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Sep
19
For the last couple of months I’ve been doing some community management work for Cherokee USA, which is a fancy way of saying I’m in charge of the stuff that appears on their Facebook page. For all my complaining about Facebook (seriously, would it KILL them to add an edit function? Does this not exist because of the fear that someone will post “I LOVE puppies, don’t you?” and 10,000 likes later, swap out puppies for “child pornography”? Because okay, that WOULD be sort of funny, not that there’s anything funny about—anyway, all I’m saying is I hate that I can’t fix a typo without deleting the whole thing and starting over), I’ve really been enjoying the gig. I’m basically just there to try and make the page a non-sucky place for parents to visit, so it’s pretty low-key and conversational—much more fun than the sort of corporate brand-bot weirdness where the writer attempts to pretend they actually ARE the product, not that I’m pointing fingers, BIZARRO-LAND MIRACLE WHIP TWITTER ACCOUNT.
Cherokee and Cozi have teamed up to offer up some Target gift cards to blog readers, and today I’m jumping on the giveaway bandwagon. I’ll get to that part in a minute, but just so everything’s all up front and tidy: not only is this a sponsored post, it’s sponsored by a client of mine. I’m just saying, if I was selling out any harder right now I’d have to launch an eponymously-named fragrance.
The general topic for the giveaway is back to school clothes—specifically, first day of school outfits, and how parents choose to capture the moment. This isn’t a subject I’m much of an expert on, frankly. On Riley’s first day I mostly looked for an outfit that wasn’t wrinkled or stained, and while I’ve seen plenty of inspiration for first day of school photos, I sort of phoned it in with a last-minute printed speech bubble:
So I didn’t exactly knock it out of the park creativity-wise for his first day photo, but I think I’ll try this idea from Kim (aka Miss Zoot): I’ll take the exact same photo—same outfit and all—on his last day, too. Check out how Kim’s first day/last day photo of her daughter turned out:
Cool, right? I would love to have a photo like that to see how Riley changed over the year.
I’m not super fussy about what he wears to school, but I do set out Riley’s outfit the night before. It makes things easier in the mornings, and also ensures that he’s not heading out the door in a pair of swim shorts with a Spiderman pajama top. My standards may be low, but they do exist.
Here’s my question for you, if you’ve got an opinion on the subject: what do you care about more, your kid’s outfit for the first day of school, or their first school picture day? I see by our calendar that our picture day is on October 21st, and I suspect I’ll be in a tizzy the night before trying to find a photogenic outfit for his FIRST PICTURE DAY OMG. Hopefully they have a different backdrop than the Infamous PenisTurtle Theme of ‘07.
And with that unsavory image, on to the giveaway! The prize is a $100 gift card for Target, which you can of course use to buy a stack of new Cherokee clothes—or, you know, whatever else captures your fancy. To enter, leave a comment on this post (any comment will do, just be sure and include your email address). Contest ends . . . let’s say Wednesday morning, okay? Two days from now on the 21st.
Good luck!
PS: there’s another big giveaway going on where you can win a $1000 shopping spree from Cherokee and a $300 smart phone from Cozi. Contest info is here.
PS part deux: if you’re a Facebook user, I’d be super honored if you would visit Cherokee’s page and maybe even hit that Like button—only if you want to! No pressure!—if you’d like to see my updates appear in your, uh, stream-hole.
*** Contest now closed, winner to be announced soon ***
Comments
598 Responses to “Back to school giveaway”
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Prada Amber.
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Blinc mascara.
I have tried all the mascaras and this is the very best one. Trust.
Definately school photo day! First day of school clothes, who is going to remember those? But the damn photos and goofy picture faces – those will haunt you forever :>)
Ooo, ooo! Me, me!!
Both. As a girl, I spent the summer months planning my first day outfit, but obviously, the picture matters too. And I do hope I win the Target gift card, but even as a side note, I love Cherokee clothes. I used to buy them a lot for myself at Target when I was in grad school in the late 90s but then they stopped carrying them for a while, focusing, I think on Mossimo and a couple of more “trendy” brands. I do by them for my son though, and I’m excited they (hopefully) back with more khaki shorts and weekend clothing for women! They just last forever. My shorts from lawschool still look great and I’ve been out since 2000! ack!
My son has been in Pre-K for about a month now. In that time, I showed up on the wrong day for the first day of school (so I was lucky enough to have to come up with TWO back to school outfits) and forgot picture day (he was wearing a grey t-shirt with a jet on it). I win at mothering.
Gah, I feel like such a sellout here because YES, COULD USE THE CARD! but also I am totally agreeing with you here about the wardrobe thing. Last year, we had our “school pictures” about the same time as yours, so I sent him in your usual fall-themed colors (navy, maroon, hunter green – THE GAY ACCENT WALL PALETTE OF THE 90S), and the damn backdrop was NEON LASERS. NEON LASERS, LINDA. DOESN’T THAT SCREAM FALL?!
My kids wear uniforms to school which I love! No choices to have to make and no kid fashion do’s or don’t’s to have to keep track of. On the first day of school and on picture day they just wear the same thing they always do.
I amused myself when I was a school librarian by taking first and last day pictures of myself. Of course, I was 8 months pregnant in the last day picture, so it was awesomely different from the first day picture.
I’m a slacker and only got a pic of my daughter, quickly and poorly snapped before going to the bus. None of my son because we were rushing around so bad. i like the same outfit/first day/last day pic though. I hope i win, i do love me some cherokee clothes, esp for my son they have nice quality-made stuff:)
My kids are in daycare-school and I lamented the no ‘real’ first day photo for preK because it was a whole lot like the week before but in a room across the hall. The only thing she noted as different was that she had a different potty. So I vote picture day as more important. PS. I love target too. I’m doing my MBA in MN next door to their corp HQ so I’ve had a target person in virtually every class and it is, for real, a good company.
I’m more concerned with picture day that the first day.
I crack up everytime you post that scary turtle picture. No wonder the poor guy was crying! And Yes, I could use the gift card too! :-)
I liked Cherokee on FB, too!
