Tweendom Kingdom: School Supply Shopping

Yep - that's us at Target!  The happiest place on Earth!

Shopping for a tween is a whole new ballgame this year.  The supply list is shorter (yay!), but the cool factor in all the supplies has gotten bigger (boo!).  How do you shop for a tween going into middle school?  

First, you must ask her what is cool.  My definition of cool isn't always the same as hers.

Take mechanical pencils.  What I thought was cool:

What she thought was cool:

Justification:  because the leads won't break and the colors were pretty.

Or Spiral Notebooks.  Good enough for Government work:

But these are way cuter:

And don't forget the locker decor:

That's my daughter's dream locker - complete with a rug. 

What do I think of that?

I don't think so.

So it brings me to shoe shopping.  This kid loves her kicks.  This was her begging for a new pair of shoes:

I'm just not a fan of these - they look like boy shoes:

So tell me, what trends are you a fan of, and which ones could you live without?  For me?  I'm going to leave the locker rug at the store.