Real talk: I have very little patience for people who talk about missing being a kid. We tend to remember childhood as an idyllic time, but it's also pretty stressful. There are bullies, you have to learn multiplication tables, and you have a bedtime. Plus, you can't even knock back a beer to take the edge off the stress. Others can keep their childhood nostalgia; I'm perfectly happy being an adult in 2016 with my iPhone and credit card.
Until it's time for back-to-school. Then, I become insanely jealous of anyone under the age of 18 who can convince their mom to go to Target for new pencil cases and binders. Because nothing will ever compare to getting to buy fresh-ass school supplies. Maybe it was the rush of getting a bunch of new things under the auspices of education, maybe it was the promise of a fresh start, maybe it was the day-glo Lisa Frank colors sending me on a kiddie acid trip — but it was always amazing.
Click through to see the 30 essential school supplies from childhood that make even me miss being a kid.
Gelly Rolls: impossible to read on white paper, impossible to resist.
Photo: via Dick Blick.
Then there were the Gelly Roll's metallic cousins, also equally amazing and inappropriate for note-taking.
Photo: via Amazon.
One folder to rule them all.
Photo: via Amazon.
Seriously, you could never have enough rainbow-colored, fantastical-animal-themed Lisa Frank folders.
Photo: via
Remember when the word "highlighter" brought to mind neon markers, not accentuating your cheekbones?
Photo: via Amazon.
Basically the "Go Go Gadget" of school supplies, this Hello Kitty pencil holder had secret drawers and tools that sprung open at the press of a button and it wasn't distracting at all during class.
Photo: via Amazon.
I don't think I actually ever used a single reinforcement label, but it was best to keep 560 of them on hand, just in case.
Photo: via Amazon.
Can you imagine a commercial in 2016 convincing today's kids that a pencil would make them cool and edgy? And yet, in the '90s, we fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.
Photo: via eBay.
If you truly wanted to make sure your pencil pouch never got left behind, you could always store it directly in your binder.
Photo: via Amazon.
Of course, if you had to keep all your favorite pens, pencils, and erasers with you at all times, you'd need a more serious pencil case. Plus, who could resist personalizing the plastic top?
Photo: via Etsy.
Soon, the metal loops would be fraying at the edges and the neon covers would be falling off, but, for one brief moment in September, your subject-specific notebooks were fresh, clean, and ready to be filled with knowledge.
Photo: via Amazon.
Or, you could go with the old-school composition book: way harder to keep open to write in, way cooler to decorate.
Photo: via Amazon.
Always important to have a back-up (or 10) on hand in case your pencil's built-in eraser failed you.
Photo: via Amazon.
Then again, if you were really serious about erasing, you kept one of these around.
Photo: via Amazon.
Unfortunately, not even the most amazing Trapper Keeper could keep up with the deluge of papers that school brought on. Thankfully, binders you could decorate with ease (over and over again, thanks to the clear plastic pockets) softened the blow.
Photo: via Amazon.
I honestly can't remember what I'd need to divide all my notes into within each binder, but I do remember taking the time to painstakingly label each one of these.
Photo: via Amazon.
Regular pencils were for the elementary-schoolers. Mechanical pencils that looked like regular pencils were for the big kids.
Photo: via Amazon.
Does anyone else remember having to pick the tiny lead refills up, one by one, after you inevitably spilled them all over your desk?
Photo: via Amazon.
When I asked if I would have to use math in the real world, I really meant, "Will I get to use this awesome geometry template in the real world," and the answer has, thus far, turned out to be "no."
Photo: via Amazon.
"But why do we want children sniffing markers?" someone asked in a pitch meeting in the 1970s. His question went unanswered, and we still have Mr. Sketch to this day.
Photo: via
Of course, markers weren't the only scented school supplies. There were also tiny, useless, smelly erasers, too.
Photo: via Amazon.
But for the truly useless school supplies, see: the pencil that you could also tie into a knot.
Photo: via Amazon.
College-ruled: so people know to take you seriously.
Photo: via Amazon.
Somehow, a lump of plastic that was meant to help you hold a pencil managed to be alluringly fun.
Photo: via Amazon.
Sure, book covers protected your textbooks, but the real point was that they looked bomb dot com.
Photo: via Amazon.
You'd never be caught with paper you couldn't put in your three-ring binder, thanks to your handy-dandy binder clip that lived there.
Photo: via Amazon.
Fun to craft with, equally fun to let dry on the back of your hand and peel off slowly.
Photo: via Amazon.
You knew you really were a big kid when you had so much homework you had to write it down in a planner.
Photo: via School Date Books.
Thank you, index cards, for helping me memorize the parts of a cell. Now if I could only remember what they were. Golgi body?
Photo: via Amazon.
Traditional white-out was for chumps: This one had zero drying time and was also way too much fun to play with. (I may have never actually used this for its intended purpose.)
Photo: via Amazon.
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