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Back to School Week Giveaway Winners!

Just popping in this lovely Tuesday to announce all of the Back to School week givaway winners!!


website // facebook // twitter // pinterest

Winner of the set of First Class School labels + Pencil Labels Emily Press is Lynette Curtin!
Congrats Lynette!! Shoot me an email to claim your prize.


Winner of the set of Easy Lunchboxes, two cooler bags + a set of mini dippers from Easy Lunchboxes is Michelle H. Congrats Michelle, shoot me an email to claim  your prize.

website // facebook // twitter // pinterest

Winner of the $100 gift certificate to Tea Collection is Kelly Cantwell. Congrats Kelly, shoot me an email to claim your prize! 

website // blog // facebook // twitter // pinterest

Winner of the Childhood Mini Kit – Mayfield Edition + Project Life Mini Album + $25 in prints from Persnickety Prints is Karen B. Congrats Karen, shoot me an email to claim your prize!

website // blog // facebook // twitter // pinterest

All giveaway winners will have 48 hours to claim their prizes, after which time, if I haven’t been contacted I will choose a new winner.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the back to school giveaways and a huge thank you to all the wonderful companies who contributed these fabulous prizes! 🙂
Don’t forget to take advantage of these fabulous discounts they are currently offering to all Simple as That readers!
Have custom chore charts + daily checklists created by Crystal Wilkerson. She’s taking orders until September 5th only and you can find all the details here. Also, be sure to take advantage of 50% off everything in her digital shop – including her incredible 2013 Life Planner!! 
Her shop will be closing August 31st!
Take advantage of FREE shipping on orders of $20 or more from Persnickety Prints using coupon code Back2School.  Expires September 15th, 2013. US only.


Emily Press is also offering a discount code to all Simple as That readers! Get 10% off site wide  using the code SIMPLE10 at checkout! The discount is available until August 30, 2013.

For one day only, ALL sale items at Tea Collection are marked down an extra 25%! 
Use code SUMMERDAYS at checkout.

Back to School Week Recap

Thank you to everyone who joined us here at SImple as That for back to school week last week! If you missed any of the fabulous back to school fun, here’s a quick recap of what was shared!
Crystal Wilkerson is also offering 50% off everything in her digital shop including her 2013 Life Planner, my organizational secret weapon!
Don’t forget you can enter to win a fabulous back to school prize package that includes a Childhood Mini Kit – Mayfield Edition + a Project Life mini album + $25 in prints from Persnickety Prints. Giveaway closes tonight at midnight!!
Also a giveaway to win a $100 gift certificate to spend on back to school clothes from Tea! Giveaway closes tonight at midnight.
Stop by and enter to win a set of Easy Lunchboxes, 2 cooler bags + a set of Mini Dippers! Giveaway closes tonight at midnight!!

Enter to win a set of first class school labels + a set of pencil labels!
Giveaway closes tonight at midnight!
I also wanted to give a huge thank you to these wonderful companies who helped make
Back to School week so much fun!
Emily Press
 
