A few weeks ago, I was invited by Staples to take a peek at their latest back to school gear at their #StaplesHasIt event in NYC. Not only did I get a good look at all the latest wares that the retailer had to offer for students and teachers, but we learned about their new Reward-A-Classroom Program AND had the chance to hobnob with a celeb.
For the trend setters, be on the lookout for these fun styles and great gear:
Back to Neon
Neon isn’t just hot with clothes and accessories, this hot trend continues to overlap onto school supplies and other kid gear. Both Jansport and Puma offer neon backpacks; Bold pink, orange, blue and lime green hues are featured in the Quilted Collection of zipper binders, pencil pouches, tablet cases and clipboards. As a writer on the go and serial volunteer (and forever a college kid at heart), my personal favorites for my bag are the Studio C Neon Zip-It 1 Subject Notebook and Neon Sharpies.
Exclusive Patterns and Designs
Staples offers unique designs on products like the Better binders, sticky notes and index card holders, which give a nod back to the 80s, but still keep it functional and cool.
Twinkle, Twinkle
Going a bit further, school supplies are lighting up with cool fiber-optic treatments. (Y’know, just in case you should ever find yourself doing homework at a rave.) The Glo-Lite collection featuring staplers, rulers and dry-erase boards ($6.00-$8.99), lights up when pushed. Fiber Optic Pencil Pouches twinkle in cool designs including shoe, piano and paisley ($6.99). Need a lunch bag that lights up? #StaplesHasIt. Of course they do.
Locker Sweet Locker
I thought I was the coolest with my awesome locker shelves way back when. Staples steps it up with Magnetic Motion Sensor Locker Chandelier ($19.99) that has seven LED lights, a Glo-Lite Magnetic Pencil Bin ($8.99), to unique glitter rugs ($9.99) and magnetic wallpaper ($5.99).
Tech You Can Touch
Acer Aspire Touch Laptop is very portable at only 11.6 inches and at an affordable pricepoint: $479.99). For even more accessibility and portability, Staples has tablets like the HP Slate 7 with Beats ($169.99), Samsung Galaxy II 7 inch ($195.99) and Samsung Note 8.0 ($399.99), Google Nexus 7 16GB ($199) and Kindle Fire HD 8.9” 16GB ($269).
Jansport sleeves combine fashion and function with a wide assortment of tablet sleeves from animal prints to plaids to neon accents. The Jansport Superbreak Sleeve is a durable and fashionable way to carry a 15-inch laptop like a backpack ($29.99).
Nothing Basic About It
Staples also offers fun basic supplies with novelty features, including: Staples Flexible Calculator, Scotch Magic, the Chameleon tape dispenser ($9.99) actually changes color when touched; Post-It Pop-up Note Karate Dispenser ($9.99) that puts post-it notes at your fingertips and Woodland Animal Pencil Pouch ($5.99) available in a variety of fuzzy critters.
Let’s Do Lunch
I’m all about creating fun lunches, so I appreciate Staples’ lineup of lunch accessories: The Fit & Fresh 14 Piece Healthy Lunch Set with proportioned containers and ice packs that snap into the lids ($14.99); Cool It! Ice packs ($10.99); and the LEGO Lunch box ($14.99).
Reward A Classroom
With many teacher friends and as a mom to a Kindergartener, I absolutely love the premise behind Staples new Reward A Classroom. In addition to the 5% back in rewards all members earn, parents can now earn extra rewards for the teacher of their choice with the Reward A Classroom program. Here’s what teachers get when parents shop:
2% back in rewards on everything, including postage, phone/gift cards and savings passes
5% back in rewards on every Copy & Print purchase
Teachers
Visit staples.com/rewardaclassroom to join the program. Make sure to tell parents and friends to link to your account so they start earning rewards for your classroom.
Parents
Visit staples.com/rewardaclassroom and select the teacher you’d like to earn extra rewards for.
There’s always a photo-op
And as a special treat, we Biggie and I had the chance to chat with Nick Cannon, host of America’s Got Talent. Nick was onhand to promote Monster NCredible Headphones. I’ll review those in a separate post, but it was fun meeting Nick, or as Biggie described, “the guy from American Idol.”
Disclosure: I was provided with a gift bag at the event, but as always, all opinions on NKT are my own.
