Community-Sourced Backpack Guide
My oldest starts kindergarten this fall, and it's the first year that she gets to choose her own backpack.
For better or for worse, she takes after me, and we have already spent an abnormal amount of time scouring the internet and comparing kindergarten backpacks.
When my eyes started to glaze over, I sent out an SOS on Instagram asking for tried-and-true backpack recommendations for kindergarten and the early elementary school years. Because our community is the best, more than 100 moms came to my rescue.
Four brands were recommended over and over (and over and over) — each at least 12x, with the most popular recommended over three dozen times.
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Backpack Recommendations
+ LL Bean: If one backpack completely dominated the conversation, it was LL Bean Original Book Pack. Several moms said their kids were still using their LL Bean backpacks from kindergarten into fourth and fifth grade. One of our Clubhouse members said that her best friend used her original LL Bean backpack all the way through high school, college, nursing school, as a diaper bag, and now it’s going to school with her son. Talk about getting your ROI.
+ Pottery Barn Kids: Style, character, and monogram options galore – Pottery Barn Kids backpacks were a close second. The “large” size is what was specifically recommended, since most students will need it to comfortably fit a standard-size folder.
+ Lands End: The Lands End Medium Size was recommended 20 times. They're washable, hold up great, and can usually be caught on sale. Lands End runs great deals – always check the banner at the top of the website to see if there's a good code to use!
+ State Bags: They're cute, and apparently worth it. Most of the ones I looked at aren't fully washable, but the moms that recommended them said they've held up great. E has seen State bags out in the wild, and she has her eye on a few…. so this may be where we land.