dress | earrings | similar necklace | sandals

One of my first vivid memories from childhood is of back to school shopping before first grade with my mom.  I remember savoring every moment of our trip and can still picture the shirt with a fringed cowboy boot on it that I immediately feel in love with.  Oh and the crushed velvet shirt that had a built in choker necklace haha.  I was definitely an early 90s girl!  I put on a fashion show for my family when I got home and I felt like I was ready to take on the world despite only being six years old.  Today Jack starts his first full year of preschool and I got to recreate that childhood memory of mine at Waikele Premium Outlets here on Oahu.  While he won’t be getting a fringed cowboy boot t-shirt like I did, I did buy him his first pair of light-up sneakers from Skechers and he is obsessed with his new “flash light shoes.”  Does this officially make me a cool mom now?  I sure hope so!  I’ve shopped at Waikele Premium Outlets since I first moved to Hawaii in 2009, so it was a total dream to partner up with them to share our back to school shopping experience.

Back to School with Waikele Premium Outlets

Two of my favorite places to shop for children’s clothing at Waikele Premium Outlets are Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger Kids.  The styles are nice and preppy, the quality is fantastic, and it’s all at up to 65% off!

I stopped at Skechers for shoes, where they were having a buy one get one 50% off sale!  I got Jack the light-up sneakers seen in the photos farther down (only $19.35 because of the promotion), and got him another pair of sneakers for him to grow into later.  They also have water friendly shoes that look really similar to the shoes my kids wear most of the time.  Except they’re a good bit cheaper than what we’ve been using!

Waikele Premium Outlets is part of the Simon Premium Outlets  chain, which offers a military discount at most stores on top of their already discounted prices.  Needless to say I got so many good deals and the kids are all set for this next year of school in Hawaii.  (Truthfully it’s kind of nice that they can wear shorts and dresses all year round, so all of their clothing gets tons of use before they grow out of it.  Not sure what we’re going to do once we move back to a place with seasons!)

I stocked up on pull-on shorts for Jack (since he’s finally potty trained, woohoo), new underwear and socks for both kids (hopefully Caroline will potty train earlier than Jack did), a sweater for each child since air conditioning makes schools so cold sometimes, and those beloved light-up shoes for Jack.  Caroline will start part-time preschool at the Y once she turns 2 next month, so she got a few back to school items too.  Collared shirt dresses on toddler girls are my new favorite thing ever!

For myself, I browsed Polo Ralph Lauren, where I got the comfy non-maternity t-shirt dress I’m wearing above on the left.  I only paid $32.40 for it, while a very similar dress at the non-outlet version of Polo Ralph Lauren is $148!  Such a great deal and I love that this will work with a bump and without one later.  I also stopped by Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger (the striped dress above almost came home with me, it would be great for nursing), and Kate Spade New York.  I got the cutest cross body bag with scallops on it at Kate Spade for an unheard of price: $70 including tax!  Similar bags at the non-outlet store are around $200, so the outlet is definitely the way to go.  Kate Spade bags have been a favorite of mine for years because they last forever since they often have such classic designs, so I happily added this scalloped one to my collection (as seen farther down this post).  The pearl earrings below look really similar to a pair I bought at Kate Spade for full price back when we lived in DC.  They’re such a simple and timeless style and they go with everything!  And they were 60% off when I shopped too.  (I didn’t get them but thought they were beautiful.  I’m wearing my old pair in the photos below.)

We’re all set for going back to school now, and of course we’re wearing my go-to color combo of navy and French blue 🙂  Caroline’s little purse is from Tommy Hilfiger Kids and it’s striped and has fruit on it.  I obviously couldn’t resist it and she used it to hit the plants and her brother, as one does with a purse haha.  She’ll figure it out eventually.

Jack’s backpack | Caroline’s clogs

Have you done your back to school shopping yet?  If you’re on Oahu be sure to check out Waikele Premium Outlets for their great back to school deals going on right now!  They also have a free VIP Shopper Club where you receive discount offers by phone from the retailers with their Digital Savings Passport and you also get to skip the lines.

 

Thanks to Waikele Premium Outlets for sponsoring this post!  I only work with companies I love that I think you’ll love too.