Random of the day: The first four letters of my maiden name are (is?) Cozi and I’m mildly annoyed with myself that I didn’t buy that web address before the online calendar company.
Even though am kid-less, do I still count? I’ll do a whole first day of fall/first day of summer work photo look :)
My son is a 1st grader this year, and I never buy a “special’ first day outfit for him, I let him pretty much choose what he wants to wear jeans/swishy pants and t-shirts….. my daughter just started preschool and I find I am pretty much the same way, while there were plenty of girls in dresses and hair bows, allie wears jeans/tennis shoes/t-shirts…. I kinda have a thing where I ONLY send the kids to school wearing tennis shoes because I think its safer on the playground/gym and since tennis shoes don’t really go with her dresses, I just don’t bother. Not sure what I will do for her picture day though
Picture day is more important around these parts since it is one of 10 days that he gets to wear what he pleases. Otherwise, it’s uniform all the way. Which is really nice for shoving your kid out the door. You know what has to be clean and pressed. *nods*
That picture of Riley is awesome. I *love* the idea of “shot on this day/shot on that day” shoots.
I want that giftcard!
My kid’s not in school yet, but I think I would consider picture day more important in terms of getting that perfect outfit. I think first-day-of-school pics should be more about capturing the moment. I have a great pic of me about to get on the bus for the very first time. I don’t remember much about the outfit, what stands out in my memory is the big construction-paper apple with my name on it that was pinned to my sweater ;) and the huge smile on my face!
Picture day is way more important than the first day of school outfit, imo.
My kid wears uniforms too, so it’s definitely picture day that wins for making careful choices. It’s one of the only days he can wear what he wants. And it’s coming up in a couple weeks, and I planned on getting his outfit at Target, so I could really use that gift card! Speaking of Cherokee, they make the best uniform pants, way nicer and cheaper than the fancy uniform places. Also, that picture idea from Zoot is great. I think I’ll do that too.
Picture day today. ugh. The school brings in the worst photographer that tell’s the kids ’show me your teeth’. I have an annual progression of my kids looking like they are overdressed for their dental checkup.
I was a uniform wearer, so first day of school pictures didn’t mean that much….and all of our school pictures were also in uniform. So far, with the baby, all we have is a picture of his first day of daycare! We went with a very stylish onesie.
I homeschool my kids so they don’t have school pictures, and I also school year-round so there’s not really a start day, AND I suck at taking pictures in general….
Probably I’d be happy to get a couple decent pictures a year of the kids that don’t get taken because OMG, I have to capture the stupid thing they did NOW.
So. Helpful.
Um, let’s see … Beans already had his school photos done and delivered. Thank Zeus he didn’t flash his goober smile during the photo! :)
I’m now wondering if our charter school is doing school pictures. Huh…
I was just thinking of that picture of Riley this morning, as I dressed my son for his daycare picture day! The only “first day” picture I’ve had to take of my son was his first day of daycare. My husband snapped it on his cell phone, and it captures the saddest day of my life, SO! I’m way more into picture day.
I’d say both. For my daughter’s first day of school this year, we went out and bought a special outfit, and will most likly do the same thing for picture day.
really LOVe the first and last day photo. hope i remember these things when i have kids. ;)
I remember OBSESSING about my first day of school outfit for my entire school career. I also remember being mortified when I got called out on the skank-factor of my SHORT SHORT white denim shorts on the first day of 7th grade, so I’m grateful that my mom never did first day pictures.
School pictures are more important. He picked out what he wore the first day of kindergarten. I pick out the picture day clothes! We’ve already had picture day, just waiting for proofs to look at. Fingers crossed!!!
That mushroom picture is so classic. Also, what the heck?! Wasn’t Riley that little, like, yesterday?
Dude. I need that $100 gift card.
Picture day is Wednesday for my Kindergartner. I’m already mentally planning his outfit and the bribe I will offer in exchange for wearing it.
Cute pics! We love Cherokee clothes.
Last year I took really nice pictures of my sons’ first day of school, but this year I was a slacker and didn’t get to it.
I like the first day of school pictures better than the picture day pictures. At my age, I can’t even tell anymore what photo corresponds to what grade. I need to use signifiers to remember, i.e. pink shirt = second grade, bizarre hair = first grade, unfortunate glasses/braces combo = anywhere from sixth to eighth grade…
That 2007 picture makes me laugh everytime. And I am thankful for uniforms each and every day, though my two girls still find a way to fight over which white blouse they get.
Love that turtle picture of Riley!
School picture day, for sure. I want to put her in something really cute, but then I’m worried she’ll get it dirty or her hair will go all AWOL before the photo is taken.
First day of school outfit is more important to me. Mostly because I don’t buy the school photos anyway. Sure that photo ends up in the yearbook BUT I put together the school yearbook. Ha! I’ve got ‘em beat :)
That is such an awesome picture of Riley. You should make it into one of those huge canvas prints, save it, and then hang it in his dorm room.
Anywho, my son’s first picture day is in 2 weeks and I would to get him a cute new outfit from Target.
i’m just grateful my kid still has pants ON by the time they get to school….. as for the pictures– it sounds good in theory but the practice is always much more harried in my house, especially the last minute window during which i actually remember!
Our 3yo still goes to daycare (though we call it school, makes us feel better) and we always manage to find out about picture day the day before it’s actually scheduled. His outfits are usually fine but I always wish I’d had time to get his hair cut. In his last set of pix his cowlick gave his too-long bangs this curly/wave look–horrible!
Huh. I think I’d probably care more about school picture day. However, when I said something about how we’d buy Callum’s school pictures in a few years when he’s actually, you know, in school, my husband stared at me like I was crazy and asked why we would pay buckets of money for one crappy staged portrait when we have a lovely DSLR here at home. So that may be a battle down the line. But I WILL win it.
I was always fussy over piture day but it never really mattered my daughter would be a mess by the time they got taken anyway. She was such a tom boy kind of girl.
