Sometime around mid-August, as the summer winds down, it’s like someone throws a switch and suddenly we feel a nostalgic longing for new shoes, a new sweater, and a new box of crayons. Whether you’re eight or thirty-eight, the start of the school year signifies a new beginning, a time to get organized and get down to business.

We sort through the kids’ closets to see what fits and what doesn’t. We clean out cluttered desk drawers, throwing away dried up markers and broken pencils to make room for fresh new ones. And for those of us at Pear Tree, this includes Mom’s desk drawer. Kids aren’t the only ones who need new supplies for the school year. This is the perfect time to re-stock our stationery drawer.

Personalized note cards, thank you notes and address labels are the basics we can’t do without. Next, depending on our kids’ ages, we find mommy cards can be very handy for making connections with other parents at school. For the new teacher, personalized book markers or note cards make a thoughtful beginning-of-the-year gift. Even if we don’t have kids in school, cleaning out our desks and freshening up our stationery collection just feels right at this time of year.