Head Back To Class In Style: School Supplies With Flair!

Shopping for college can be stressful: you don’t know how much room you will have in your dorm, how much is too much, if you’ve brought enough, and if it will match the stuff your roommate has.

By Anna R

Shopping for elementary school supplies was so much more fun – you got to stock up on your favorite Lisa Frank supplies and you begged your mom to buy you a few gel pens because everyone was using them.

This year, instead of making a quick pit-stop at Staples on the way to school and buying a few notebooks and black pens, why not bring some of that grade school excitement back with fun school supplies?

Remember how excited you were to use those gel pens to fill out worksheets in the first couple weeks of school? How cool it was to start a brand new notebook? Here are some funky school supplies that will make you want to head to class, take some notes, and do some hardcore studying. Or at least they will help you make friends by serving as a good conversation starter for the girl sitting next to you.

This stuff puts the “cool” back in school. Yeah…I went there.

Calculator – You will probably need to bring one of those nerdy graphing calculators to your Advanced Stats class, but why not buy one of those enormous & brightly colored calculators for when you just need to add, subtract, multiply, or divide? Math sucks, but bright pink makes everything better.

Staplers - The pink one is pretty (who doesn’t love sparkles?!) and the fist shaped one will bring some humor into the situation when you’re trying SO hard to smash that staple into your 12 page paper or 40 pages of reading that you had to print yourself.

Planner – You probably usually buy one of those cheap, boring planners that you throw away every year. Like that will motivate you to stay organized. Invest in a nice planner, preferably a leather one, that you can buy new inserts for each year. It is sturdier, cuter and will help you keep track of your crazy life!

Laptop Accessories – You’ll probably bring your laptop to class a lot because Solitaire definitely helps the time pass quicker (erm, I mean so you can take notes faster!). Just throwing it in your bag is definitely a bad idea; you don’t want it to get scratched, bumped or ruined when that bottle of Diet Coke explodes.

Protect that little guy with a case, just not one of those nerdy shoulder bags your parents will try to make you buy. This case is cute and functional, but if the dots are too much for you there are tons of cases out there in a variety of colors and designs. Check out the Apple store or Best Buy for a huge selection.

Also, a cute mouse isn’t a must, but how could you not love this fuzzy blue one?

Paper clips - Instead of plain silver ones, clip important papers together with hearts, circles, or these adorable little animals! A lot of craft/gift shops (Hallmark, for example) sell unique clips. Nothing makes a 30 page paper look better than a cute little pig.

Maybe by now you’re thinking, “OK, only a whack job would waste their money on this pointless crap,” but the whole point is to express yourself! Buy school supplies that are going to motivate you and express who you are. Maybe you’ll use them to bring some humor to that stressful study group, or as an icebreaker with the people sitting next to you in class. And if you already spent all your money on posters, you could always decorate your own stuff (if you’re into that kind of thing).

Good luck this year and happy back to school shopping!