Adorable accoutrements for the school year

By now, with only a handful of days left before summer holidays draw to a close, the back-to-school essential kit lists will be landing in inboxes throughout the province.

Specifying children turn up to school with a precise number of pencils — sharpened, of course — a deck of playing cards, a multipack of neon highlighters and an exact number of duotangs (or, as they are known elsewhere in the world, three-pronged report folders) in distinctly different colours, the rigid tyranny of the official school-supply list leaves little room for personal expression.

But this mandatory uniformity doesn’t mean every single item must conform. Just because it’s an essential doesn’t mean it can’t be cute.

Forget moody blues and midnight black — unless they’re your fave colours, of course — and opt for something a bit brighter, a bit sunnier, a bit more doodle-friendly as cheery add-ons for that first day back at schools … without breaking any rules.

Iconic Japanese brand Campus’s B5 notebooks have the smoothest paper-surface that pens simply glide on. It makes for a very enjoyable and note-taking experience, as does the binding, which has been structured to lie flat. At $4.50 a pop, it’s a pretty wallet-friendly option, or get pack of five for $20 from Papiiro (109 Osborne St.).

Also currently in stock is the store’s bestseller, the Lihit Lab Refill Notebook ($10).

More than just a sheaf of pages stapled together, this is a fairly sophisticated notebook system where every aspect can be customized to the taste of the note-taker.

You get to choose the cover colour, the ring binder colour and your choice of paper — blank, lined, dotted or grid.

Each notebook can hold up three paper refills as well as add-on accessories such as plastic pockets, clear pocket covers, sticky-note holders and plastic tabs ($5 each).

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For even more customization, go for Pilot Coleto’s build-your-own pen system (starting from $10.50).

It’s an upgraded version of those mid-’90s four-colour pens coveted by middle-schoolers everywhere.

You know the ones, where one cartridge wouldn’t be as smooth as the others, sticking so frequently you’d end up with a rectangle-shaped indentation on your thumb owing to the number of times you tried to click it.

Pilot’s modern version starts with a choice of a three-, four- or five-pen body component that you can fill up with compatible Pilot ink cartridges. Cartridges come in a variety of colours, including pastels and metallics.

You also get to choose nib size (0.3, 0.4 or 0.5 mm) and there’s a mechanical pencil cartridge. How convenient.

It’s certainly a less-sophisticated writing tool, but the emoji-themed pen could be considered equally as entertaining for those with a puerile sense of humour.

Perhaps feces-themed pens might not be the right message to send with junior scholars as they trot off to the classroom, but there’s no denying these Poop Pop Pens ($3.99 Toad Hall Toys, 54 Arthur St.) are the perfect conversation starters.

And that’s no bad thing, especially for kids moving up a grade, perhaps to another school or those who have been placed in a different class from their besties.

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If you’re of a certain age, you might recall the craze for scented erasers in the shape of the fruit whose smell they were purporting to emulate. The synthetic fragranced rubbers have yet to lose their charm, it seems.

While the half-a-dozen erasers in the Super Fruity Kneadable Scented Eraser Wheel ($4.99 from Toad Hall) aren’t shaped like fruit, the super cute bubblegum-shaped packaging and snap-and-shut compartment to keep erasers safe make this a must-have in every pencil case, or clipped on to the backpack — yes, there’s the option to hang it like a keychain.

Keeping with the theme, check out the Inkredible Erasable Pen with Capybara ($4.50 each from Toad Hall Toys).

This trending mammal-of-the-moment popular with elementary- and middle school-aged kids is not only a tool to write with, it does double duty as an eraser.

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Pop all the pens in any one of these three roomy zippered pencil pouches ($12.98 each), beautifully handmade right here in Winnipeg by Julie Pedersen, the proprietor the Paper Gallery (1497 Corydon Ave.).

You’ll find them, along with a trove other back-to-school goodies such as sticky notes in the form of instant ramen packets and notebooks with all manner of dogs emblazoned on the cover (both priced at $14.98 each), designed to appeal to both parents and kids on the hunt for unique, fun and fuctional school supplies, right at the front of the store.

av.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com