This is the pile of freebies I scored yesterday while Peter and I were visiting one Staples and two Office Depots in the Wilmington area for their Teacher Appreciation Day breakfasts. This day is probably the 2nd largest shopping event for us each year – second only to Black Friday. We plan out our driving route, get up early, and zip in and out of as many stores as we can before the events finish – usually by 11 AM or so – or until they run out of freebie bags.

This year there was one less store because Office Max seems to have pulled out of Delaware all together.  While there seem to be less in the bags (another sign of the economy?), the bags seemed to be more stylish and eco-friendly (recycled and/or organic materials).  My favorite freebies this year were the flash drives (2) and the binder clips (because they’re pretty).

I’m grateful to office supply stores for even thinking to provide freebies to teachers. I’m also grateful when they decide to have deals like the one today where I got a ton of folders for 1 penny each.

Tomorrow, school officially starts in my school district! We have something called a “staggered start” which means I will only see 10th graders tomorrow as 9th and 10th start on Monday and I don’t teach 9th grade. Tuesday, the juniors and seniors (both of which I teach) arrive, and then Wednesday we will have a full house. This is the first year my school will have all four grades so I’m excited to see what it will be like!