Back to School haul - January?

[DriveVerySlowlyPastNumber23IWantThemToSeeMyHat]

Ive seen a few posts of buying a new bag, a new packed lunch, new water bottle etc for going back to school in January, despite getting new in September.

Is this the new thing? 🙈

Not a thing I’ve heard of! My kids stuff is already new!

I haven't until today 😐

Why? Did they buy cheap stuff and it's all broken and unusable by now? Or are their children really careless?

DS has a new rucksack and water bottle to take to school after the holidays. That's because his old one was getting on a bit after four years. One compartment had come off and the zips weren't working anymore...
His water bottle has also lasted fine for the past four years but it's a bit small and he'll take a second one with him now.

One of my daughters friends gets a new packed lunch box and a new school bag in September, for Christmas and for her Birthday in April. It's absolute madness to me!

Influencer? Wannabe influencer? Or just a regular wasteful person?

The idea of this sounds ridiculous to me... What an environmental and financial waste!

The only time I bought new ready for September was in the reception year. Every other time I've bought when I needed to replace something so yes it's highly likely I bought new stuff for returning in January

Who is it who is posting this? Do you actually remember if they had new in September? I buy my kids things when they need them so could be this time of year.

It's a bit surprising. My daughter got some new school bits as part of her Christmas gifts (character water bottle etc) so i expect she'll be taking those in next week but they were things on her Christmas wish list rather than replaced new for the sake of it. I definitely wouldn't be buying more stuff now just for the sake of having brand new everything at the start of term.

There are people who do this though and the psychology behind it may be interesting. My daughter has a friend whose mum grew up very poor in Eastern Europe. She has worked her arse off to learn English, move here, get qualifications and now has a really decent senior level job. She has explained that she is really proud of no longer being poor and buying brand new stuff is reassuring to her that her life is no longer about "making do". At the end of term she quite literally bins her daughter's school bag and all contents and buys everything new again for next term.

I think that might be true for a lot of people - it's a way of saying look I'm not poor. Whereas "old money" folk often have old battered stuff as it doesn't occur to them to care how it looks.

I don't think it's a "thing" maybe the odd person does it? Or maybe the children got lunchboxes etc for Christmas.

I wouldn't buy new unless the old stuff was no longer usable (or had lasted so well it was age inappropriate). And that has never neatly happened at the beginning of January.