We've been trying very hard to get Branden ready to start his new yochien. And since we spent the past 3 weeks in March in the United States, we got a bit of a late start getting our munchkin ready. So, we have been running around like crazy trying to get the things required from this new school. And some things we had from our previous yochien but some things are required from this school that were never required from the first school.
Things we kept and will reuse, are the handmade one of a kind bento bags and book bags and shoe bags that we went to Yuzawaya last year and bought the material and then had our sewing lady make our bags for us. So, since they were still perfect condition we are reusing them again this year.
However this school also asked for a gym bag and also a seat cover/earthquake cover type thing to be handmade too. Again, you could always buy these but I found out last year having your kid show up with a handmade one is considered best. So, even though I didn't make it myself, I bought the material Branden chose and liked best. And we got to choose the strap colors etc. And basically it was made especially for Branden. So, since we had ours made for Branden last year we got the extra two required school bags this year, handmade as well. We went to Yuzawaya last week and bought the material, some nice quilted fabric. Chose our strap colors (Branden wanted a yellow strap for one and a blue strap for the other bag, go figure ha ha ha.) And today we picked up the two new homemade bags. The lady only charged us 1500 yen for making both the bags! A super deal if you ask me, for handmade yochien bags! Because if I made them myself they might fall apart for sure, lol. So better for me to have the sewing lady do these since she's a pro. And shhhh, according to my sewing lady, many Japanese women have them handmade too but don't make them personally! So now that I know many Japanese mom's do this too, I don't feel so guilty for being so sneeky about secretly getting our bags made by her! : )
Things we bought brand new. We bought him a brand new bento box this year because bento boxes don't last more then a school year anyways. And the fork and spoon and chopstick set was still good but we wanted to send him off with a new set. The fork and chopstick set was the identical set from last year, hmmm they don't change the Thomas designs much I guess ha ha ha. The bento design was changed thank goodness.
New things this school needed. A plastic cup for drinking tea or whatever. We bought him a new Thomas cup. And he also needed a handkerchief thing that goes under his bento. Plus a few other things as well. Plus the tiny handkerchief for your nose which the school requires, along with the tissues.
Plus adding the supplies the school *requires* you to buy like crayons and glue and scissors etc. Yup we found ourselves writing his name on each and every crayon like we are required to do! Ha ha ha! So we got white blank adhesives to write his name on stuff, we also wrote things directly on the plastic things just in case the adhesive ever fell off! Then on clothes we had to have the lady sew the white name tags on each thing because the iron on name tags suck and fall off I've heard. So basically we had to write his name on absolutely everything you can imagine.
I also had to buy tiny tissues for kids. I have been hunting for Thomas tissues for ions it seems, but have yet to see them and believe me, I've looked everywhere! They usually got anpanman tissues or those gross giant cockroach looking bug tissues, that some older Japanese kids are into (blech maybe, someday I will post more about my thoughts on those sometime). but I have searched high and low for Thomas tissues to no avail. However I found some very cool tissues, that look like tiny boxes of *very* popular Japanese chocolates that most of the kids, here just love! So, I figured I better buy them quick before they run out because I have never seen tissues *that* cute before! I bought two of the packs for my Branden. And I might even go back and buy a couple more packs! So, I'm happy I got some cute packs of tissues at least! Anything has *got* to be better then those giganto cockroach bugs or stink bug things (blech) that just makes my skin crawl! Sorry but bugs and creepy crawlies freak me out to no end.
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