How do you and your family get ready to go back to school?

We asked a bevy of creative personalities, students, and fresh graduates about how they bond with their families during their back to school shopping, and which school materials they can’t live without.

“When my family and I go back to school shopping, the school supplies often provoke us to think of scenarios when I may need them so I’m best prepared for the upcoming school year. My family also helps train me to think realistically and long-term, which is an important skill I’ll need for back to school and quite frankly, all shopping in general.

“I love pastel highlighters, sticky notes, Uni pens, and dark 4B lead for mechanical pencils, all bundled together in a standing pencil case! I also love new books, especially inspirational and thought-provoking ones to be read daily, if not my weekly dose of YA romance fiction.”

— Katie Tracy, student and vlogger

“As the eldest, I would manage [my siblings]

(laughs). We would get the list of materials from school, then check at home if we had some already that we didn’t need to buy. Then after, the boys and I would go with our Ate Mae to buy everything.

“I love markers! And the M&G pens that you can buy at an affordable price. Perfect for a student budget.”

— Ysabel Camacho, marketing manager

“We go to National Book Store together to buy school supplies for ourselves, and when we see a notebook or pen that another sibling might like, we show it to them and buy it for them.

“Notebooks! Tons and tons of notebooks! I never get to use all of them, but I love notebooks for some reason.”

— Nate Punzalan, vlogger

“My mom was very into being a hands-on momma so she would get the materials for me. Normally bookstores were our go-to.

“Materials included were definitely the following as far as I remember: Best Buy notebooks, a new set of pens and pencils, a clear envelope and paper folders for submitting reports and whatnot.”

— Martin Hocson, musician

“My parents would have my older sister take me and reimburse her for the money she spent. It was always a bonding experience because we went to the same high school at different times, and she shared all the crazy memories from her time there.

“Definitely pencils. They ALWAYS tend to disappear, even until now that I’m out of school. And notebooks were always on sale so even if I didn’t need them I bought them to make lists with.”

— Alex Lumbang, design graduate