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A little bitty children's desk? Other than that I can't think of a reason to go kindergarten shopping at Ikea. Except the ball pit and the crunchy chocolate cookies.
Our Ikea just added chocolate shell dip or sundae topping for the frozen yogurt, too. But only one topping flavor per month, so if you don't like it you are out of luck.
(I think your assessment of the contents of the well-stocked kindergarten backpack are correct, and if there is anything else LG needs you'll get a message from the teacher. We were asked to send a big three-ring binder, for example. But no way to predict. And a new pencil case can't hurt.)
And thanks for the reminder about the thank you notes. Must dig out the notepad with that list.
Does the school not give you a list of supplies?
I remember coveting awesome IKEA stationery products when I was at school. I'm not sure if they have pencil cases, or it was more organisational stuff like filing boxes and desk caddies. I love IKEA in general, though, so I'd say it's worth a trip.
I wish I had an excuse to buy back to school stuff. Maybe the well-supplied grad student needs a pencil box, too.
We got a detailed list of supplies from CdW's teacher - crayons, markers, Xanax, etc. And CdW's kindergarten wardrobe will be much like his pre-school wardrobe; all marketing, all the time. For example, he's planning on wearing his Lightning McQueen (Cars) shirt tomorrow for his first day, along with his Spiderman backpack and Batman underpants. Casa Corndog - propping up the financially fragile entertainment industry since 2001.
I wouldn't be so sure about the availability of supplies in the classroom. You'll be sent home all these "teacher's wish lists," with these pitiful notes like, "If everyone in the school brings in all their pennies, then Mrs. Fisher in Room 10 can buy a box of tissues for her class." I don't mean that you have to go overboard, but crayons and a pencil may not be a bad idea.
As for Ikea, maybe some storage boxes to hold LG's school stuff or important papers?
Tell LG that Henry's whole room is full of those tie-dyed IKEA textiles and other colorful IKEA stuff like tiny cardboard chests of drawers to keep treasures in. And they sell markers and crayons, too, and little wooden doll beds that some people bring home and make into beds for their stuffed chimpanzee.
Great. Now I have to go to IKEA and see if they have any really cool back-to-school supplies we all need in my house. Because I, unfortunately, do not hate shopping. Does LG want a personal shopper not-so-conveniently located in California?
AB would adore CdW's fashion sense (we're all about the Lightning McQueen underwear in our house).
IKEA rules. Sure, I haven't been to one since I was in high school, but I always loved going. And they do have little knickknacks for school/office, so they very well might have pencil cases. We got a cute dinosaur pencil case from the Container Store the other day. That's another place where I actually enjoy shopping (I'm like you, Phantom--I'd rather not venture to a mall except under penalty of death).
Any reason is a good reason to go to IKEA.
I hate shopping too, and I don't know what IKEA is, although I am guessing it's some kind of furniture store?
My kids, in every grade from kindergarten through twelth, came home the first day of school with very specific and detailed lists of what they needed for school. ("You must get the box of 16 crayons -- nothing bigger!") So you might want to put your shopping trip off until you see the list ....
There has to be something at IKEA that you need and is at a can't-afford-not-to-buy price. It might not be specifically for the kindergartner (although they have cool toys and art supplies), but whatever it is I'm sure will benefit him in the long run, somehow.
According to the district website (school-specific, but not availably on the school website, because their coding sucks and the clearly marked and bolded school-supply link on the front page cleverly points to the PTA What's New page), kindergarteners at our school are asked to bring the following:
backpack (no rolling ones, please!)
2 lg bath towels for quiet time (no nap mats, please!)
1 box baby wipes
1 box tissues
1 sturdy 2-pocket folder, not the kind with prongs (no harry potter, please!) (Wait, too obscure? too not-quite-the-right-name? Too insane?)
1 bottle liquid soap
1 roll of paper towels
1 box ziploc bags, any size
1 box band-aids
I leave this list to you, Phantom, and your exceedingly clever cast of pixies, as the set-up for any number of "what we're doing at OUR kindergarten" punch lines. I'm afraid I'm too addled by shopping and bus and teacher-assignment anxieties to quite nail the inevitable and highly amusing set of conclusions about educational philosophy around here.
