Walmart $50 Charity Backpack Stuff Challenge

My kids will be heading back to school in less than three weeks — at which time you will hear a HUGE sigh of relief from me. It’s been a fantastic and fun summer, but I’m really starting to crave the routine and regularity that the school year brings!

Of course, before they head back, we have quite a job ahead of us shopping for school supplies, clothing and shoes. Call me a bit of a geek, but I actually kind of enjoy shopping for school supplies. Shoes and clothing (for the kids at least), well, not so much…

When it comes to doing a big school supply shopping trip, Walmart is our first choice for a number of reasons. Our local Walmart is always well organized with wide aisles, and most importantly, they typically have all of the items we’re shopping for in stock.

So when Walmart asked me to shop for two backpacks and stuff them each with as many school supplies as possible for under $25, I gladly accepted. We did our shopping trip after a late dinner, and the store was still well-stocked and organized even after a full day of shoppers. We were able to get in, shop for our backpacks and supplies, and check out in under 15 minutes!

I was impressed with the large selection of backpacks they had available. We selected two Eastsport trapezoid backpacks for $17.88 each. My boys especially loved the single strap design since they rarely carry their backpacks using both straps.

We next headed over to the school supply aisles and grabbed all of the following items:

• 2 Crayola 8-ct. washable markers, $1.97 ea.
• 2 Crayola 10-ct. fine point washable markers, $0.97 ea.
• 2 Crayola 24-ct. sharpened colored pencils, $2.97 ea.
• 2 Crayola 24-ct. crayons, $0.50 ea.
• 2 The Write Dudes 24-ct. no. 2 pencils, $3.77 ea.
• 2 Elmer’s washable school glue, $0.50 ea.
• 4 Elmer’s 2-pk. glue sticks, $0.50 ea.
• 2 Fiskars blunt-tip scissors, $1.47 ea.
• 2 Fiskars shatter resistant rulers, $0.47 ea.
• 2 pink erasers 2-pk., $0.50 ea.
• 4 Expo 4-pk. dry erase markers, $2.50 ea.
• 2 Paper Mate 4-pk. multi-color in pens, $2.47 ea.
• 2 Sharpie 4-pk. highlighters, $1.74 ea.
• 2 index cards, $0.48 ea.
• 4 wide-ruled notebooks, $0.17 ea.
• 8 plastic pocket folders, $0.50 ea.

Okay, okay, so I did go slightly over my $25 target. All of the supplies above came to $26.15, but we got everything we needed, including those ever elusive dry erase markers that we haven’t been able to find anywhere for the past three years! Of course we could have saved at least that $1.15 by using ad match and searching for coupons beforehand, but this was a bit of a last-minute trip and I also wanted to demonstrate just how much you could get using only Walmart’s everyday low prices.

We’ll be donating both backpacks and their contents to assist needy students in our area. Walmart makes it super easy for everyone to donate by placing collection boxes in stores, so consider picking up a few extra items next time you shop as well. Or you can also check out this resource I put together a few years ago that lists five opportunities to donate school supplies.

We have just a few items left to pick up and then we’ll be ready for school to start! How are you doing on your back-to-school shopping so far?

Disclosure: I am a participant in the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with compensation for the time and effort spent creating this post. However, my participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own — always have been, always will be.