Back to School Shopping

This is the first year that I am involved in Back to School Shopping. I am a bit blur.

I saw some school uniforms going for around RM20.90 (just for the pinafore) and got my girl to try it but the material didn't look very fantastic. Then I went to another shop which had very nice cotton material and had better workmanship but that cost RM34.90. Wow! Quite a big price difference. The white blouse cost RM21.90.

Everyone advised us to get bigger sizes so in the end, the girl looks a bit sloppy but we got the big sets anyway hoping that she will grow into them. We got 3 sets each. Hope that will be enough turnover time for it to be washed, dried and ironed daily.

Then we got shoes and socks for both the boy and the girl. We sure had a hard time deciding on the right size as well. However the girl and the boy had a good time prancing around the shoe store. The shoes cost about RM25 each and the socks around RM6 each. *Seeing money flying out the window*

We got the boy a tumbler since the girl already has one. We haven't got them stationaries yet. Will probably get those cheap sets that comes in bulk since they keep on losing them! Sigh! No matter how much I scold, nag, persuade, inform, teach, tell my girl. She still comes home with missing pencils and erasers.

Then I went to have a look at the school bags. Now this is a area that I am blur upon. I keep reading that the books are very heavy so I see the kids having this pull along roller bags like the ones you take for long distance travelling in an airport. Should I get one of those? It'll surely be hard to navigate along stairways wouldn't it? I saw those pink pink Princess, Dora types and it cost RM130! *faints*

Do the schools allow children to carry those? Can the children carry anything they like or are there some rules and regulations they must follow when it comes to school bags? What if it becomes the envy of friends etc? So many issues to think about. In the end, I left the bags because I didn't know what to buy. Can any experienced mums please share?

Throughout kindy, I let my girl carry the schoolbag provided by the kindy. Some of her friends carried fancy bags but I didn't get her one. I got her to do some of her own name tags etc to decorate her own bag and she was fine with that. Now the school does not provide bags so I have to get her one of her own but I don't know what to buy. Please help?

Have you done your back to school shopping yet? I decided to do mine early so that I don't have to rush as soon we will need to do Christmas Gift shopping and then Chinese New Year Shopping for new clothing. Is there any back to school items that I have left out?