Family Friday: Backpacks for Back-to-School

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Ll Bean Deluxe Backpack Brilliant BlueKate and I were just discussing this — what are the best backpacks for kids? If you’re looking for a full-sized backpack, you can’t go wrong with L.L. Bean; they’ve been around forever, and they last forever. (I still have mine from 1,000 years ago.) They have tons of solid colors and patterns (paisley, colorblock, camo, flowers, all kinds of animals, the Minecraft-like “pixel,” and more), and you can get them monogrammed for $8 (with returns still possible!). You can choose from three sizes: ages 4–7, 8–12, and 13+. Through 8/27, you can get 20% off kids’ backpacks, clothing, and more with promo code KIDS20 (in-store, too). L.L. Bean Backpacks This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

Sales of note for 2/14/25 (Happy Valentine’s Day!):

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase — and extra 60% off sale
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + 15% off (readers love their suiting as well as their silky shirts like this one)
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 300+ styles $25 and up
  • J.Crew – 40% of your purchase – prices as marked
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site and storewide + extra 50% off clearance
  • Rothy’s – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – Flash sale ending soon – markdowns starting from $15, extra 70% off all other markdowns (final sale)

And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interestworking mom questions asked by the commenters!

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Yep, we chose close to work (as in, 2 blocks away). It means we’re never late for pickup, and we have an extra hour and a half together during the day. I honestly don’t know how we would able to manage picking up in time from a daycare close to home. But I guess it depends on your commute and when you intend to drop your kid off and pick up each day.

If you have a chimney, get a separate chimney inspection. It’s a specialized thing and a lot of people don’t maintain chimneys if they don’t use them.

I’ll be the voice of dissent here – if my child was at daycare close to home, he’d be there 11 hrs a day and we’d have an hour of time with him in the evening. We’d also be frantic trying to make it before the 6pm pickup time. He goes downtown with me and is close to my work. We sing in the car, or when we take transit, we can read books and look at trucks out the window. Now that he’s 2.5 he can have actual conversations in the car. It’s not always great but it is an extra hour and a half of time we have together every day.

Any advice on daycare near home vs. near work? After being so nervous about getting a spot at all, we were offered 3 different spots at daycares for my almost 5 month old son. Two close to work, one close to home. We’ve decided on the one close to home, but I really loved the one close to work! The idea of stopping by to breastfeed during the day was so nice. What I didn’t love was the idea of taking public transit with him every day to get to/from. With the one close to home, it’s a 10 minute walk and my husband and I can both do it. Any thoughts? Ugh this stuff is so hard.

We got the Land’s End small backpack for kindergarten, and it’s going strong for first grad now. It holds lunch box, jacket, folder, and change of clothes easily.

Just another option for a backpack if you’re a sucker like me . . . . my kids have the Pottery Barn Kids backpacks. Granted, they don’t have the warranty that LL Bean does and you can’t return them if they are monogrammed, but they hold up EXTREMELY well under preschool and elementary school conditions, have different sizes, and have fun patterns plus licensed characters that are fun but tasteful (Marvel, DC, Star Wars, etc.). My oldest just got a new one after using his original one for four years, and frankly his old one isn’t really totally worn out and will probably be used as a weekend/trip backpack–he just needed the next size up for school. My middle has had his first one for a year and it barely looks used, despite going through both school and summer camp.

They get backordered starting around this time in certain patterns but go on sale several times throughout the summer so if you keep an eye out early on you can usually get what you want on discount without a problem.

My family is totally frazzled. We need a vacation! Where would you go in October, for maybe 5 days/4 nights? We like mountains and outdoorsy things.

This is all so helpful, thank you so much.

How does everyone handle pumping on the road? I might have some day trips at work soon and I’m pumping for my 5 month old. The problem is that I’ll be with a colleageue or two and we’ll be in the car in and out of several meetings, rather than staying in one spot. I can’t imagine finding a place to pump and we all share a car typically.. should I decline the opportunity to travel? I’d really like to not have to do that, but do not see a good alternative..

+1 on appreciating “no gifts please” on invitations. One fewer thing to do is really nice.

We’re sending out invitations for my soon-to-be 4 year old’s party soon, and I’m wondering what other people like to do about birthday party gifts (when you are parent of the birthday child). We got a ton of stuff that we didn’t really want/use at last year’s party. I’m tempted to say “please no gifts” or “please only books” on the invitation but don’t know how that will come off — is that gauche? FWIW, we’re expecting about 10-15 kids in attendance, we’ve given gifts to some of the other kids at their birthdays, and kiddo will get gifts from family at a separate party.

I’m 10 weeks pregnant and my 2 year-old is having a sleep regression — he woke up 3 times last night screaming “I want Mommy!” We’re trying to let him CIO, but it’s hard. After I got to work, I stayed in my car, pushed the seat back, and slept for 25 minutes. It was glorious.

I’m not sure if the “Reply” function is working appropriately, but this is intended to be a reply re: home inspections. If you are in New England, have the home and water tested for radon. If the home is on a well, have a full test of the water (not just if it is potable).

My DH is an elementary school administrator, and part of his speech to incoming K parents in the spring is to not get the tiny backpacks. His words, “Your kindergartener is small, but their snow gear is not.” We do LLBean as I still have my LLBean backpack from elementary school and the company will absolutely fix anything of theirs if it breaks.

On another note, I get to start working from home 2 days per week starting Monday, and I am so excited! Two days a week of not having to do the 45 minute commute each way!

Looking for some encouragement about delays. At first, daughter was just a bit behind in her milestones, but now she’s really behind and docs, PT are classifying it as developmental delay. We have follow ups and genetic testing ahead of us, but in the meantime I’m just so discouraged. Every time I log on to fb some friend’s kid (always younger) doing something we’re not close to doing. There was encouragement from one doctor that she could still catch up and I guess I’m looking for any anecdotes from those of you who had kids who were behind and caught up. It’ll be a month or two before we have any genetic results and I’m just looking for something to give me hope in the meantime.