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All The Best ‘90s Back-To-School Gear Your Kids (& You) Will Love

Pack up your Pogs in your Jansport backpack, get out your Smencils, and you’re ready to go.

by Jen McGuire

20 hours ago

Back To School, Back To Insanity 2024

For me, it always starts with Nutri-Grain bars. I don’t even like them that much, but just the sight of an unopened pack of some vaguely healthy bar fills me with optimism. Inspiration. Makes me feel like I’m getting a total blank slate as a mother and a person and, in some weird nostalgic ways I can never quite put my finger on, a student.

Because that’s what back-to-school shopping is really, secretly, supposed to give us for all our troubles as parents, right? A little dopamine boost of a fresh start coupled with the sweet lift of a walk down memory lane. So I say let’s all just lean in and buy all of the best ‘90s back-to-school supplies we can get our hands on for the kids but also ourselves this year.

Cool and mostly useful accessories

The beauty of ‘90s school supplies was that everything was useful and also fun. You could find your new best friend and soulmate in class simply by flashing your Lisa Frank Color and Trace Activity Book so they knew you were all fun and whimsical. Better yet, why not offer to share some of yourscratch and sniff stickers with your new pals or draw them a cute picture with your Mr. Sketch Scented Washable Markers? Or if you wanted something erasable, there were, of course, Smencils.