After all the stores clear their 4th of July decorations out of the way, they bring in the school supplies. Whether you’re a teen going to high school taking charge and buying her own school supplies for the first time or a young adult headed to college who’s been there, done that, you know the routine: backpack, pencils, notebooks, rulers. Probably even a tablet, too. But you can make the back-to-school experience a lot more fun by shopping a bit “off list.”
A Social Media “Business Card”
It’s the first day of class and you sit down in class behind a really cute guy or girl, or you find a new table at lunch and the people at the next table over are so funny, you can already picture being friends all year. But how do you break the ice and stand out from the rest? Order customized cards or stickers with your social media info to pass out to new friends. It shows initiative and makes you memorable. You don’t even have to lead with the card or sticker, either, but it might be handy to have in your backpack or pocket for anyone with whom you get talking who asks for your info before she walks away.
Car Decor
Maybe it’s your first year driving yourself to school, or maybe you want an easy way to spot your vehicle on the dorm lot. Either way, decorating your car with car stickers is a fun way to show off your personality and spot your car in a crowded lot.
Order stickers reflective of the places you love or hope to go some day — the Eiffel Tower for France, for example, or mountains for the countryside. Customize a message to the drivers around you or turn your favorite photo into a sticker to put on your back window. You can even order huge stickers that make your car look like it has a custom paint job, only it won’t cost anywhere near as much and it’s removable so you can change the design at your whim. Celebrate your first car, even if it’s a bit of a clunker, by decorating it for the new school year.
A Special Treat
Treat yourself with something you can enjoy on your down time: an MP3 player for when you go jogging, a new phone for texting all of your new friends or an Xbox One, PS4, WiiU, 3DS or Vita for playing games both online and off. You’ll look forward to school more knowing you’ve got “find something to help relax during your time off” on your back-to-school list.
Your school might tell you what you need to succeed in class, but you know that there’s more to your life than studying and homework. Make going back to school a bit more fun by shopping for things you don’t “need” for school but make sense if you want to boost your spirits. If you opt for something like car stickers, you needn’t even have a lot of money set aside for the off-list item.
