All The Best ‘90s Back-To-School Gear Your Kids (& You) Will Love

For me, it always starts with Nutri-Grain bars. I don’t even like them that much, but just the sight of an unopened pack of some vaguely healthy bar fills me with optimism. Inspiration. Makes me feel like I’m getting a total blank slate as a mother and a person and, in some weird nostalgic ways I can never quite put my finger on, a student.

Because that’s what back-to-school shopping is really, secretly, supposed to give us for all our troubles as parents, right? A little dopamine boost of a fresh start coupled with the sweet lift of a walk down memory lane. So I say let’s all just lean in and buy all of the best ‘90s back-to-school supplies we can get our hands on for the kids but also ourselves this year.

Cool and mostly useful accessories

The beauty of ‘90s school supplies was that everything was useful and also fun. You could find your new best friend and soulmate in class simply by flashing your Lisa Frank Color and Trace Activity Book so they knew you were all fun and whimsical. Better yet, why not offer to share some of your scratch and sniff stickers with your new pals or draw them a cute picture with your Mr. Sketch Scented Washable Markers? Or if you wanted something erasable, there were, of course, Smencils.

That good ’90s gear

I will never not want to sling a Jansport backpack over my shoulder in that casual, one–strap way of all ‘90s students, especially if it comes in a fun color like hot pink. Once you’ve gotten your own kid a Jansport backpack, you’ll need to stuff it with a Trapper Keeper binder in a design of their choosing along with a fun ‘90s-inspired lunch box. I say go for a Rugrats lunch box, since Tommy and the gang are seeing a well-deserved resurgence. Finally, you know you’ll need to festoon your child’s backpack with some personalized backpack key chains so they can cosplay as latch key kids. They can rep for what My Little Pony looked like back in the day, or you could put them to work on their own dayglow woven keychains in the waning days of summer.

The coolest stuff to trade on the playground

Nothing says ‘90s kid like all of that trading that used to happen on the playground. Did you even go to school in the ‘90s if you didn’t have at least one full book of Garbage Pail Kids stickers? If you want your kids to have the full ‘90s experience, you’re going to want to teach them how to let their Beyblades rip in battles with their friends or trade Pogs in that wholesome way of ‘90s kids.

I can only assume you had a deck of Pokemon cards to trade (preferably while worrying about making sure your Tamagotchi was fed and cared for). Best of all, if we could bring Beanie Babies and Mini Trolls back, that would really help me with a delicate storage matter in my basement.

Retro snacks are key

So I’m not here to tell you that the snacks we packed in the ‘90s were nutritious or anything. But everyone needs a treat sometimes, and sometimes I’m sorry to tell you that these treats come in the form of those classic dippable cookies with the sweet frosting, Dunkaroos. The ‘90s were all about individually wrapped treats like Kraft Lunchables, Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit Gushers, all to be washed down with a delicious Yoo-Hoo. And of course, never forget the aforementioned Nutri-Grain bars, added as an afterthought as a nod to nutrition.

Honorable mention goes to all Little Debbie products but especially the Cosmic Brownies, the snack of my dreams.

The right wheels

If you were one of those kids who had a Sonic the Hedgehog skateboard, I’m bowing down to you. This was pretty much the coolest way to get to school. Wheelies were also on trend but, in my opinion, not that functional. You were better off learning how to rollerblade to school and then switch into your shoes, preferably high top Converse. Riding a scooter to school never seems to go out of style, but boy was it ever THE thing to do in the ‘90s.

Throwback breakfasts

Sure, it might have been nice to have homemade pancakes for the first day of school. But pancakes walked so that Toaster Strudels and EGGO waffles could run. Not to mention Pop-Tarts, and if you wanted a really elevated, classy experience, you needed to toast the brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts. In a hurry? Oreo-O’s and French Toast Crunch still exist to save the day.

Latchkey-kid approved after-school snacks

Being a latchkey kid might not have been ideal save for one important detail; the after-school snacks. The smell of the oven warming up as you made yourself an entire tray of Bagel Bites so you could watch Saved By The Bell… this is what life in the ‘90s was all about. For those of us who were more sweet than savory, there were always the Pillsbury slice-and-bake chocolate chunk cookies. If you didn’t want to turn on the oven, there was always the microwave and Hot Pockets or even just Ritz Cracker Snackwiches in either peanut butter or cheese. The choices were endless.

Playdate essentials

Remember that first time a new classmate asked you to come over after school to hang out and presumably eat Bagel Bites in the ‘90s? It’s a singularly special moment, and one you’ll always remember because of the games you played. Maybe you were all about Polly Pockets, or you pulled out the old Bop It! for a fun memory game. Maybe you watched Kevin McAllister get into all of his mischief with his TalkBoy in Home Alone 2 and decided you could try it yourselves. Whatever it was, I bet it was fun.

Grunge and other fashion essentials

I hope your kid likes plaid, because ‘90s back-to-school fashion is all about plaid. Plaid shirts, plaid skirts, plaid jackets. If you can get your kid to wear a plaid shirt under a pair of denim overalls, that’s really the ‘90s fashion jackpot. Or there’s always the Beverly Hills 90210 look of baby doll dresses over a white tee. Perhaps a pair of capri pants with those little slits that hit right at the top of your calves might work, or a licensed Varsity jacket. And they’re probably already begging you for big baggy jeans and tiny, tiny tops. The ‘90s were also peak Chicago Bulls/Michael Jordan years, so wearing a basketball jersey and basketball shorts to school was really a thing.

And, of course, accessories

The ‘90s were really the decade of accessories. You could wear something basic like jeans and a T-shirt but then you better throw on a funky bucket hat to make your look extra special. Better yet, cut your bangs as short as possible and then add a pile of butterfly clips into your twisted up hair. Or go grunge simply by leaving it long and throwing your ponytail into a scrunchie. Add a fanny pack to your look for convenience but also ironic purposes and your ‘90s look is set.

This is about as deep into ‘90s nostalgia as a person can go in 2024 without looking like they stepped out of a time machine. And we are all here for it.