Guess I am an outlier. Our school pictures are always complete crap. It like they hired monkeys or 16 month olds to take them. So for fun I let the kids wear whatever they want and pick the cheesiest background available. Then at least they’re entertaining instead of disappointing. Oh, and buy the cheapest package possible, because there ain’t no way I am hanging that picture of my kid in a Smurf T shirt with fake fall foliage superimposed behind her on my WALL.
On the first day of school I make them wear something that sends the message that MOM CARES. Except on picture day, that is.
At my place, the kids are MOST concerned about first day of school (who cares if you spend eternity in a class picture with a cowlick and a old, stained t-shirt?), while I am most concerned about picture day (*loooook* *cuuuuuute* *aaaaaagh*). So — on the first day, they get to wear a special, never-before-worn outfit. For my 9yo, it was a Wimpy Kid shirt and for my 6yo, it was a hamburger on a trampoline shirt. For picture day, I dig deep and pull out the nice, preppy polos which will go far in upping the cuteness factor.
My 3 year old just started preschool this year. We did the obligatory “first day of school pic” he looked pissed in it. We will try the “last day of school” pic, hopefully he will look less, I dont know, abused? The gift card would be great for buying new clothes!!
Consider me commented! I’ve always let my kids pick their own clothes. I don’t give a rat’s ass what they wear on picture day because I’d rather they were dressed to express their own personalities and if their choices make my mother gasp in horror, all the better. :)
I will never tire of that picture of Riley. It makes me laugh every time you flash back to it. It just encapsulates everything I remember about my own studio portraits as a kid.
Ohhhhh That picture KILLS me everytime. I love Cherokee clothes. Will be liking that page right…about…now.
Picture day. Oy. My son is a new teenager and smiling is no longer cool. Ugh. And, then, yesterday, he wanted to buy a t-shirt with some squirrels on it that said “Protect your nuts.” *sigh*
I let my kids pick their own clothes – so my 6 year old went to school on his first day this year with a white dress shirt, blue tie, popped collar, and pajama shorts.
I do it because it allows them to be independent, make choices, and realize conseque- oh who am I kidding. I do it because it makes me laugh.
School picture day – first day is for something they like to wear, picture day is for parentals.
Awesome giveaway!
Generally the first photo day. My son is excited enough to care about the first day of school the he picks out an outfit and could care less about the portrait. I am completely the opposite. So that makes for some very FUN discussions.
Thanks for hosting the giveaway–count me in!! Also, I am apparently a horrible mother, but thanks for giving me ideas! I love the picture bubble thing you did this year!
It is wonderful that some of the schools with pre-kinder classes take pictures of each child with their parents. The kids look adorable with their new outfits. The teacher displays the pictures on the walls, for the children to look and be connected with their families, while in school.
Yay for uniforms. Although picture day is the only day they can wear something different and I almost always forget until the morning of, so it’s good times.
Picture day! Every mom saves those forever.
I sweat the picture day outfit, but don’t care what the kids wear on the first and last day of school.
I will never get tired of seeing that 2007 photo of Riley. Love it.
Thanks so much for the giveaway!
I think kids mostly care about first day outfits more than parents do.
Hahaha, I love your upfront sell-out disclaimer, and I would totally buy your eponymous fragrance.
As a kid, I was definitely more nervous about first day of school outfits — they’re going to determine who I’m friends with for the rest of the year?!?! — but I bet as a parent I’ll be way more neurotic about the photo day clothes.
No advice for school clothes, my boy is only 8 months old–BUT as it’s starting to get cold up here already, (I’m in northern WI) I would love the gift card to purchase him some clothing for winter, especially in the bigger sizes!
Thanks!
Kelly
Last year was my my daughter’s first school picture (in PRESCHOOL no less), and I totally obsessed over what she would wear, and especially how to do her hair. Because, her hair… she has LOTS of it. In the end her picture turned out AWESOME, so I’m glad I took extra time to figure everything out.
I’m still hung up on the fact that some person is trying to *BE* Miracle Whip.
My stepson moved in with us at age 15, as a sophomore. He’s now a senior and I have YET to see one. single. order form for school pictures. Not a single one. He conveniently “forgets” to bring them home, and I’ve found that high schools aren’t quite as good at communicating these events to parents.
It’s probably a good thing, though. He never smiles in photos, so I’d probably be wasting money on something that makes him look like a tool.
So we really don’t stress about picture day at our house. Senior portrait time is approaching, however, and I’m predicting MASSIVE war.
And just in case something gets screwy, my e-mail address is jennifergreene09 [at] gmail [dot com].
Your kids are adorable, by the way.
I stress way more about 1st day of school outfits!! I’m all about the first impression!
Woot! Here is my comment and stuff.
I’m gonna go with 1st day of school. I think it makes a first impression that I wouldn’t want to ruin. Not that teachers should care what clothes their students have on…but I’m guessing they can tell a lot.
i LOVE that pic of riley!!
That photo of Riley by the gate is precious.
I love Target clothes. We have been back to school for 6 weeks in my area and picture day has come and gone. My kids wear their everyday clothes. I want my picture memories to be what they were everyday, messy hair (by the time of the appointed pictures it will be messy no matter how I combed that morning) and clothes they picked out, not some over dressed, over pressed variety.
As a kid, I was always about the first day of school outfit. Now that I am a parent, I stress more about the picture day. I want her to look good for posterity!
School photo day is way more important because that’s the photo the entire family gets.
LOVE target for the kiddos clothes as well as useless crap for me, too!
I have totally given up on the clothes battle. I let my Kindergartner pick whatever he wanted (within reason, meaning something in addition to underwear). I did take the photo and am afraid that I’ve started one of the traditions I’ve hated most while growing up. Let the torture begin! I guess we really do turn into our parents!
Oh that picture from 07′. Poor kid :)
My kid wears a uniform, and not only did I fail to make sure the one from last year still fit (it did! sort-of!) I also didn’t take a picture. Although I like the IDEA of taking a picture.