Easy Lunchboxes
website // blog // facebook // twitter // pinterest
 
Tea Collection
 
Crystal Wilkerson
shop // blog // facebook // twitter // pinterest
 
Oriental Trading Company
 
Project Life
website // blog // facebook // twitter // pinterest
 
Persnickety Prints
website // blog // facebook // twitter // pinterest

Budget Friendly Family Command Center

It’s the final day of Back to School week and it’s been so much fun, I’m sad to see it come to an end! If you’ve missed any of the weeks posts you can find them all here!
Today I’m sharing the details of our new homework station/family command center. It’s small and it didn’t cost a lot, but this little area in our home has been a lifesaver with school starting. Keep reading to find out the materials I used and what we keep in this area of our home that helps our family stay organized and takes some of the stress out of the afterschool rush.
Budget Friendly Family Command Center
We recently moved from Alberta, Canada to sunny Arizona and as with any move, its taken us a little while to get settled in our new home. We’ve been unpacked for a some time now, but I didn’t quite feel like I had things organized the way I liked. We’re in this rental temporarily and with a husband in med school I didn’t have a lot to spend, but I knew we were in need of a space that would work as a family command centre and a spot to keep school papers and homework supplies. It’s pretty basic and bite-size, but I was able to get a lot of use out of a small space without spending a lot.
Budget Friendly Family Command Center
Since we don’t have a built in desk area in this house, I’ve been looking for inexpensive furniture options for a command center since we got here in June and I finally settled on one of these four cube Ikea expedit shelves. It fit perfectly in the space I had and the price was right. With this as the foundation for our command center/homework station it started to come together quickly.
Budget Friendly Family Command Center
The next thing I added to the space was this wall organizer/chalkboard. My sister in law had one and I looked around for something similar, but just kept coming back to this one. It’s a great place to keep keys so we aren’t searching for them as we’re headed out the door, I can quickly jot down any grocery items I need on the chalkboard, keep ingoing/out going mail and any other items that we need access to daily. It’s pretty lightweight, but it serves its purpose and was the best price I found on something like this.
Budget Friendly Family Command Center
One of the big things I wanted to address in this space was all the paper that comes home with the kids from school. It can get out of control so quickly and I knew we needed a place where we could file it all as the kids brought it home. I already had this four section mail holder so I labelled it with 3 school-age kids names and left one section for myself. It makes such a difference having a designated spot where everyone knows to put their papers and where to find them.
Budget Friendly Family Command Center
There are a lot of inexpensive desktop filing products that you could use for managing school papers – I really like the fact that this one is upright so I can see the papers easily. No more misplacing this permission slip or that teacher newsletter. As soon as the kids come home from school one of the first things we do is go through their papers, file what we need to keep, throw out what we don’t and if there are any special art projects we have a spot for those too.
Budget Friendly Family Command Center
Because my planner contains everything I need to stay organized throughout the day – my calendar, meal plan, to-do lists and more – I like to keep it in a place where I can refer to it often. Our command centre is located right by the kitchen so its the perfect spot. I shared some info about my 2013 Life Planner from Crystal Wilkerson the other day PLUS some fun printable chore charts and daily checklists, you can check out the post here! Crystal is offering 50% off everything in her digital shop now through August 31st and this also includes her planner!!
Budget Friendly Family Command Center
This little area not only serves as our family command center but as a handy homework station as well. It’s close to our kitchen table where the kids typically do their homework, so I keep it stocked with things like pencils, erasers, scissors, pens for me to sign their agendas, extra workbooks + coloring books for the youngest. Everything we need for homework is right here, easy to grab when we need it. This has really helped the kids stay focused on getting their work done afterschool.
Budget Friendly Family Command Center
I used these inexpensive magazine files to keep extra workbooks, some of my favorite magazines and a variety of blank notebooks that the kids like to draw in when I’m preparing dinner. I also keep some of our favorite kids craft books + my recipe binder on this shelf. Inside the baskets you’ll find clipboards which come in handy when the kids sit at the couch to do homework, crayons + markers and a few other miscellaneous crafty things.
Budget Friendly Family Command Center

There you have it, our family command center/homework station in a nutshell. It’s one of my favorite little spots in our house and it’s made such a difference with keeping things simple, organized and stress-free this school year!

Don’t miss all the fun we’ve been having for the past seven days during Back to School week here at Simple as that! You’ll find all the posts below + some exciting giveaways!
 

DIY School Notebooks with Oriental Trading Co.

Today I’m excited to be teaming up with Oriental Trading Company to share a quick + easy back to school DIY as part of Back to School week here at Simple as That!

I’m officially the mother of a tween and this project was one that my daughter and I had a lot of fun working on together! We made these simple little notebooks help her keep track of homework and all her other school assignments during the school year. They were quick and inexpensive to make and can be personalized any which way you’d like!