Oh, a few of the other schools' Kindergarten lists:
1 box Crayola washable markers ( 10 ct-regular)
1 box Crayola washable markers (10 count – skinny)
1 box of 24 crayons
1 4-oz bottle of school glue
5 small glue sticks
1 package of colored pencils
************
Rest towel
Complete change of clothes in ziplock bag with child's name on it
Backpack
Lunchbox
Box of tissues
Hand sanitizer
*************
1 Labeled Backpack
4 Glue Sticks
1 Plastic Folder w/ Pockets
2 Paper Folders w/ Clasp
4 Jumbo Pencils
1 Box of 24 Crayons
1 box of Washable Markers
1 Box of Tissues
1 Bottle of Hand Sanitizer
1 Labeled Bath Size Towel for rest (NO mats please)
1 Labeled Change of Clothes
********************
Make of that what you will.
Our school also sent out a very detailed supplies list along with the teacher assignment letter, the various required-to-tell-you policies (including "Hey, there's probably asbestos and lead paint in at least some of our schools!") and the bus info.
Our list includes crayons, colored pencils, dry-erase markers, an altoids tin of coins for Money Math, and a box of tissues for the classroom stores.
I'm kinda excited to shop. I have a slight Office Products Fetish, which makes back-to-school season especially fun for me.... the smell of pencils and notebook paper makes me happy 
1. Jo(e), who introduced me to the slutty makeup & costume store for little girls, doesn't know from IKEA?
2. Maybe your IKEAs are better than my nearest IKEA, but it is too much hassle to justify the schlep in my case. That said, Matt's bed and desk are from there as is a lamp in my living room. They do have some limited online ordering.
3. Now Target. Target I love too much. And I could not resist their school supply display, even though I don't really need school supplies and my 13 year old boy does not, under any circumstances, want any school supplies that I think are cute.
My god, the specificity! Jody, clearly your local schools (a) have no funding whatsoever and (b) expect a lot of injuries. I am left wondering, however, if the crayola markers should be Classic or Bold colors. Oh, I know, if your last name starts with A-J, bring Classic...
My girl starts Grade One two weeks from today. She was convinced she needed a pencil sharpener, but she got one in a birthday party goody bag so now we are set.
One of the things I have missed the most in Scotland are all the big-box, evil corporate giants of stores that I so casually mocked and at which I scoffed while in the states. 'Cause I can scorn the WalGetCo so much, but they are really handy for things like school supplies and, oh say, mattress pads.
So my notebooks and pens came from Edinburgh Discount Store and we were bemoaning the lack of mattress pads when ehold! We found an Ikea AND a Costco. It's like America is in Scotland!
We can't actually go to Costco since I cancelled our membership before coming over, but we are the proud owners of a matress pad and red thermos from Ikea. Yay!
Ikea DOES have all those bright and fun tie-dyes. And they have pretty crayons, too. And the ice cream---surely the ice cream has been mentioned? And I believe there's a very nice IKEA within a couple hours of you. Although said IKEA will become fancypants central beginning August 29, so shop early (seriously, no matter what IKEA you go to,, find out if any large collegs have move-in day that day. If so, abort that mission as you'll be confronted my mounds of mini-vans setting Bif up for the year.)
OK, that's it, PPB. LG wants to go RIGHT. NOW.
Jody, you're freakin' me out here. Should it alarm me that there's no nap mat on LG's list? All he needs are a backpack, lunch box, snack, and extra clothes.
wait until you get to the big calculators on the list. also, we have to save receipts (and label them) since all school supplies are tax-deductable.
no, phantom -- don't be freaked by the kindergarten lists. this is really a "your mileage may vary" territory.
be freaked out by the fact that once you get into IKEA, you will not find a way out until you have passed every freaking thing in the store, sometimes twice, and everyone will want to fill the cart because there is SO MUCH COOL STUFF and it is CHEAP. [sometimes that is the up side, too, if you don't really like shopping.]
but the dreaded shopping-brain-rot might set in before you make it through the maze. the key is to rush rush rush through the sectors that have no possible value, and eat ice cream on the way. on the other hand -- cart full of potentially useful items and an afternoon spent may be just as good as a trip to dizzyland, only more productive and less expensive.
As to naps, we were told multiple times at Kindergarten orientation that there will be no naps. LG's school may have the same policy. This is why we need to convert the USA into a siesta culture. Who's with me?
I really enjoy the children's section at IKEA and usually buy something fun and colorful when I'm there (for myself--I don't have kids).
And I noticed when I was in my local Target yesterday that they have school supply lists for all of the area schools at the ends of the school supply aisles. Perhaps yours does as well.
I'd join forces with you, Corndog, but right now I'm napping.
zzzzzzzzz..........
I'd only be worried about the nap mat thing, Phantom, if you think LG is the sort of kid who takes naps. And since I have this overwhelming sense that LG is not a kid with a huge need for many many hours of sleep, that you'll be fine.
Or else running out for lots of extra stuff this weekend? Who knows.
