Look, friend. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news- don’t shoot the messenger, you know? If you’re in the south, your littles are more than likely gearing up to start school. I couldn’t figure out why I was getting so many requests for backpacks and lunch box recommendations until I remembered “it’s coming.” Here are my favorite backpacks, lunch boxes and lunch accessories to send those babes back to school with in just a few weeks.

I tend to be on the “more is more” spectrum and in the sake of over-preparedness, I love having a stocked cabinet for lunches. Clicking on any item in the images below will take you right to the website and I’ll share some standouts for each section. Let’s do this.

Backpacks:
My favorite bags in the world are State bags. The quality and patterns are fantastic but even better than that-they last forever. They are definitely an investment and not a completely necessary one since there are so many cute and quality backpacks at lower price points.

Since Oshiolema’s school requires so many books to be transported back and forth since they split between school and home, he gets the luxury of the super cool roller backpack. (sense my sarcasm here.) I don’t have anything against roller backpacks but the selection is definitely limited. You can find the best selection here. I may have to get creative and sew some Black Panther patches on one of these or something.
While these backpacks look great (we own and use one all the time,) the straps are uncomfortable. If your kid puts anything heavier than a water bottle and pencil in there, their poor shoulders will pay for it. Just a heads up.
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Lunch Boxes:
I take the kids into Target, have them choose their favorite lunch box and what goes inside stems from that. The stainless steel containers coupled with a few stasher bags tends to be the best fit but these character ice packs are a must:


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Lunch accessories:
While I definitely stick to the standard carrot stick, grapes, sandwich, blah-blah combination, some days I like to switch it up and make either grilled cheese or quesadillas along with breakfast and cut them up to put inside this thermos. They love it. I’m also no stranger to heating up leftovers and throwing them in the thermos too.
I use the muffin tins for things like trail mix, dry cereal and raisins or rice crisps and they’re perfect to just shove things wherever they can fit in the lunch box.
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