I think the school picture day outfit is way more important! I don’t even have a picture of my son on his first day of school from this year or last year. Bad Mommy.
I have a friend that posted her kid in front of the same door beside a tree each year on the first day. Was cool to see the kid growing taller and taller beside it. Picture day in my book would be more important though…your kids photos are just the funniest!
I think both are important, but we live in the land of uniforms, which I love.
Picture day was always the more important of the two, although my daughter always had a cute ensemble for the first day of school. This year she didn’t even participate in picture day, because she has to have SENIOR pictures professionally done. I can still remember her outfit for the first day of kindergarten, cute little turtleneck with black leggings, her hair pulled back in barrettes. Sunrise, sunset…
I care so much more about picture day than first day. I don’t even take a first day photo…what? School photo goes on my refrigerator, so that outfit gets chosen carefully…since I’ll be shamed by it daily if I don’t take some care.
I have four boys and the older two don’t really dress up for anything…first day of school and picture day was a new t-shirt and nice(r) shorts. Because *they* won’t dress up for that stuff my younger two also don’t think it’s cool to dress up. I’ll try again when we go for family pictures I suppose.
Picture day, for sure. In my family, those are the photos guaranteed to be looked back on as a typical ‘moment in the life’ at any given age. Which is why I make sure my kid’s hair is not sticking up and then pretty much back off and let him pick out whatever outfit he feels brings on the awesome. This year (4th grade) he wore a pastel green/blue/melon plaid button down over brown/navy/hunter green plaid shorts.
First day, definitely. The fall photos (yes, they do school photos twice a year) never turn out well, so I’ve given up caring about them too much. I just make sure they’re wearing a collared shirt and have combed hair.
Spring pictures, on the other hand…well, they’re adorable! At least they were at another school we went to. This is our first time here, and I hope they turn out cute. SO, I’m amending my vote: spring school pictures!
I am going to do that whole same first day and last day picture idea as well… should’ve done it last year, he grew an entire pants size so the last day pic would’ve been kind of funny. :)
I remember that picture of Riley, lol, poor little guy!
As a homeschooler, some (er…most) days we’re lucky to be out of pajamas by lunch and we have no official “first day”, so I’m going to have to say picture day. I make sure we get some good pictures done at least once a year and I definitely stress over the outfitthe night before.
This is DS’s first year in preschool and I still haven’t gotten over the feeling that he has to look perfect everyday. Do those pants read hipster or dorky? If he wears shorts and a sweatshirt, will he be too cold? Hot? Look dorky?
Apparently I’m just concerned about him being a dork. sigh.
I think I’ll care more about the first day of school–first impressions and all that, but also *I* get to take the first-day photo and make sure it’s to my liking as opposed to whatever the hell circus hoops they employ to make kids look like disjointed mannequins in their official school photos.
I know it’s stupid. but I control 1st day of school outfit and iron it and everything since I always sets the first impression – then by the scond day I don’t care so much – then by the second week, my daughter is going to school in a plaid skirt, a striped shirt and completely different coloured striped tights – so I don’t know why I bother so much. I am clueless about how to dress for picutre day, so each year has been pretty crappy – this year I hope to get it right. Would love the Target card!
I wish I’d thought of a creative plan for 1st day photographs. I just have the typical snapshots of kids in backpacks. Maybe next year!
And now I’m totally freaked out by the thought of school photos. Excuse me while I tear apart the kids’ closets trying to figure that all out.
I actually just bought some Cherokee pants for my kid, and was happy to see that they have an adjustable waist. As the parent of a tall, skinny kid, that is awesome in my book. I also had to throw a Dapper Snapper (which I learned about from your blog) on them for good measure so they wouldn’t fall off, but hey. (Yes, we do feed him! ; )
Ooh Target :)
Can both be an option? I’d go for a nice outfit for the first day of school and something cute for picture day, too. (I’d have to resist letting my kid choose a superhero costume for picture day, though. I’m not a fan of the posed photos, so going with a slightly crazy outfit appeals to me.)
I have to admit that I am a little over the top with the whole picture thing. I do let them pick out their favorite outfit (or a new one) for first day of school. For Picture Day, I pick the photogenic one-mine is a family where our school pictures are still available for easy viewing and we are all in our 30s! I am also a big fan of last day of school picture-something to show how much they change is so fun!!
Me!
Thanks for including me.
Wow, nice turtle. Seriously who puts the photo backgrounds together?
I would love a target gift card. :) pick me!
Also, we use Cozi as our family calender and love it.
I just hope my kids don’t grow to loathe having their picture taken.
Oh, how I love Target, and Cherokee. I also love when you whip out the 2007 penis-scape photos. We have those as well–though I think ours were done in 2006. I should scan them and send them to you. Photo GOLD!!
I am always overly concerned about what my girls wear on the first day of school. My son? Gets a polo and some jeans and a stern talking to about not bugging the girls and to just let me take a nice photo.
i miss the excitement of the first day of school!
I kind of love BAD school photos. My family cracks up over one of mine from a day that my dad was in charge of getting us out the door (mom must have been working) and he sent me off with a pitiful bumpy side ponytail and horribly mismatched clothes.
Turtle picture? OMG. Lucas is wearing uniforms this year which means we need to stock up on some great Cherokee polos and pants (it’s a required color on top and bottom, not a specific type/brand). Preschool pictures were almost Ellen-worthy so I can’t wait to see what we get back on his kindergarten photo!
First day of school outfits are easy in our house – uniforms! And I’m unfortunately not that creative with the pictures either. I’m just happy if I can capture all 3 kids with a smile on their face. (My standards are low, I know.)
I’m pretty fussy about both the first day of school and school picture day. But if I’m forced to choose, I’m gonna say first day of school. There are just too many rogues that cannot be accounted for on school picture day, (I believe you are familiar, penis turtle?) so I don’t get too worked up. On the first day of school, I take the pictures!