What you’ll need to make your own Back to School Notebook:
-kraft coloured cardstock
-duct tape/pattern paper for binding
-graph/lined paper for inside pages
-scissors or paper trimmer
-corner rounder punch
-stamps to personalize your notebook
-sewing machine
-gluesticks

To start we trimmed our card stock to the size we wanted our finished notebook to be. We made ours in a variety of different sizes, but the ones pictured here are about 5.5″ x 7.5″
Next we measured and trimmed the inner notebook pages so they would fit inside the cover, leaving about a quarter inch margin around the edges. We then chose to round all the corners of the inner pages and the cover. Next we folded the cover in half and folded the inner pages in half to find the centers.
Then it was time to attach the inner pages to the cover. We centred the inner pages within the cover and ran a row of stitches directly down the center, attaching all the layers of paper together.
Here’s what our notebook was starting to look like after this step. Note: we liked the look of a slightly large stitch. I think we had our sewing machine set to 3.5 – 4.
Now we were ready to cover the spine of our notebook. We used some cool neon duct tape for a few of our notebooks and patterned paper for the rest. Oriental Trading has a fun variety of decorative duct tapes and pattern papers to choose from! 

To cover the spine we rolled the tape out sticky side up roughly the same length as the notebook spine. We then centred the notebook spine on the tape, stuck it down and folded it over and attached it to the other side. Then we trimmed off the excess tape on either end. Using the paper we cut a length, folded it in half, then attached to the front and back of the notebook spine using a gluestick.

We added some personal touches to our notebooks in a few different ways. For some we used the computer/printer to add titles on the cardstock covers. If you’d like to do this too you’ll need to print on your paper before doing any cutting and folding so your paper can run smoothly through the printer. We also used these fun stamps to add monograms to the front of some notebooks + to create subject dividers inside.

The notebooks turned out really cute and I’m just as excited about how functional they will be for my daughter to use in 6th grade! Paired with some of these cute personalized neon pencils she’s ready to stay organized this school year!

We really enjoyed creating our Back to School notebooks using supplies from Oriental Trading Company! They have a huge range of inexpensive craft supplies and back to school essentials! 
Here’s how you can keep up to date on the latest products from Oriental Trading: 
Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest

Tomorrow will be the last day of Back to School week if you can believe it! It’s been a lot of fun, so I’m sad to see it coming to an end. 🙁 I’ve been sharing all kinds of tips for keeping back to school time simple + stress-free so you don’t want to miss the past weeks posts or the chance to get your name entered in some really fun giveaways! Links below…


I have one last post coming tomorrow and where excited to share a peek at our budget friendly homework station/family command centre….we’ll see you then! 🙂 

We received craft supplies from Oriental Trading Company for review purposes. 
All opinions expressed in this post are my own. See full disclosure here.

Staying Organized Throughout the School Year

Stay organized throughout the school year with these simple to use chore charts and personal checklists. They’re great for keeping kids on track and motivated.
Today I’m excited to share a few things that help keep our home organized, especially throughout the school year. We’re still perfecting our system, but we’ve found some simple things that are really helping us stay on top of daily to-do’s, organize school papers and make homework time easier. Keep reading to see what’s been working for us + you’ll find some fabulous printables from one of my favorite digital designers, Crystal Wilkerson! PLUS you’ll find an amazing discount on her 2013 Life Planner, my organizational secret weapon, that you don’t want to miss!
Stay organized throughout the school year with FREE printable chore charts and personal checklists at www.simpleasthatblog.com
When it comes to the kids chores and other daily tasks, I’ve realized through trial and error that its the simplest systems that really help us stay organized and that we’re able to stick with. When I stumbled across this blog post one day via pinterest I was intrigued and decided to implement something similar into our family. I was amazed at how well it worked + continues to work a year later.
Stay organized throughout the school year with FREE printable chore charts and personal checklists at www.simpleasthatblog.com
The basis is this: Each of our kids has a checklist of daily responsibilities. We have checklists printed out for each child and when they complete each task, they check them off. If everything is checked off at the end of the week they get a small allowance. If they’ve missed a check, we have makeup tasks that they can perform.

Stay organized throughout the school year with FREE printable chore charts and personal checklists at www.simpleasthatblog.com

Crystal Wilkerson has so generously designed these simple, colorful printable checklists that can be used for an entire month. I have ours printed and attached to our pantry door with a little bit of washi tape. They’re in a location where everyone can reach them and see them all the time. Morning tasks are to be completed before the kids leave for school and the rest are done afterschool or before bed.

