8 Back-to-School Essentials From Five Below

If you’re looking for trendy, affordable items for back-to-school shopping, Five Below has quite the selection. As the name suggests, almost everything in the store is less than $5. This includes essentials like backpacks, lunch bags, writing utensils and notebooks. The quality of many of these items is also surprisingly good for the price.

GOBankingRates perused Five Below’s website to find some of the best deals on back-to-school supplies right now. Here’s what we found.

• Price: $5

Does your child need a new backpack for school? At Five Below, you can pick up one for next to nothing. It comes in five colors and patterns, including pink flowers and black graffiti art. Since it’s only $5, you may even want to get two just for some variety.

Each backpack has a front mesh zipper pocket, a side pocket and adjustable straps. It’s lightweight and the perfect size for school-aged kids who have to carry around lots of school supplies.

• Price: $5

If you have a Hello Kitty fan in your life, check out this lunch bag. It has a cute design featuring several main characters and is quite colorful. It’s also practical with a simple carrying handle and zippable pouch that’ll keep those packed lunches inside.

• Price: $5

This one isn’t just for the kids. If you need a new planner to keep track of school assignments, events or other important dates, this spiral planner could be just what you need.

It comes in four different styles — wavy, balloon, capybara and checkered. It’s 6 inches wide and 8 inches long, so it’ll fit inside even small schoolbags. Inside, it’s organized by date and contains plenty of space for notes (and doodles).

• Price: $1

Places like Dollar Tree aren’t your only option when it comes to low-priced writing utensils. Right now, Five Below is selling a three-pack of mechanical pencils with adorable critter toppers — perfect for adding a touch of cuteness to any schoolbag or pencil pouch. They come in blue, green and pink and use 0.77mm diameter lead.

• Price: $5

Colored pencils are one of those must-have school supplies. They’re also great for the aspiring artist in the classroom. This 24-pack of pre-sharpened colored pencils includes all you — or your kids — need to handle art projects or even just to draw.

• Price: $2.25

It’s hard to stay organized without a reliable binder, but you don’t need to spend $5 or $10 for one. At Five Below, you can get a 1-inch, three-ring binder for only a couple bucks — or two for less than $5.

These binders are great for holding important school assignments. They also have two inside pockets to keep notes, stickers and smaller papers in place. Consider grabbing more than one so you can color code your work.

• Price: $1

Nothing beats the classic black-and-white marble design of this composition book. Designed with older school-aged kids and university students in mind, this notebook has 100 pages of college-ruled paper that are ideal for essay-writing, note-taking and more. It’s thin, too, so you can easily slip it inside your bookbag or add it to your stack of textbooks as you go from class to class.

At such a low price, you’d be hard-pressed to find something similar for less. Depending on how many notes you plan to take by hand, you may want to stock up before the school year starts back up.

• Price: $5

These 3D erasers are practical, but perhaps just as importantly, they’re adorable. They come in a 35-count, which is more than enough to get anyone through the school year (even if they lose a few along the way). They’re great for personal use, as well as for gifts and prizes. They come in an assortment of cute icons, animals and food shapes.