Back to School Shopping List: How to Plan It in Trello
A back to school shopping list covers clothes, shoes, a backpack and lunch gear, electronics and the class supply list. Keep it on one Trello board: a card per item, the child's name and size in the title, a list for each status.
What goes on a back to school shopping list
A back to school shopping list has four big groups: clothes, shoes, electronics and school supplies. These are the categories the National Retail Federation tracks in its yearly survey. In 2026, families with K-12 students planned to spend the most on electronics, then on clothing (NRF, July 2026).
| Group | What usually goes on it | Check before buying |
|---|---|---|
| Clothes | Everyday outfits, gym clothes, uniform or dress code items, a jacket | What still fits, and the school dress code |
| Shoes | School shoes, sneakers, indoor gym shoes if the school asks | Current size, tried on |
| Bag and lunch | Backpack, lunch box, water bottle | Whether last year's still work |
| Electronics | Laptop, tablet, calculator, headphones | The exact model the school names, if any |
| School supplies | The classroom supply list | The latest list from the teacher |
Keep school supplies as one card per child with a checklist. For what each grade usually needs, see our school supply list by grade. This board covers everything else that has to be bought, too. Getting a student ready for a dorm instead? Use the college dorm room shopping list.
For middle and high school, give electronics and team gear their own cards. They cost the most, and a school or coach may name a specific model or color.
Back to school clothes shopping list
Start the clothes list with what your child already has. Empty the drawers, try things on, and write down only what is missing, with the size: "Leo, 2 pairs of jeans, size 12" tells you exactly what to buy.
Check the dress code or uniform rules before you buy. Schools usually post them in the student handbook or on the school website. Gym clothes and indoor shoes go on the list when the school asks for them.
You do not have to buy the whole season in August. About half of shoppers (47%) in the 2026 NRF survey planned to buy only the essentials for the first days and replace things during the year. Give the cards for a winter coat or boots a due date in Trello, so they come back when the weather turns.
Create one board for the household
Name it Back to School [school year]. Keep every child on the same board unless completely different households manage their lists.
School information rarely arrives as one final document. A district publishes a general list, a teacher adds requirements, orientation produces another handout and a child remembers something after the first shopping trip. One shared board gives those fragments a current home.
Invite the other adult who buys or packs supplies and agree that the board is the active list. Messages and paper can arrive elsewhere, but their actionable contents should land here.
Trello boards contain lists, and lists contain cards. Atlassian explains the setup in its guide to creating a board.
Let lists show status
Create these lists from left to right:
- Inbox
- Need to buy
- Ordered
- Waiting for teacher
- Packed
The card’s position now explains what is happening. Inbox catches unprocessed information. Need to buy is the shopping list. Ordered holds purchases that have not arrived. Waiting for teacher isolates unclear or conflicting requirements. Packed means the item is physically ready.
Do not replace these with separate lists for pencils, clothes, sports and lunch supplies. Categories help browsing; status helps finishing. Add category labels only when they solve a real shopping problem.
Make one card for each item or decision
Use titles that remain clear on the board:
- Maya, grade 3, blue folder with prongs
- Leo, grade 6, indoor gym shoes
- Both children, replacement water bottles
- Ask Maya’s teacher about ruled paper
Include the child, class or shared status in every title. “Notebook” becomes ambiguous as soon as two children need one.
Use descriptions for size, color and classroom details. Attach the teacher’s PDF, a handout photo or a product link. Trello’s official card guide covers descriptions, attachments, dates, labels and comments.
Keep items that always travel together on one card with a checklist. A pencil-case card might contain pencils, eraser, sharpener and ruler. Give expensive products separate cards so you can compare links and track each order.
Turn the official list into a checklist
If the school provides clean text, place each supply on its own line and paste the lines into a Trello checklist. Trello can convert them into separate checklist items; Atlassian documents the method in its checklist guide.
For a simple list, use one card per child with checklists named Supplies, Clothing and Forms. Check an item only when it has been bought and physically accounted for.
Capture teacher updates immediately
Updates arrive through email, parent portals, paper handouts, conversations and other parents. Create an Inbox card as soon as one arrives; perfect filing can wait.