Stay organized throughout the school year with FREE printable chore charts and personal checklists at www.simpleasthatblog.com

I love how these checklists are a visual reminder of the basic things that need to be completed each day. Morning + afterschool time are busy times in the day and having the kids stick to their checklists really keeps things running smoothly in our home. We have a no t.v. policy in the mornings and afterschool checks need to be completed before the t.v. can come on or before friend time. Sure, there are days when the checklists just go out the window because things get busy, I love how they’ve helped my kids develop some good habits, which in turn means less nagging from me!

Stay organized throughout the school year with FREE printable chore charts and personal checklists at www.simpleasthatblog.com

Each of our kids has a zone in the house they’re responsible for maintaining daily for an entire week. We rotate zones based on a simple circle chart and these new ones, designed by Crystal Wilkerson are SO pretty….our old one made out of construction paper just wasn’t holding up anymore. 😉 Our chart used to include a playroom but we don’t have one in this house so we’ve adjusted the pie chart to include 4 major zones that I feel get the dirtiest throughout any given day. If a child is on that zone they’re responsible for keeping it clean and tidy each day.

Stay organized throughout the school year with FREE printable chore charts and personal checklists at www.simpleasthatblog.com

I help the younger two with this, but in rooms like the kitchen I’ll have the child who is on that zone just do a quick wipe of the counters in the morning before they leave for school – even the three year old can do that! The main bathroom can always use a quick wipe down with a disinfectant wipe. I don’t expect them to clean each zone top to bottom everyday, just keep it clean and tidy. We typically do a big clean on Saturday morning.

That is just a quick rundown of how our responsibility system works – if you have any questions just let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer. 🙂

As for these lovely checklists + circle charts, Crystal has made some fabulous free printable versions for us! You can simply print them out and write in your own info to create your family’s daily checklists. She also made printable circle chart templates that include 3, 4, 5 or 6 spaces. See the examples above of how you can use these circle charts – the possibilities are endless!

Download the free checklists here. 
Download the free circle chart templates here.

If you’d like a customized family checklist + circle chart Crystal can create those for you and here’s all the info you’ll need:

– Email [email protected] with the subject line “CUSTOMIZED CHORE CHART”.
– Let her know how many circle charts and/or daily checklists you want customized.
– The circle charts can be customized to have 3-6 spaces, depending on
the # of children in your family.
– She will email you back an order form, where you can fill out the details of what
you want customized.
-Custom orders are being taken until September 5th only
Prices on Customized Circle charts/Checklists:
– $10 for first customized chore or reward chart, $5 for each additional chart.
– Crystal will email you a PDF file of your customized chart for you to print out.
– If you want her to print, assemble, & ship the charts to you, the cost is an additional $10 for the first chart & $3 for each additional chart.

 When it comes to keeping myself organized during the school year I rely on my 2013 Life Planner, designed by Crystal Wilkerson. This little binder contains my entire life – it has everything in it from menu plans to my blog calendar to my daily to-do lists. I really don’t know what I’d do without it!! I did an entire blog post about my planner where you can see what’s inside right here.
This little planner stays in our family command center/homework area {that I’ll be telling you all about in an upcoming blog post} where I can see it throughout the day. I’m using one of these cute mini binders right now and I love it! This planner really is my organizational secret weapon and right now Crystal is offering it for 50% off!!
Use coupon code Back2School  to take 50% off their entire purchase in her shop, including the planner! Coupon Expires: August 31st
Her shop will be closing after August 31st, so if they want to get something, make sure you get it in the next week AND download it by then too!I hope this post is useful in helping you establish your own back to school routines! Staying on top of these daily responsibilities helps our family work together as a team and cuts down on the morning/afterschool chaos.

Don’t miss out on any of the fun we’ve been having during Back to School week here at Simple as that! Check out these posts + be sure to enter some exciting giveaways while you’re there!

Documenting School Memories with Project Life®

The Back to School Week fun continues and today I’m excited to share some simple solutions for documenting your child’s school year memories with Project Life® + Persnickety Prints.

We just started a Project Life® mini album to record my kindergartners first year of school and we’re having so much fun with it! My 5 year old thinks working on this together is the best thing in the world + I’m so thrilled to be starting her early on her Project Life® journey! We chose to use the Childhood Mini Kit – Mayfield Edition and one of these Project Life® Sunflower mini albums.