Love the picture with the infamous turtle! And would love that gift card to Target! jacellett@gmail.com
This school picture is CLASSIC. Who thought that was a good idea? Good God — the mushrooms are worse than the penis turtle.
jenndawnwade@gmail.com
I try to pick outfits the night before, but when the 3-y-o changes her mind, it doesn’t matter if I point out that SHE picked out that very outfit. I can still pick out clothes for the younger ones because they CAN’T TALK.
Thanks for the giveaway!
No clue. Right now my biggest struggle with clothes is trying to keep up with how quickly my almost-six-month old is growing out of his new clothes! A gift card would definitely help with that!
Oh I love that picture of Riley, I had forgotten about the turtle!
oooh, screw kids clothes for my two – if the Missoni dresses ever come back in stock i’m getting some new duds for me me meeee!
Since my eldest is in pre-k and wears uniforms, I go for picture day. Only way to show off his little personality!
LOVE Target. :)
My ‘lil man is a 1st grader this year, and through preschool up to this year, he’s worn his ‘first day of school’ outfit on picture day too!
I would say picture day, but then I always forget to order the damn pictures, so we’re left with the one tiny “preview” copy with the photographers stamp over the bottom… Oh well.
School photo day for sure. Although, I usually wait until the night before at 9pm, and the kids are in bed and I’m like “aww crap. Did it again” yeah, I’m overly prepared. not. :)
First day of school, for sure. Let’s face it, school pictures are awkward- the turtle picture proves it! Love the first/last day picture, thanks for the idea!
I say both too. I remember as a girl growing up, the First Day outfit was SO HUGE! But our school pictures were headshots only, so the shirt only needed to look decent. Now I have a 1 year old boy, so I guess we shall see! I’m still in the non-wrinkled non-stained camp at this point, and even that is iffy!
It sounds like a nice new gig you’ve got with Cherokee. Congratulations!
I would say both. My kid starts school next year and I am pretty sure I will freak out about both outfits.
I’m all about picture day. First day of school I even forgot to lay out her outfit so she was in a mishmash of clothes that day.
We have school pictures coming up, too. T-minus one week,and I have no idea what my son will wear. I usually go for some kind of collared shirt and don’t put it on him until he’s physically out the door, thereby reducing the possibility that he will wipe his sticky fingers on it or spill juice down the front. The bigger question: to get a haircut, or to skip it and capture the messy-headed look that is more representative of his true self at this age.
As the mother of preteen/teen girls, I will tell you that from my perspective, school photo day is more important, but THEY will tell you that the outfit you wear on the first day of school sets the tone for the entire school year. Now there’s pressure.
Awesome! I can ALWAYS use a Target gift card.
That school photo of Riley is priceless. I have had quite a few that are just as bad come through this house.
Oh man, school picture day is rough! Can’t wait to see what they come up with by the time my little one has first picture day. Probably get a hologram instead of an actual picture…
For all the work I put into picking an outfit for my 2 year old’s school picture, the daycare changed her into a bathing suit for the pictures. Um, WTF?
I like the first/last day of school idea!
School photo day – we’re going to be looking at those pictures for a long time!
Picture clothes! I even volunteered to help with retakes in kindergarten (as both my kids needed retakes of course) so I knew the would be better than the original non-smile. With all the digital stuff, what photographer doesn’t take a better pic when they don’t smile for the first???
Target gift card sounds great!
1st day of school for sure! The excitement is still mostly there, unlike 8 weeks later when kids are asking about summer break already.
Our first day of school was also picture day – added pressure!
And yes, Target gift card would be fantastic, since I’m there almost weekly!
definitely picture day: there will inevitably be a hair disaster, lopsided smile or only the “UCK” of Buckingham showing up on the picture to look back on for years to come. plus i have boys. they don’t care what the hell they wear on day 1 or 47 or 175.
Linda, if you’d sell perfume I’d probably buy that too, anything to help you get towards your dream in Oregon.
But a Target giftcard for my rapidly spiralling upward toddler, busting out the knees in her pants? Yes please.
Last year, all hell broke loose on my oldest’s first school picture day and I had a full-on tizzy thinking that it was the end of the world and how could it be so hard to get a damn picture? So yeah, I’m going with first school picture day being more important.
Man, that Riley picture with the penis turtle cracks me up every time I see it. Also, I can remember every first day of school outfit from 2nd grade on. Because I am a nerd.
I’ve told my 1st grader that I get input (or rather, I decide) what he wears on the first day of school and on picture day. Any other day is a free for all! (And boy has he come up with some interesting looks.)
I am really not that fussy about either. I let him wear whatever he wants to wear. I want him to feel confident and comfortable.
I did a little pre-planning clothes wise for the first day of kindergarten (basically making sure the clothes I wanted my daughter to wear were clean!), but I’m sure I’ll be more like you and have a bigger freak out when picture day rolls around!
Thank hell for things like blogs and Pinterest because now I have a first day photo plan a whole three years in advance. That’s awesome right there.
We already had our first picture day. I barely remembered to comb my son’s hair!
First day outfit definitely matters more. The kids are so excited about wearing their new clothes and we always make them wait when they get them in the summer before wearing them, so the outfit is still brand new and fun on that first day. Plus, the photos never turn out anyway. Never…ever…ever!!
thanks for the chance! :)
(kgcraven@yahoo.com)
I love that scary turtle picture. It’s the funniest thing ever. My first day pictures were terrible this year b/c I got mad at my son for being a jerk to his sister and made him cry then he freaked out (nerves!) and pouted and refused to smile for the pictures. Love first day…
Ooh! I bet school pictures are coming up for us soon too. I did manage one of those “holding a sign” first day of first grade school pictures. Super idea to grab one last day of school too, although the kid is growing at such a rate right now we might be hard pressed to use the same outfit. Thanks for the giveaway!
Can’t wait for those first days with my future children :)
My 7 yr old is currently refusing to wear jeans. And will only wear warm up pants. Drives me ape shit. At least he has on clean underwear. Right?!