Madeleine, this is the best funded school district in Red Clay State. Well-Known State University resideth here. The parents, verily they do createth the environment of High Academic Pressure. (Although the complete disaster which is our school's website code revealeth that all the Investigation Three-Sided-Geometric-Unit Green people, they commuteth from the Capital City School District to the Southeast, whose SAT scores riseth as fast as the population's NYC/NJ/CT representation doth.)
I can only assume that the school district spends so much money on High-Quality Pedagogical materials from The Right Companies, they can't afford cleaning supplies. Or else the kindergarteners are just encouraged to be especially messy. It is true that most of the science instruction happens in cooking labs.
I'm *SO* on board with corndog's siesta idea.
I mean really, work from 8-12ish. Have big meal, take a nice nap. Work 2ish-6. What's not to love?
And, the rest of you are just scaring me. School supplies? I was thinking maybe a new T-shirt or two and a haircut. Guess I better re-orient.
I checked our school system's K info - they have the CT state BoE suggestions - not about supplies. Does your school have an Edline site or other web service where this info might be?
PPB is, as usual, right on the money (as if you actually need a reason to go to IKEA!): ice cream is always the perfect reason/suggestion. They really do have some lovely stuff for kiddos and LG will probably like having some big guy stuff, whether it fits the technical definition of school list stuff or not. (You should see the stuff on my school's lists (we're not a primary school) - JFC on a raft! Good thing daughter's in grad school - judging by the above lists I think I could not stand school shopping now.)
If they did not send a list, they might send it home the first day. How cool is that? Another excuse for ice cream!
Only slightly on-topic: Don't be in too big a hurry to quit nursing. When I quit, I dropped 2 bra sizes. I am now officially in a training bra. (I also dropped a bunch of weight -- so there's that.)
: )
Whoo, boy. I would loooooove to drop two cup sizes. Tank tops! Shelf bras! Getting to look like the normal people!
(No, I am not planning to poll Mr. Blue as to his opinion on the matter...)
But it's a relief to hear there's someone else who held onto the weight until the milk machine ceased to function. They always tell you that nursing is going to make you lose the baby weight so fast. All I can say is HA.
I hate to act like a know-it-all, been-there-done-that mother of a second child going to kindergarten, and I haven't read any of the other comments, so it's quite likely that someone else has already said this, but in both schools with which I have been associated with kindergarten, there has been a list of school supplies which each child is expected to procure before the start of said school (in fact it is the case in all grades, and shopping for kindergarten and fifth grade at once interestingly shows the shift in focus, from art to academics, as it were). So it might be worth calling the school and seeing if in your Town, they have such lists. I mean, she's a brilliant child, but she didn't come up with that list of school supplies on her own.
OK, so I skimmed the comments and realized, once again, that there is a reason I don't comment. Definitely related to a big reason I don't blog any more!
Since jo(e) admitted that she didn't know from Ikea, I can admit that I've only been to Ikea once (in Montreal, about 6 or 7 years ago, and I haven't been to Target since 1994--the last time I lived near one. I keep hearing such good things about Target that I may have to take a road trip to the nearest one.
I have to go school shopping for high school...as soon as the Kid finishes he summer homework 
Sometimes I get nostalgic for kindergarten.
I'm bummed that we have no IKEA here. I had no idea that it was anything more than just a modular furniture sort of store. Ice cream? Ball pits? Why don't we have one here? Why, why, why?
As for the very specific lists for K supplies -- I know our district puts out a very general one, but not every teacher uses all the stuff on the list, so we mostly tell our parents at Open House, or send home a list the first day. For example -- our sink has a hair trigger that likes to spatter, so we request hand sanitizer only, no soap. We don't ask you for pencils because (and I'm really not kidding) we have a HUGE shoebox full to bursting with pencils. We don't care for the nap mats because they take up too much space, and we don't have all that time to rest. Most states are phasing out nap/rest time because there's only so many hours in a day to cover standards, and if you waste an hour in rest, that's an hour of instruction time that you're missing.
We don't ask for glue or scissors, since we have plenty of that already. the reason that we do ask for ziploc bags is for a multitude of reasons. My class had a ziploc with their crayons in it. It helps greatly reduce fights over, "You gots my red!" We also use them when someone wets clothes, or if they have extra snack left over to take home.
Sadly, Kaitlin was right in that we often have to pony up money ourselves to buy tissues and paper towels and all those little consumables that we go through so many of. If we can get a parent to help us out, and send stuff like this in, we don't have to spend so much of our salaries on them. The problem is when you order that stuff through the school district, it takes for freaking ever to arrive, and then it's the cheapest stuff on the market because they buy it in massive quantities. I don't know about y'all, but I prefer toilet paper *without* chunks of bark still in it.