Come take a closer peek at some of the pages we’ve completed so far. We’re keeping things as simple as we can – just photos, journaling + some school memorabilia. No embellishments necessary, its all about the story or her kindergarten year. If you need some tips on capturing your child’s school year in photos, stop by this post from earlier in the week for some quick tips!

The first thing we did to get our little album started was order prints and we did this online with Persnickety Prints. This was my first time using them and I was so impressed with the quality of the prints, the colors and I really loved the convenience of getting my photos delivered straight to my door! I could go on and on about how much I love that I can order 3×4 size photos and that I can choose to have them done up with Project Life® rounded corners and everything, it’s is so great and just cuts down on one extra step for me!

Next we started adding some journaling to the album. The Childhood Mini Kits are really helpful in recording school memories, there’s so many great journaling prompts on the cards – its just a matter of filling in the blanks which makes it so easy! This is one of my favourite little cards…

Addie thinks it’s so special to be writing and recording her own history in this album. Since we started putting the album together she’s asked me several times afterschool if we can do more pages and add more to her scrapbook. She’s really loving it and I love doing it with her! We’re creating special memories while recording memories – it’s so great!

I wanted to include some of Addie’s school projects in this little album so I took photos of some things she’s made or drawn. For tips on photographing your child’s artwork visit this post. I simply cropped the photos I took to 4×6 size to fit into the mini album, uploaded to Persnickety Prints and ordered them printed on card stock. I just love how much these little pieces of art add to her album!

I’m so excited to continue adding to this mini album throughout the year. Project Life® continues to be my go to memory keeping system these days. It’s perfectly simple and doable and easy! I can’t wait to share more pages from our album as we continue to add to it!

A little bit more about Persnickety Prints:

Persnickety Prints is a full scale professional photo lab operated by color and memory keeping specialists. We are fussy about the small details, and take pride in our work. 

Simply upload your photos to your free online account at www.persnicketyprints.com and order prints. We’ve got square 3×3 instagram prints, Project Life 3×4’s and anything else up to 30×40 enlargements. 
Use coupon code Back2School for FREE shipping on orders of $20 or more // US only
Expires September 15th, 2013.
Enter to win a Back to School Project Life® Prize Package to help you get started documenting this school year with your child. Follow the prompts in the rafflecopter widget below to enter.

[1] Mayfield Childhood Edition
[1] Project Life Mini album of your choice
$25.00 in prints from Persnickety Prints
Giveaway open to US Residents only.

Playful Learning Ecademy World Tour

Hello everyone! We’re waving hello from sunny Arizona and are so excited to welcome you to our little corner of the world on this next stop on the Playful Learning World Tour! 

We’re temporary Arizona transplants – we hail from Alberta, Canada – but we’ve had a lot of fun exploring our new home thanks to the Playful Learning Backyard Science eLesson! 
This eLesson was so much fun for my four kids ages 11, 8, 5 and 3. I paired up each of my older kids with the younger two and we started with the cute, bite-size eLesson videos which my kids really loved watching!

Next, we headed outside with clipboards, binoculars and magnifying glasses and went for a walk around our neighbourhood. Using the fabulous printables that go along with the eLesson the kids were able to take the lead and investigate the plants, animals, sounds + colors around us. 
One of the kids favorite activities was finding and collecting colors in nature. We had a lot of fun with the backyard science eCourse, it’s the second eLesson we’ve done with Playful Learning and we hope to enjoy many more! 🙂

Mariah Bruehl of Playful Learning is so generously offering a free eLesson to readers. The kids and I have done the Power of Putups eLesson and it was so great, I highly recommend doing it as a family!  Use the discount code WORLDPEACE during the registration for a 100% discount on the Power of Putups eLesson.

Join in the Playful Tour and enter to win your own scholarship to access all the Playful Learning eLessons!  Submit a photo of your child at play and share their answers to the questions below. Upload your entry to our community gallery by August 30th and 5 scholarship winners will be chose and announced on the Playful Learning blog on August 31st.
Where do you live?
What season is it there now?
What is your favorite way to play?
What do you like most about learning with friends?
Can you tell us something special or different about where you live or games you play.