Later, turn the message into an action. If low-odor markers are required, rename the card and move it to Need to buy. Attach the message or paste the relevant sentence so nobody has to recover the email.
Lists commonly fail because they arrive in fragments: an official list in May, a teacher email in August and an addendum just before classes. Even a careful spreadsheet can miss a classroom or channel. Three lists for one child may not agree, and shopping from either your memory or the child’s memory is unreliable.
Use labels for children and stores
Give each child a named label and use a Shared label for household items. Keep the child’s name in the title so cards remain understandable when colors are hard to distinguish.
Store labels such as Grocery, Office supply and Online are useful only if they help group purchases. Trello permits named and multiple labels, as its label documentation explains.
Filter by store while shopping. Before checkout, clear the filter and scan all of Need to buy so an unlabeled card is not hidden.
Set a back to school shopping budget
Set the total before the first trip, then give every card a price. Families with K-12 students planned to spend $863.86 on average in 2026, according to NRF: about $293 on electronics, $250 on clothing and accessories, $174 on shoes and $146 on school supplies. Your own number depends on what you can reuse, but the split shows where the money usually goes.
In Trello, put the estimate at the start of the card title or in the description, for example "$45, Leo, indoor gym shoes". On the Standard plan and above, a Number type Custom Field shows the price on the front of every card; Custom Fields are not part of the free plan, as Trello's pricing page shows. After checkout, replace the estimate with what you paid, so the board shows how much of the budget is left.
Track orders through the final step
An online purchase is not finished when payment clears. Move it to Ordered, add a recognizable order link and wait for arrival. Inspect the parcel before moving the card to Packed.
Add pickup deadlines and reminders only where a missed date creates a problem, such as a pickup window or form deadline. Too many reminders make every card feel urgent.
If product links and teacher emails are scattered across apps, send them to dEssence from Chrome or Telegram. Tracy keeps each one with its details, and she can watch a saved product and tell you when the price drops. Keep Trello as the visible action board when card movement is how your household coordinates work.
Keep the finished board as evidence
Do not delete the board after school begins. Remove temporary cards containing private details you no longer need, then retain completed supply cards.
Next year, create a fresh board and consult the old one for backpack checks, lunch supplies, document reminders, late deliveries and questions that caused extra trips. Treat every teacher-specific requirement as unconfirmed until the new teacher sends it. The old board is evidence, not a shopping list to copy blindly.
Reuse it as a back to school shopping list template
The board itself is your template. Build it once with the five lists, a supply card per child and cards for clothes, shoes, bags and electronics, then copy it next summer. Open the board menu, select More and choose Copy board. Trello copies the cards and their descriptions, but not comments, card members or archived cards, according to Atlassian's copy guide.
For cards you make every year, such as "[child], school shoes", make a template card: open the card, select the ⋯ menu and choose Make template. New cards then come from Create from template at the bottom of any list, as the template card guide describes. Workspace board templates need Trello Premium or Enterprise, so copying the board is the free route.
Need a printable back to school shopping list? Print from Trello on the web: open the board menu, select Print, export, and share, then Print. Printing is not available in the mobile app, and a board printout shows only the front of each card, per Trello's printing guide. Keep the child's name and the size in the card title so the paper copy is still useful.
FAQ
What should be on a back to school shopping list?
Clothes, shoes, a backpack and lunch gear, any electronics the school requires, and the classroom supply list. Write each item with the child's name and size.
How much should I budget for back to school shopping?
NRF's 2026 survey found that families with K-12 students planned to spend $863.86 on average. Check what still fits and works first, then set your own total and give each card a price.
When should I start back to school shopping?
Many families start by early July: 62% of shoppers had started by then in 2026, per NRF. Buy sizes and costly items first, and buy class supplies once the teacher's list arrives.
Is there a free back to school shopping list template?
Yes. Build one Trello board on the free plan and copy it each year with Copy board. Workspace board templates need a paid plan.
What goes on a high school back to school shopping list?
The same groups, with bigger lines for electronics and sports gear. Buy a laptop or a calculator after the school or teacher names the model they expect.