Preparing Your Child For School: 4 Ways To Start The New Year On a Good Note

A new school year is exciting, but it’s a transition for both children and adults.

New teachers, new classmates and a new schedule can be daunting. You’ll want to make sure your child is putting their best foot forward in the new year. Here are a few ways children and adults can prepare for a new school year:

1. Communication is Key

Ask your children how they are feeling about the new year. What are they excited about? Staying positive is important, but be sure to ask about their concerns, too. That way, you can approach any potential problems head-on. Let them know that they’re not the only ones feeling a little nervous.

It may be helpful to arrange a playdate with other children who will be at the same school before the first day. That way, they’ll begin the year with a few familiar faces and know that they’ll make even more new friends as the year continues.

2. Lay Out Their Day

Let your kids know what’s on their plate each day. Make sure they are clear about what time they start school and when the day ends. It may even be helpful to visit the school in person and take a practice walk through their schedule before the first day.

Don’t begin and end their schedule with the school day. You can also create a checklist of things that need to be done both before and after school. They’ll feel more prepared when they know exactly what to expect.

3. Goodbyes Don’t Need to be Sad

A positive goodbye routine can make a world of difference at the beginning of each school day, leaving your child excited for the day to come instead of sad about leaving. Your routine might be a hug, high-five or secret handshake. Whichever you choose, keep it brief and be sure to let them know you’ll be back to pick them up. They’ll feel good about the day ahead and safe knowing they’ll see you again soon.

4. Look into After-School Activities

For many children, after-school activities can turn school from a place you go for the day into a community. It can be a way for both kids and adults to make new friends and become more involved in your neighborhood. Research even suggests that sports teams make kids better people!

Get Back into School Spirit with Gifts ‘N Things

With summer halfway over, it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming school year! Gifts ‘N Things offers plenty of items to help your kids get back in the mindset of school and encourage some school spirit.

Fall is often the busiest time of the year for families. Students, in particular, are thrown back into a full school schedule packed to the brim with sports, clubs, and extracurricular. How can you help your child feel school spirit and a sense of pride in the teams and clubs they belong to?

Gifts ‘N Things offers a variety of high-quality and personalized activewear to promote and unite school groups. You can design with school colors and mascots in mind. The versatility and ability to personalize make our active wear lines a hit with sports teams and school clubs. The affordability of Gifts ‘N Things items can also make it easier on the family budget if your child is involved in a variety of groups.

With a wide range of activewear, outerwear, and much more, you can outfit the entire team with tops, jackets, caps, and pants. And these options aren’t limited to students; our range of polos, knitwear, and customizable shirts will look excellent for teachers and parents who want to show their school pride on casual Fridays and at school events.

You can also get the whole family involved with some school spirit. Gifts ‘N Things offers a whole line of totes, cinch packs, travel bags, coolers, and more to represent your children’s team for when the whole family is on the go! Additionally, there are infant, toddler, and youth-sized active wear in t-shirts, polos, caps, activewear, and outerwear that will involve little siblings in school spirit. And with excellent sizing options in tall and ladies’ fit, there’s something to fit every body type. The whole team will look sharper than ever!

When it comes to repping the team, look no further than Gifts ‘N Things for your school spirit essentials! Take a look everything that Gifts ‘N Things has to offer to get your school year off on the right foot.

Shop Gifts ‘N Things for Back to School Supplies

Retail stores aren’t the only places where you can shop for back to school items for your young, bright students. Explore Gifts ‘N Things for colorful, unique, and exciting school tools and accessories for this school year.

Smencils, Smens, Smarkers, Oh My!

Help your child understand what it is to be environmentally-responsible from a young age. These colorful writing and drawing tools are created from recycled newspapers and corn-based biodegradable plastic, and, additionally come with environmentally-friendly packaging and biodegradable erasers. They come in a variety of delectable smells, and your kids can choose from a variety of options including glitter, metallic, seasonal, mini-sized, and more! Learn how to mix your own here!

Highlighters and Erasers

Check out colorful, fun-shaped erasers like the quirky Dino Puzzle eraser and vibrant fruit-scented erasers so your kids can really make the most of their education and have fun learning. Look in the Lil’ Shopper’s Shoppe for more fun school accessories.

Incentive Prizes

For all the teachers out there, Gifts ‘N Things has a collection of items that you can use in the classroom as incentive prizes, small gifts, and classroom tools to reward excellent behaviors and fantastic scholarship. Browse our selection of monster/zombie finger tattoos, tornado high bounce balls, and jurassic putty, as well as putty, rings, bracelets, stickers, and more!

Personalized School Spirit Apparel

Get your kid in style by adding some school spirit to their closet. Personalizing t-shirts and hoodie sweatshirts can be a practical addition to your school supply list or a fun Christmas or birthday present. With an array of colors and designs to choose from—school emblems, mascots, buildings, and more— the quality and versatility that the school spirit apparel adds to your child’s wardrobe can make any school year more exciting. Start designing your apparel here.

Gifts ‘N Things offers a variety of presents and supplies for holidays and birthday, but they also have items that make for excellent additions to your child’s school supply list. Start your search today.

Fundraisers Help your School and your Child!

Fundraising is a great way for any school or organization to raise money. Fundraising can help with a wide range of goals; whether you are looking to add a new playground, buy new books, or raise funds to go on a field trip. All of the benefits can often be overlooked. Here is a list of ways fundraising can help your school and child!

1. Improved Facilities

One of the most important reasons to fundraise is to improve your school’s building and equipment. Successful fundraising builds entire jungle gyms or playgrounds for schools! Schools can always use improvement and fundraising is an effective way to provide them with funds to make their goals a reality. Improving facilities doesn't just benefit the school, but the hundreds of students that use the equipment.  In turn, this helps create a great learning environment for everyone!

2. Increased Funds

Fundraising isn’t just for schools! Fundraising can benefit clubs, churches, sports clubs, and so much more. Does your team need new uniforms? Fundraising can help. Is your church going on a retreat and need some money? Fundraising can help. Is your band wanting to perform in a big parade? Okay you get the point, fundraising can benefit anyone who needs extra money and is willing to promote growth.

3. Parent Involvement

Parents are always looking for ways to get involved in their children’s lives and fundraising is a great way to get involved! Children want to win the cool prizes that are usually the incentives for the top seller and need their parents’ help. It can be a fun way to strategize and work as a family for a good cause.

4. Selling Skills

Fundraising helps children gain valuable skills.  Going door to door and talking to new people isn’t always easy, but experience with fundraising promotes self- esteem and is an excellent confidence booster.  It gives them skills that they will be able to use in the future and will teach them the importance of persistence.

5. Creates a Community

The sense of community that fundraising gives may be its best benefit. It is rewarding to see entire schools come together for a common cause and showcase their school spirit. It also creates team mentality and shows that with hard work, anything can happen. There is no better feeling than when a school reaches its goal and creates a better environment for an entire community!

As you can see, there are many benefits of fundraising! At Gifts N’ Things, we provide many options that satisfy your school or organization’s needs. We want to help your school reach its goal. We’d love to hear how fundraising has impacted your school!