink, snack, fruit for the week ahead then assemble in the morning
- Use ready made fruit pots
- Get little pots and put raisins, seeds etc in them to grab
- Freeze their drink and use as an ice pack
- Stick a sandwich bag and napkin in the lunch box
- Use pitta pockets, wraps, bagels, crackers instead of bread
- Use yoghurt tubes instead of pots – no need for spoon and less mess
After school they are going to be hungry, so have some after school healthy snacks around. I have loved all of the school days so far, I like knowing they are being educated and entertained away from me. The only bits I don’t like are the endless admin tasks, cheques you have to pay and meetings to go to. I love the uniform and seeing them at work and play in the school. Have you got any tips or hacks to add to the list? Let’s hear them in the comments.
Disclosure: this post is in collaboration with South Aylesford Retail Park. All opinions are my own.
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