Monday, July 18, 2011

Back to School with Staples - Deals for YOU and a way to give back!



Last week I attended a Staples Back-to-school event hosted by Moms And the City, Melissa Gerstein, Denise Albert and Raina Seitel. A midtown Manhattan Staples store played host to a group of mom and dad bloggers who were divided into groups and taken to three different learning stations around the store.

The first station was for learning all about the ways that Staples is giving back. You know I love featuring 'Shopping with a Conscience' opportunities! If you can do something good for you, at a good price AND give back, that's shopping nirvana as far as I'm concerned.  Staples partnered with the organization, Dosomething.org,  to design new products and also for their 4th Annual Staple for Students School Supply Drive where Students are encouraged to collect school supplies for children in need and drop them off at Staples.

The second station is where we got to learn about the laptops, service plans and easy comparison checker that you can use to compare and contrast features from different laptops at the display just by pulling them up on one without having to walk all around and read all those cards. Me being in the market for a new laptop after the back to back lemon experiences I have had with HP, made this demo one of the highlights for me! I'll be going back to Staples soon and checking out the laptops, although I'm kind of leaning toward an iPad 2 instead of a standard laptop this time around.

The third station is where we learned all about the Staples Savings Pass, a $10 discount card where you can get everything for back to school every day through September 17th at 15% off. (Think about the savings if you have to buy a laptop or other electronic items! And for larger families, this savings pass certainly pays for itself!).



Melissa, Denise and Raina then showed us all their favorite new back to school items. That's where I noticed this cute notebook!



I didn't realize it until I got home, but this cute Butterfly Notebook is by our friends at Carolina Pad, how butterfly perfect was that? Everywhere I go I ALWAYS have a butterfly sighting!



You know how I feel about new notebooks right? They are like perfect blank slates, and I'm dying to grab my colored pencils and draw on the first page! I have so far managed restraint, but I'm sure it won't be long before I start drawing butterflies all over the first and last page!

We also had the opportunity to make fun photo bookmarks with the folks at Photo Op NYC



It was fun posing for these pictures, the results are a way hipper, way cooler photo booth type picture! PhotoOp was recently named the Best Children's Family Photo Studio in New York by New York Magazine in their "Best of New York" issue and I could see why by the looks of my own and other bookmarks I got to see, they are very easy to work with and have a way of bringing out the best in their subjects! I'd highly recommend them. I hope my scan is doing it justice!

Our Staples visit ended with a 'Staples Bingo' Game with fun prizes and we left with goodie bags (but shh, let's keep that our secret, unlike last year, I didn't tell my niece and nephew about this one, I am NOT giving up my butterfly notebook! But I'm definitely not called the 'cool aunt' for nothing, I'll end up taking them to Staples to buy some fun Back-to-School supplies of their own very soon).

Check out your local Staples weekly ads for sales, don't forget the 1 cent specials to help you REALLY stock up, sign up for your Staples Rewards card for great rebates, and up your cool factor by sharing the fun videos made by Modern Family's television show co-star, Rico Rodriguez, who shares what kids need for Back-to-School in a series of funny videos HERE.

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FTC Disclosure: This is NOT a compensated post. No monetary compensation has been received. I attended a local event and was under no obligation to write about it. I did receive a gift bag after the event, and lunch was provided during the event however the opinions expressed are solely my own. I really do beleive in featuring corporations with a conscience that give back to the community and world at large!

2 comments:

  1. My fav part of going back to school each year was new fresh binders and notebooks to be filled with knowledge and information. It was so exciting. I know what you mean. I still love fresh new notebooks.

    reannenny at aol.com

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  2. @Yoga Mommy - Oddly enough, I still have the habit of buying them come fall. I'm usually the only person still taking notes at events the retro way just because I want an excuse to use all my cool notebooks!

    ♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

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