I forgot to mention that I have a love/hate relationship with these school supply lists. My sister, who is in middle school, receives them as standard issue now, and my brother received one once as well (which we held on to the next year and used again).
The plus is that you can tell the kid that you have to stick to the list, and you don't have to waste your money on the scented glitter glue markers and matching stapler kit. The minus is that these lists are SO FRICKIN' LONG. Both last year and this year, my sister's REQUIRED school supplies totalled $40-$50. And they ask for the weirdest stuff, and the kids get in trouble when they don't have it.
The one thing that really gets me is that both years, the list included a calculator for math class. Is that what middle school math has become?
Ikea is fun. The kids will have a good time in the ball pit and you will buy 17 $10 items you never knew you needed and they will last longer than your next 7 computers.
Excellent evaluation, Liz!
Well, we went. Couldn't find a ball pit, but we didn't go into Munchkinland, or whatever it was called. And our store didn't have the tie-dyes, alas. But the kids had such an excellent time that we almost forgot how totally whiny they had been the whole frickin' day.
We only bought 7 $3 items, but we were definitely overawed and suffering from IKEA anxiety. We'll do better next time. Like, when we figure out how to find stuff. My kingdom for some new cloth napkins!
Target, though. That was some back-to-school shopping goodness. My kids now own a small fortune in adjustable-waist cargo pants. Better yet -- we'll match. I got a pair for myself. Yes, folks. Reason #8317 why the fashion industry can bite me: Boys size 14 Cherokee cargo pants fit me perfectly. All right!
(Yeah, yeah, yeah. Since you can't hate me because I'm beautiful, you might as well hate me because I have no hips and can't wear women's fashions, OK?)
I know you care about reproductive freedom; so do I, and that's why I boycott Target:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) today condemned the Target Corporation for standing by a company policy that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill valid, legal prescriptions for birth control, including emergency contraception.
I know many of you love Target -- me too, so believe me, the boycott hurts me!
Oh no! I was sure Ikea would have the tie dyed stuff! Darn!
I do love Ikea, sigh.
We had a very specific kindergarten list and first-grade list.
Get Crayola, not Rose Art crayons -- the lists didn't specify this, but there was a discussion on Want Not (love that site!) about that a while back, saying that Crayola lasts through the year and is generally better. (Plus the color names - my first-grader's favorite colors are copper, scarlet, orchid, and cybergrape!)
Our first-grade list contained two items that puzzled me mightily: white plastic erasers (I got "polymer" erasers, and then saw plastic ones at another store but didn't re-buy), and a box of felt-tip pens. It was impossible to find a box of felt-tips! They must be going out of style, what with all the newfangled gel pens.
Nicole, if you had been reading this site longer, or if you had bothered to check archives, you would know that the Target boycott has already been discussed here.
I liken shopping in IKEA to a day in hell. I did it once, to see what everyone was talking about. I'd never go back.
Nicole, I have to tell you: ever since that story circulated, I've been trying to verify it independent of Plan Parenthood's statement and cannot (and research is what I have been doing since 1968 in various venues). The couple of times a pharmacist has failed to follow Target's actual policy, they have been disciplined. Target's policy is to comply with state laws: the pharmacist can refuse to fill the prescription him/herself, but must refer the patient to a nearby source of the ordered prescription. If the person demands the prescription back, it must be handed over. The pharmacist's right to follow a religious principle is preserved, as is the right of the patient. I've stopped boycotting Target, as both cases cited were correctly resolved. I'm mystified as to why PPhood continues to go afterthem, particularly since WalMart could really be a bigger focus and Target seems to be trying to take the best available course.
PS: thanks for letting me know! I would like to read the discussion. Could you tip me off at least to the month it's posted in the archives?
A: thanks for sharing your reasoning despite my not having read the archives! I understand that other pharmacies have similar policies, and I think they're wrong (albeit legal) too. The protest letter my family wrote to Target received a reply saying, "our policy requires our pharmacists to take responsibility for ensuring that the guest’s prescription is filled in a timely and respectful manner, either by another Target pharmacist or a different pharmacy." How is a medical professional sending a patient in need of a legal drug to a different pharmacy, perhaps across town, "timely" or "respectful"? And there could be towns where every single pharmacy legally refuses.
If Target made a commitment to having at least one willing pharmacist on duty at all times, then I could accept their policy of allowing some of their employees to refuse to do their jobs.
Of course, now that Plan B is OTC in in all states, maybe women will have an easier time.
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