Back to School Fashion with Tea Collection

In case you hadn’t heard the news, it’s Back to School week at Simple as That! We’re chatting about keeping things simple + stress-free this school year and so far I’ve shared some helpful tips on organizing school supplies, documenting your child’s school year in photos and healthly lunch ideas.
Today is all about kids Back to School fashions and I’m excited to be teaming up with Tea Collection to bring you some fabulous kids school clothing ideas!

I’m not a person who loves to shop, so finding back to school clothes for the kids is something that quickly overwhelms me. Keeping costs down, finding items that fit each child’s personal style and that are suitable for their ages can be hard. I’m all for finding ways to simplify and make back to school shopping easy! 
What I love about Tea Collection for Back to School:
1. I love that they have so many cute, interchangeable outfits. Clothing items that match with multiple pieces means we get more wear out of our clothing!
2. I love how easy it is to shop with their sets! Everything is right there, no searching multiple stores for coordinating leggings, tees, etc. Their sets are also a really great way to save!
3. I love the durability of their clothing. My kids are hard on their clothes and having purchased from Tea clothing in the past, I know how well it’s going to stand up to whatever my kids put their clothes through during a typical school day.
4. I love that Tea Collection carries unique styles for everyone on my shopping list. It’s getting harder to do with a tween in the house, but we were able to find some favorites for everyone at Tea Collection this year!
Clothes my Kids Chose for Back to School:

[1] Skinny Twill Pants in Fruit Punch, Night Garden Graphic Tee, Ribbed Purity Tee in Citrine

[2] Day Tripper Twill Pants in Thunder, Pouncing Tiger Tee, Acid Green Purity Tee
[3] Tai Kang Floral Bubble Skirt, Polka Dot Stretch Leggings in Fruit Punch,
French Terry Mock Neck Zip Up, Acid Green Purity Tee
[4] Tai Kang Floral Twill Dress, Polka Dot Stretch Leggings in Fruit Punch, Acid Green Purity Tee

Shop Tea Collection today through Sunday August 25th and get 20% off all tees! Use discount code TEES4ALL at checkout.

Enter to win a $100 Gift Certificate to Tea Collection:
Today Tea Collection is offering one luck Simple as That reader the chance to win a $100 gift certificate to spend on back to school clothing! Simply follow the prompts in the rafflecopter widget below to enter. This giveaway is open to US residents only. 

Tea Collection is also running a super fun Back to School sweepstakes. You can win prizes from fabulous companies like Weelicious, Oompa, Annie’s Homegrown and of course, Tea Collection!
Check out these amazing prizes + go enter here! 
Contest ends August 25th!

Grand Prize: $500 gift certificate for teacollection.com, One-on-One meal planning session with Catherine McCord from Weelicious, $250 gift certificate for oompa.com, year of snacks from Annie’s Homegrown

Runner Up (5 winners): $25 GC for teacollection.com, Signed Copy of Weelicious Lunches, $25 GC for oompa.co
Be sure to check out Tea’s School Day program. Shop and donate 15% to your child’s school. For more information or to apply go here. 
Have you missed any of the other Back to School giveaways happening this week? Make sure you stop by and enter to win a set of durable school labels from Emily Press and a fabulous prize package from Easy Lunchboxes! 
Don’t miss out on any of the fun we’ve been having during Back to School week here at Simple as that! Check out these posts + be sure to enter some exciting giveaways while you’re there!

Organizing School Supplies with Emily Press
Simple Back to School Photo Tips
Simple + Healthy School Lunch Ideas with Easy Lunchboxes
Back to School Fashions with Tea Collection
Documenting School Memories with Project Life
Tips for Staying Organized Throughout the School Year
+ Printable Chore Charts and Daily Checklists

We received clothing from Tea Collection for review purposes. 
All opinions expressed in this post are my own. See full disclosure here.

Simple and Healthy School Lunch Ideas

A weeks worth of simple, healthy school lunch ideas that go beyond the typical PB & J!