I worry more about 1st day clothes – they are the subject of MY photos. The school photos are taken by someone else and sure to suck. not that the school photographers are BAD, per se – just that they are getting shot per kid all damn day – I’d reach the I don’t give a shit threshold, too.
I totally forgot about the backdrop from ‘07, that was awesome! As a past first grade teacher, I have seen some HILARIOUS pictures, primarily because a few parents gave their kids free reign to wear what they want, and do their own hair. It was great. Now that my own son is Kdg age, I’m guessing that won’t quite be how I go about it either. Have you seen the website awkwardfamilyphotos.com ?? HI.LAR.I.OUS
I love the first day/last day pictures. I also LOVE Target, so there ya go! Thanks for the giveaway!
My 2.5 year old just started pre-school last week, and I was happy what she chose was a) clean, and b) matched. I just hope we make it to picture day….she rocked the first few days, but has been having a drop-off breakdown every day since then.
I might use the gift card for kleenex and uppers (do they sell those at Target?) for me…it’s so heartbreaking leaving your despondent toddler every morning!
Thanks for the giveaway. We’re big fans of target, both for clothes/shoes for the kiddo and lots of other random stuff.
Picture day for sure, that’s the picture I display in my house, not the picture from the first day of school.
I cared far more about my son’s kindergarten outfit than I did this year for the first day of first grade. This year all I cared about was him not wearing one of his garish Star Wars/Spiderman/Insert annoying TV character here t-shirts. (Oh! But I did iron his shorts so he wasn’t a wrinkly mess as usual! That was a new experience!)
Of course, he’s making such a goofy face in the picture, anyway, you don’t even notice what he’s wearing.
My daughter wears a uniform…lucky me!
School photo day is way more pressure. I look at my old photos and cannot understand how my mother let me out the door. Gah.
I try to go more casual for the first day of school, so he can be more comfortable (t-shirt and shorts) in a new environment, and step it up a bit with a button-down shirt and khakis for school pictures.
(I make sure it is a solid-color or striped t-shirt, not one with a cartoon or anything on it. My standards are low, but I do have them!)
I don’t worry a lot about the first day of school, the kids do that for me. I do try to make sure my daughter’s hair is looking nice on picture day. I love the pics I take of the first day of school. Someday I’ll have to put them together on one page, my son is a sophomore now and my daughter is in 7th. That ought to get me all depressed and nostalgic!
Love Target! This gift certificate would go to very good use!
Pick me! Please and thank you. :)
School photo would definitely worry me more.
LOVE Target and could use that gift card up in a snap.
I definitely agree that the turtle backdrop is one of the worst I have seen. Although I remember one of mine one year was so dark that my brown hair completely disappeared into the background. It was supposed to look like library shelves but it was too dark to even really see the “books”. Definately a weird photo – I guess the photographer did not know about the importance of adjusting the lighting to suit the background.
Thanks for the Target opportunity!
I just have experience with “first day at daycare” clothes – I wanted her to look “normal-cute” – leggings and a little sweater. AKA – no “Mommy’s Milk Monster” onesies.
As the mother of three and a half year old twin boys who attend pre-school, matching is a bonus in the mornings, however, I TOTALLY work myself up for picture day outfits every year. I don’t know what those photographers do, but every year they are the ONLY people able to get both boys in one picture BOTH looking at the camera with *kind of* smiles on their faces. Again, not sure what bribery they are using (crack covered lollipops maybe?) but whatever it is, I LOVE THEM!!
I love the first day/last day same outfit picture idea. It’s really cool to see the changes!
I love your posts! You hit everything on the head each time. I have an 18 month old girl and am starting to relate to many things you say.
For the first day of school, I promised my first-grade daughter that she could get something from Justice – this store all the “cool kids” are talking about. She picked out a shirt she liked. It wasn’t until I WAS PAYING for it that I realized it was $32. THIRTY-TWO DOLLARS MY GOD. But too late; I had to keep my promise. Never again. Clearance rack, only.
Otherwise, she’s pretty fashionable. For picture day, she picked a dress off her closet hanger, I approved, and we were done.
I guess I just figure there are much more important things to get stressed over, and also given that I have a GIRL, I’m sure the first day of middle school and the first day of high school will be a lot more difficult, so might as well save my energy to combat her dramatics over those fashion disasters that are sure to come.
School picture day – hand’s down
I take more time in picking out (or “guiding the selection”) of the school photo day then the first day of school. I remember it being a big deal to get a NEW outfit for the first day of school. But my boys don’t really seem to care, so I’ve not made it a big deal. Just something clean, a bit nicer. They’re already complaining how I don’t let them wear “play” shorts to school–I tell them to wear “nicer” shorts, or jean shorts that aren’t cut offs or stained. I’m so hard.
He will never top that mushroom/crying picture. Sooo pathetic and hilarious at the same time!
I don’t yet have to worry about school pictures because my oldest isn’t in kindergarten. As much as I’d like to think that I’ll care about their outfits, I’ll probably be lucky to put them into something clean. This mothering thing is hard sometimes!
Awesome giveaway!
I so didn’t have to worry about first day of school outfits because my daughter’s school has uniforms. I love that – it takes away all the drama in the mornings! She still gets to pick her clothes, but it’s just between navy or khaki instead of all the drama that a 6-year-old girl’s wardrobe usually provides. Hurray. :)
Oh man — I could sure use this. My youngest is a senior in high school this year and LOVES Target for her jeans and tee-shirts
(which happens to be all she will wear to school).
-Janet
janetrosedavis@yahoo.com (just in case I win!)
Me please!
First day of school is definitely more important for attire on several fronts:
a) I hold the camera (and can insist on retakes)
b) I control the hair-do (rather than using school photo day as a great excuse for “let’s race in the hot sun” gym class)
c) I don’t have to pay myself in advance (!) for horrible head-shot only pics.
Wow. I had no idea I had that much to say….
Oh, Target, I have tried to spend less time with you, but it is just impossible for me to resist you.
The daughter is 15 now, and I do not get any input in 1st day or picture day, other than “please go to your room and remove the shorts you are wearing. I think I know a 7 year old who could use them.”
