Back to School Tips and Free Stuff for Mom's

Well, it’s that time of year again!! Time to dust off the old backpacks (or buy new ones is more like it), set the alarm clocks and actually make the kids a healthy breakfast! The public schools around my village started school a couple of weeks ago, that included my 6th grader, but my younger kids don’t start until Monday the 23rd! I have been having fun searching my favorite blogs to get some great tips and ideas, so here I am going to share them with you. Being pregnant and getting the preschool ready to start and swamped with editing and taking pictures, I haven’t had much time to be creative myself, so here are other’s ideas 🙂

Becky Higgins blog is so great!! I want to be her when I grow up!

She has some great ideas on back to school along with a great FREEBIE of a school yearbook for your child to create! She is label happy as you can see in this picture below, so her kids never have to guess if an item is theirs.

She also has a great guest post here on the pictures you should be taking on the first day of school. If you have already had your first day, just recreate it! 😉

The Crafting Chicks blog

They have some great ideas on crafts for teacher gifts or we are happy to be in your class gifts for the first day of school! This one is my favorite, easy, cheap and a FREE download of the cute container, candy bar wrapper and a ton of others!

Here is a jelly recipe that I just love!! Since the staple of the school lunch box is PB&J!

NO – COOK STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM

4 c. ripe strawberries
4 c. granulated sugar
1 box Sure-Jell powdered pectin
3/4 c. water

Wash and hull the berries; crush them completely, a few at a time. (Should end up with 2 cups.) In large bowl, mix together the berries and sugar. Let stand 10 minutes. Combine pectin and water in saucepan. Bring to boil; boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir hot pectin into the fruit bowl; continue stirring. Don’t worry if sugar is not completely dissolved. Ladle jam into freezer containers. Put lids on immediately. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours or until set. Refrigerate for a few weeks or freeze for up to a year.

And since we are making sandwiches and want to be environmentally friendly…here is a cute idea for reusable sandwich bags.

And last but not least, what new outfit wouldn’t be complete without a few new hair accessories!!? Here are some of my favorite Tutorials!…click on the titles to visit the tutorials.