Backpack, new every year?
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Anonymous
+ 1 Both my kids have two each. They have used them for years and they are indeed still going strong. Very roomy with tons of zippered pockets. These also wash very well and come out looking like new. |
Anonymous
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We bought new every year when the kids were in elementary school. They loved picking out new backpacks. It was one of our many back-to-school traditions. The old ones were always put to good use. Once they reached middle school, their backpacks lasted for years.
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Anonymous
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Team DH. As long as you get one in a favorite color or one he likes, that is the best way to go. May last through most of elementary school and then he can get another.
Otherwise, it's waste of money and teaches your kid to be a throwaway consumer. Buy pencils and notebooks with his favorite characters on them instead. |
Anonymous
| We don't have a hard and fast rule. If the kids have grown out of the backpack style, then it's relegated to a backpack used as a carryon for vacations or something like that, or handed down to a younger sibling. If it's in good shape and they still like it, they use it the following year. |
Anonymous
| It doesn't have to be plain to be re-used. We bought a cute patterned LL Bean Junior for my oldest that she used for three years until she outgrew it and it is in such great condition that my younger child used it for K and will probably use it until she outgrows it. The Lands End backpack that my older child got in 3rd will probably last her until middle school, if not longer. |
Anonymous
| We buy backpacks that last and allow the kids to pick a new lunch bag every year. That way they are still able to get something fun/cool/character-based every year. |
Anonymous
| Our son had the same backpack from PK4 through 2nd. When he finally went back to school in 3rd grade, he had so many books along with his device we upgraded backpacks. This one should at least last until middle school. We decorated the backpacks with keychain stuffies and switched those kind of things out every year. |
Anonymous
| It depends, DD rather thrift her clothes, and a new backpack every 1-2 years. |
Anonymous
| A good quality one that lasts for a few years like LL Bean. |
Anonymous
| We buy good quality so they will last several years. |
Anonymous
| We have always bought good quality Jansport backpacks that have lasted several years. For kindergarten each of my kids got one of the largest backpacks they have because they had to store their winter coats, winter boots and lunch boxes inside the backpacks in their cubbies at school. The kindergarten backpacks were retired when my kids started going to overnight camp. That’s the backpack they used for overnight camp for years. They got a second backpack that lasted them through the end of middle school and a new backpack for high school. Unless you’re buying cheap junk, it’s a waste to buy a new backpack every year. |
Anonymous
| You might get him a new one in first if the K backpack is tiny and super cheap but generally kids don't get a new one every year. It's not really a thing. |
Anonymous
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I’ve posted this elsewhere, but I’m hoping to buy 2 more backpacks.
We bought the LLBean junior as a diaper bag / preschool backpack and DS will take it to K this year. Going on 6 years of daily use and still in great shape. Will probably size up in 3rd / 4th and 8th / 9th. |
Anonymous
I can imagine the K-5 backpack got pretty filthy. Was it machine washable?! |
Anonymous
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Make sure the whatever backpack you get is large enough to put a full size folder in easily. Helpful if they can shove their jacket in as well.
We also had one for elementary school and a new one for middle school. |