I personally love the 07 pic. We just started preschool so I am new to all these documentation requirements, but I definitely think picture day is more important than first day of school. That being said, I did take those photos. In front of the school, on my phone.
Have school backdrops changed that much since I was a kid?
Both! I’ll be looking at them forever!
Yay giveaway!! I must agree with some others and say I love the 07 photo. Then again I also loved the photo of my godchild crying his fool head off on a super tiny roller-coaster ride the other day. I’m not a terrible person (pinky swear!) I just love seeing photos of kids in real expressions as opposed to frozen pasted on smiles. It’s always more endearing! :)
first day of school. Photo day pictures can come home horrible, but you can take multiple first day of school pics to hopefully get one useable one!
It seems like I stop by Target at least once a week, so a gift card would be great!
Kindergarten is still a couple of years off for my kiddo, but hopefully I’ll remember to take the first day/last day pictures because I think it’s a great idea.
Picture day, definitely. Because of the horrible ones from my childhood!
Seeing as how my son has already outgrown the jeans I bought him before school started, I could totally use a shopping trip for new school clothes. (That is, if they ever go back to school from this teachers’ strike. Omg, please let that be tomorrow!)
Our wonderful public elem school has uniforms, YIPPEE!!! so first day of school is less about clothes than it is about maybe a new hairbow or some other acceptable accessory…so definitely school picture day is a whole other ballgame!
My daughter was born a week ago, so I’ll have to pick out first day of school clothes, like, tomorrow. How does time go so fast???
I have to go w/ the 1st day of school, but that’s because *I* control those pictures, and so I want them to be good! The school ones may or may not be any good, so we might not buy them, but the 1st day of school HAS TO go in the scrapbook, so those pics have to be great! :)
have to go with picture day as well. Who even remembers first day outfits with all the rushing around to get there.
How timely. Today is my kindergartener’s school photo day. On his first day of school I let him wear what he wanted – I make sure I like most of the stuff in his drawers, and that it’s seasonally appropriate, and he chooses his own outfit in the morning. Last night, though, with his approval, I put out the jeans and the shirt I wanted him to wear today, so clearly I care more about the photo. Of course, he’s gone and done up all the buttons on his plaid button-down shirt, because if there’s a button it should be done up, so he’s going to look like a dork. But he’s my dork.
thankfully my kids wear a uniform. i would put more effort into school picture day. making sure that he had a clean and stain free shirt to wear
great giveaway
Oh, school picture day. I had a great one where I wore my awesome new sweatshirt with giant sparkly kitten face, but didn’t brush the tangles out of my hair (so there were visible tangle lumps standing out from my head in the actual final picture).
Definitely picture day!
Dude. Target is my life. Also, I am way jealous of other parents’ creativity with the first day of school photos. My son is 3 and this is his second year of preschool so maybe I’ll pick up some better ideas before he starts real school.
One can always find a way to spend some money at Tar-JAY. Ba-dum bum.
The first year I got to go school shopping all by myself and pick my own clothes (my dad dropped me off at the mall with, like, $200 — I was the oldest and he was still learning), I went to Target for most of my shopping. I still remember some of the things I bought. Think 1989.
I can’t even imagine being ready to send my kid off to school! Riley looks adorable, even though I am pretty sure you guys were in a timewarp somewhere, because I remember when he was just born and it seems like yesterday.
I care more about the school picture day because that’s the only control I have over how that one is captured. For his first day of school (kindergarten and, this year, first grade) he chose his clothes. Not what I would have picked, but he felt comfortable and in control. For the pictures, I chose three shirts and he chose from among them. He still gets some control but not as much as he thinks. I like him dressed up a little more for those because (I’ll admit it), I want those pictures to look kind of dorky and forced in 20 years. Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen? (If I could comb his hair over to the side with Brylcreem, I totally would.) (I am mean.)
My first day of school pictures from my childhood are some of my most cherished. And Riley could TOTALLY be a model…look at him in that picture…so handsome.
Also, FB does have an edit tool, albeit a shitastic one. When you post something, even a comment, for about 30 seconds after you post, you can click on the “x” that you would usually use to delete it, and it will reopen the comment box so you can edit. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t know that it works for your own status updates, but it definitely works for comments.
OOh, I rarely let myself go to Target because it seems like money just disappears there. I’d love to win!
Love Target and love Cherokee!
I am going to remember these ideas for when my little one is going to school! Actually, I probably won’t. But maybe I’ll rediscover them when looking for ideas!
Yee-haaa Target!!!
I love the first day of school for so many reasons, and I still remember some of my outfits from when I was a kid. So when we get to that stage, it’ll be a big deal for us! (Well, for me at least…)
No kids, but growing up there was only one or two photos of “first day of school” – including one of me in total late 80’s gear, including a grey denim jacket, blue denim shorts, a carefully chosen casual t-shirt, hightops, and bangs with a ponytail. However, scattered around mom’s house are dozens of picture day photos, including the Year of The Bad Perm And The Geometric Cropped Sweater, Muppet Smile, and Good Girls Wear Plaid.
Ooh, I’d love to have this. With two boys, 14 months apart we go through a LOT of clothes. Also, can someone tell me how the oldest has managed to rip the knee out of the the left side of five pairs of pants? Why is it never the right side?
I was already a fan of Cherokee’s Facebook page and was excited when the light went off and I realized you were the one posting their updates (it took a picture of Dylan eating a popsicle for it to click).
I get more angsty about school picture day, because for me it really captures who he was that year. It goes in the school yearbook and I send it out to family, so I want him to look super cute (er handsome). I let him pick out his first day of school shirt. I wanted a nice polo, he went with a t-shirt that says “Hello I’m Awesome”. Oh well.
We go shopping for a special “First Day of School” outfit for each kid (typically they end up wearing that same outfit for school pictures). It’s the rest of the days that I totally fail. I find myself standing in front of their closets on the second day of school thinking, “Crap! Now what are they going to wear?”