A weeks worth of simple, healthy school lunch ideas that go beyond the typical PB&J! I don't know about you, but I'm always on the lookout for quick + healthy school lunch ideas for my kids! Lunches that aren't to complicated to throw together in the morning rush. Lunches that are wholesome, affordable and that my kids will actually eat! Today I'm excited to share a weeks worth of school lunch ideas that are healthy + that your kids are sure to love! They've been tried and tested by my own kiddos, keep reading to see which lunches were their favorites + find out some of my tips for keeping lunch making simple.

I don’t know about you, but I’m always on the lookout for quick + healthy school lunch ideas for my kids! Lunches that aren’t to complicated to throw together in the morning rush. Lunches that are wholesome, affordable and that my kids will actually eat!

Today I’m excited to share a weeks worth of school lunch ideas that are healthy + that your kids are sure to love! They’ve been tried and tested by my own kiddos, keep reading to see which lunches were their favorites + find out some of my tips for keeping lunch making simple.

For lunch packing I use these 3 compartment containers from Easy Lunchboxes for all my kids. I’ve been using these containers for a few years now and absolutely love them! I love that they’re BPA free + dishwasher safe and  I love how they keep the kids lunches neat and fresh, even when they’re tossed around in their backpacks.

Day 1 | Sandwich Kabobs

The simplest and healthiest foods seem to look a little extra yummy when they’re prepared in a unique way. This was the first time we tried these sandwich kabobs, a slight variation on the plain old sandwich and my kids loved them! Of the five lunches I’m sharing today this was one of the top two. The kids always love it when I add some jell-O to their lunch as well. I make a batch ahead then refrigerate in the Easy Lunchbox containers overnight.

A weeks worth of simple, healthy school lunch ideas that go beyond the typical PB&J!

Day 2 | Meat, cheese and Veggie Wraps

These wraps were definitely a hit with the kids, my son said they were his favorite lunch of the five I’m sharing today! They didn’t all care for the heart-shaped melon, half my kids like melon and half don’t, but you could easily switch that out for another fruit. Inside the wraps I did light mayo, ham, grated cheese, grated carrot and lettuce. If you have a child that doesn’t like carrot sticks I’ve found grating a little into their sandwich is a simple way to sneak those carrots into their lunch.

A weeks worth of simple, healthy school lunch ideas that go beyond the typical PB&J!

Day 3 | Pizza Buns

I’d have to say that these homemade pizza buns take the number one spot for my kids favorite school lunch, ever! I shared this recipe back in March and its one of my most pinned blog posts. I love that these pizza buns can be made ahead and frozen which makes for a quick lunch anytime. I need to whip up another batch to have on hand in my freezer really soon! Read how to prepare these pizza buns and print the recipe here.

A weeks worth of simple, healthy school lunch ideas that go beyond the typical PB&J!

Day 4 | Butterfly Sandwich

Nothing too complicated here, just a simple sandwich cut into the shape of a butterfly. This was one of my preschoolers favorite lunches and it had everything to do with the cute sandwich shape I’m sure! 🙂 She likes nutella sandwhiches, for the other kids I did meat. You can find sandwich cutters all over the place – at your local dollar store or on amazon to name a few.

A weeks worth of simple, healthy school lunch ideas that go beyond the typical PB&J!

Day 5 | Tuna Salad + Crackers

This lunch was my preschoolers favorite which surprised me, she really liked dipping her crackers in the tuna. I used these mini dippers containers to include a little bit of tuna salad, along with crackers + cheese. Add a mini spoon for scooping the tuna and making mini cracker + tuna sandwiches or simply use the tuna for dipping. For a little bit of a variety I cut up watermelon into sticks and the kids thought that was fun.

That concludes a weeks worth of healthy lunch options…I hope there’s a few ideas there that your kids will love too! Lunch making is definitely one of my back to school challenges but by adding these new favorites into the lunch menu mix I think we’re well on our way to a fun + healthy school year!

A weeks worth of simple, healthy school lunch ideas that go beyond the typical PB&J!

Tips for Simple School Lunch Preparation

1. Get things ready the day before. Whatever I can have already prepared ahead of time really cuts down on my morning lunch making time. Have vegetables sliced, jell-O made the night before, etc.

2. Have a designated area in your kitchen where you keep all your lunch making supplies. I store all our plastic containers, disposable utensils, ziploks and insulated lunch bags in one cupboard. The kids know that this is where lunch things belong + as soon as they come home afterschool they clean out their lunch bag and return it to this cupboard so its ready for the next morning.

