If you can remember shopping for school supplies as a child (elementary school age), can you think of one item that you bought (or someone else bought for you) that was extra special or unique?
I loved school as a kid, so each August when it was time to shop for new clothes, shoes, and supplies was thrilling to me. I always loved when all my crayons and pencils were brand new and had those special points on them. I guess my favorite school supply was my glittery pencil box that carried my pencils, a few notes passed from friends, and my nickel each day for an ice-cream in the lunchroom.
I wasn't usually even invited along when my mom bought clothes for me in elementary school, and she probably wouldn't have bought me what I wanted anyhow. There was one time when my (three years) older brother was with them when they bought clothes for me, and he at least had a good idea as to what I'd want, so that was kind of special. It was also pretty special when the same brother gave me his old typewriter, but a little disappointing when, the first time I turned something in that was typewritten, I couldn't persuade my teacher that I had typed it myself, and she made me do it over. The one item that was particularly appreciated though, was a calculator. I think I was maybe in 6th grade then, and I didn't expect it. I know they weren't $5-$10 apiece then.
Sorry, don't remember that far back and don't really want to. Those weren't the best years of my life, unfortunately.
When I was in grade school, it was mostly just paper and pencils, maybe crayons, and I do not remember any of that being special for me. By Seventh Grade, I was in Junior High, and we carried those supplies from class to class; so I always had a special 3-ring binder with a zipper that carried everything for me safely. The binders came in all different styles, but I (naturally) preferred the western-looking ones that looked like they were leather. My favorite was one that was a deep rich brown, and looked like beautifully handtooled leather. Every year, my mom took me shopping for my school supplies and the best part was picking out the new binder for the year. The older ones were saved, and I used those at home and stored some of my drawings or notes or whatever in those. I also developed a love for fountain pens somewhere in that early teen stage; so I had several of those, plus the ink containers with different colors so that i could refill the cartridges (and mix my own ink colors). I used the fountain pens for everything that we were allowed to use pens for, but most schoolwork was done in pencil. Of course, I did a lot of drawing when i was supposed to be doing schoolwork, so the pencils were good, too.
I don't remember ever being consulted, in elementary school. First grade. We had to have crayons. My mother bought the box of 48. They were so pretty. Sat up in graduated rows like a little peanut gallery. But when I got to school everyone sitting around me had the box of 8, and some of those were obviously hand me downs. It was embarrassing. I always tried to keep the box hidden inside the desk.