A few days ago I announced how there was quite a bit of summer left for you to enjoy with your family. For my family, there are now 11 days left until school starts. The panic has officially set in. We still want to take a Saturday day trip to Northern Kentucky and another weekend trip to Atlanta, and there are literally only two weekends left in August before the first day of school. We haven’t been shopping yet. I haven’t clipped any coupons yet. I haven’t set a time for my daughter to go through her current wardrobe to see if she can squeeze into her jeans or get another month’s worth of wear out of her shirts. Yep. Full-blown panic.
Hmm. I also want to explore a new avenue of readying ourselves for the beginning of school this year. Louisville loves her local flair, doesn’t she? There’s so much of it in this city. I decided we’re going to venture out of our normal big box store shopping routine and shop small business for some of our back-to-school basics this year. My daughter and I are going to hit up The Parent Teacher Store and Toys Too! for some out of the ordinary and hard to find items. On their Facebook page, the owners mentioned that they have items like 1st, 2nd, & 3rd grade writing tablets, primary journals, red checking pencils, magnet men, triangular pencils, plastic placemats, & steno books. My daughter likes being a nonconformist, so shopping in local stores that have much different items is the way to go for us.
We’re also going to head over to Westport Village because many of the shops there are locally owned and operated. One such store is Amazing Green Planet, and I consistently hear great things about this little shop. Back-to-school shopping seems like a perfect time to check out what they have to offer as far as backpacks or lunch bags, or lunch box carrying items. I am constantly pinning on Pinterest the many cool and flavorful lunch box ideas that I see. I’m looking for some authentic items to stash my daughter’s lunch box snacks into.
And since Norton Commons opened up, I’ve been there once. So we’re also going to head out that way to discover other little shops that might just have that special touch we’re looking for to cap off our local twist on back-to-school. I’m wondering if Copper Cupcake has their rendition of a neat back to school snacky item that will be perfect for my daughter’s lunch for the first week or so of school. I’d love to send her to school with a special treat baked by local artisans in our lovely city. I know people around the country love the whoopee pies: that might just be the icing on the cake for her (no pun intended).
Frankfort Avenue=fine shopping. We might skip our way down there and look into some of the children’s clothing boutiques and other consignment stores and find some deals on some unique spins on back-to-school styles. Truly, I just want to support our local businesses, help to ‘Keep Louisville Weird’ and buying local first, and spend a couple of afternoons frolicking with my daughter during these last 10 days before school starts. It’s easy to drive down Taylorsville Road and buy the same ol’ same ol’ from Target. Making memories and starting a new tradition with my gal is what I’m after.
Photo by Erin Nevitt