3. I have four kids and my youngest is still home with me. When I’m preparing the kids lunches I always make one up for her too. Because everything is out already it just makes sense. This really cuts down on the lunch time mess at home + if we ever have to be out running errands over the lunch hour I just grab her lunch and take it with us.

A weeks worth of simple, healthy school lunch ideas that go beyond the typical PB&J!

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Back to School Photo Tips Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.

Simple Back to School Photo Tips

Simple Back to School Photo Tips – Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.

Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.

1. Find the time – There’s a lot going on at the beginning of a new school year and finding the time to take a few photos involves some planning. Have your camera equipment charged and make sure memory cards are empty. Because the first day of school tends to be so busy my favorite time to  take my camera along with me is to meet the teacher night or even take a moment to snap some photos on the second or third day of school when things have settled down a little bit. The photo below was taken on a day I volunteered in my daughter’s preschool classroom.

Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.

2. Capture the details – Don’t forget to snap a few photos of the little details that can sometimes go unnoticed. A closeup of your child’s backpack, a nametag on their desk. These little things really help to tell the story of your child’s school experience and as your child’s skill levels change and develop through the years these photos are really precious to look back on! My free printable back to school photo checklist is a great source of photo ideas that go beyond the typical school day photo ops.

Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.

3. Sit back and observe – Taking on the role of an observer can help your child relax, especially if you have an older child who may not think it’s “cool” to have mom in the classroom snapping photos. You can still capture great photos by taking a few steps back from the action with the help of a zoom lens or even a fixed lens with a longer focal length. Both lens types will allow you to be further away from your subject physically, but still capture closeup photos that look like you’re right in the action. Don’t worry about eye contact, I love the look and feel of these unobtrusive shots – they make it feel like you’re sneaking a little peek into their day.

Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.

4. Indoor photos – There isn’t a lot of natural light available in most schools which makes taking photos inside your child’s classroom a little tricky. To compensate for less light try increasing your camera’s ISO. Use any light source available to its fullest, if there’s a window get close to it. Here are a few more detailed tips on taking photos in low light. My favorite lens right now to use indoors is my the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. This is my go-to lens right now, I love it and use it almost exclusively. It shoots beautifully and allows me to adapt to so many different photography situations! You can read more of my thoughts on this lens as well as some alternate lens suggestions in this post.

Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.

5. Keep snapping – don’t forget to capture other details of a typical school day. Getting ready in the morning, packing lunches, walking to school or doing homework. These are all moments that help tell your child’s school story. These are the perfect moments to capture quickly with your camera phone. 
 
Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.
6. Document change – Back to school time is a great opportunity to document your child’s growth. Consider taking the same photo each year on the first day of school in the same location or using the same pose. Creating a unity between these yearly photos really highlights the growth and changes that occur within the year. Snap a photo with your child and their teacher on the first day of school and again on the last day.
Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.
7. DIY School Photos – I have to confess that I’ve never ordered a school portrait package of any of my kids. They’re expensive and I’ve never been very thrilled with them. Taking your own school portraits is totally doable, you just need to be consistent with it each year. It’s more about documenting their growth than anything else (and wearing cute outfits too!). 😉
At the beginning of each school year I do a mini session with my kids where I take a quick headshot of each of them. Make sure you choose a neutral backdrop and have your child stand a few feet in front of it to create some depth and background blur. I have four frames that I switch out with our new photos each year and then I order standard size photos to include in their school albums and to send off to grandparents. Some photo labs, like Persnickety Prints even offer wallet sizes that you can order for your kids to hand out to friends.
Easy to follow tips to help tell the story of your child’s school year in photos.
Don’t miss out on any of the fun we’ve been having during Back to School week here at Simple as that! Check out these posts + be sure to enter some exciting giveaways while you’re there!

Organizing School Supplies with Emily Press
Simple Back to School Photo Tips
Simple + Healthy School Lunch Ideas with Easy Lunchboxes
Back to School Fashions with Tea Collection
Documenting School Memories with Project Life
Tips for Staying Organized Throughout the School Year
Printable Chore Charts and Daily Checklists

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