Wow, Riley is so cute. And so grown up!
Alas, I do not have kids (yet) but we will be trying once we are married (in April 2012!). In the meantime, I could sure use some new clothes….I have a safety pin currently keeping my pants from falling down around my ankles. I can’t just throw them away cuz the button part is the only thing that’s broken!
School picture day is this week for us!! I’ll put a polo and jeans on my boys. Usually they wear comfy pants and T shirts, just for ease in the morning.
First day definitely warrants a new outfit, but I’d probably only buy a new outfit for picture day if I had extra money and my kid didn’t already have something new hanging in the closet. Thanks for the giveaway!
love giveaways!
Thanks Linda! Have a great week!
I let the kids pick their own first day outfits, and in a way I like those better than picture day clothes – their choices are a better representation of their tastes and personalities than the plain outfits I pick for picture day. I always take a photo on the front stoop before we head out, and love to compare them from year to year. (I put my foot down, though, and did not let my kindergartner wear a SpongeBob shirt on the first day. Second day, fine, just not the first.)
We take a photo of first day so both outfits are important. I forgot about the turtle picture. Ha ha… oh my goodness.
I love the idea of taking a before school year and after school year photo. I think both first day and picture clothes are equally important (ok, picture day more so).
Oh how I do not miss first day of school pictures in our front yard!
Ooh, pick me!
As a 29 year old with no kids yet, I have to say first day of school pics are funny to me. I don’t think my parents ever really cared that much, or maybe I just blocked it because of the trauma of the first day of school.
ANYWAY. My college roommate, as a joke our freshman year, asked me to take a first day picture of her to send to her parents. Then it ended up being something we did all four years. Now she has a little girl and has promised me that she’ll be sure to send me a first day of school picture every year. :)
What a great gig! Congrats on that.
We do a photo, inspired by some random co-worker, of the kid next to the school sign on the first day of school. He wears a uniform and it’s easy to compare and see the difference each year.
First day of school outfit, all the way, because it’s such a momentous day and will still be captured, by me, in photos that I always find more real and interesting and, well, relaxed, than the posed school photos.
Any post featuring that picture of Riley is just the best thing ever. Poor Riley. But that photo is just so infamously epic. I love it. I do.
There’s a gallery of my school photos hanging in the hallway at my parents’ house. The only thing that people say about my pictures is “Wow, thank god for contacts, huh?”
I would say the first day of school outfit will be more important than school picture day (my son is 2-1/2). My school pictures always had one ponytail that had come loose… or my brother had a piece of hair sticking up… The first day of school pictures, we’re all happy and neat and clean, standing in front of the house with our new lunchbox. Those pictures have more ’story’ to them than the school pictures.
heh. penisturtle pictures. :)
I still look at the pictures of the outfits my mom sent me to school in from those “first day” pictures and just cringe.
I am cheating, we have school uniforms so both outfits are the same and I have no say – yay!!!! Love love love the (cherokee brand, btw) school uniform!
I love the speach bubbles/signs – I never even would have thought of that. My own first-day-of-school pictures were just standing on the front step, no signs. I guess which year is which by how big my bangs were that year. Hey, it works.
I do care about 1st day outfit, but school pictures are way more important! I did a side-by-side first day/last day photo last year and hope to remember to do it every year.
The PenisTurtle theme never fails to make me laugh, even on days where I feel like I’m being forced to pose with a PenisTurtle.
I used to be anal about first day of school pictures, but now I’m just more concerned about them being showered!
Two-year class pictures – my darling man has chosen a daring ensamble – horitzontal striped shirt in muted fall colors, fire engine red gym shorts, socks that bleach no longer helps, and brown sandles. His mom (waves) totally forgot it was picture day. Let’s just say I stuck with the headshots.
Wednesday is his picture day, it is on every calendar I own.
Although I do dress my kids up for picture day, I secretly hope that one of them will make some type of crazy kid face on picture day. All the better to taunt them with later in life. :)
One of my 7yos is GRIMACING in her school picture and I hate it. I asked her casually what she thought of her pics (thinking OMG, RETAKES!) but she said, “I look like a ROCKSTAR!” so I’m stuck with a grimacing picture. It’s not worth arguing with her, IMO.
I remember when my sister put on (forbidden!) make-up right before her school pictures and thought my parents would somehow never find out….HA.
Oh, photo day all the way. I probably will forget to even take a photo for first day of school, but the photo day outfit, by definition, will be recorded for posterity. I don’t want to be the mom who has to listen to “What the heck did you dress me in that for?” comments. And it doesn’t matter how cool or lame the background is, my daughter will have a wan half smile and squinted eyes, and a completely stiff and self-conscious pose, so there’s really no way for them to turn out well. So at least she can be wearing a cute dress.
I love Target. :)
Riley looks seriously freaked out about that Penis Turtle. Bahahahaha…
I’m due with my first any day, I just can’t wait for all the picture days ahead of me!
When we are back to school shopping we usually pick out from the new clothes what will be the first day outfit. Now the middle one is in Standard School Attire (sort of a uniform – certain color pants, any solid color collared shirt), so whatever. Both girls dress decently every day, so I never stress over school pics, but I also never buy them either – with professional photographers as friends and family, I kinda don’t have to worry about that. But, love Target, need a card!
For Kindergarten, I think I might obsess over the first day of school outfit more. Just because it’s the first day of school ever. Starting with Grade 1, however, I’m sure Picture Day will take over the outfit obsession. :)
when james had his preschool photos done they did it after snack time…well, this is what i’m guessing since he had goldfish crumbs in his eyebrows. im preparing big time for the K1 pics with a nice retro puma tracksuit and a snack that will blend in with his brows if they choose to eat first…
I used to get worked up about photo day and then I realized my kid looks ridiculous in the school photos and I never buy any of them, so I stopped caring. We have tons of candid shots of him looking like he usually does, no need to spend tons of money for photos of him looking uncomfortable and irritated at being asked to pose on a stool or some other damned thing. My son picks out his own clothes and has for quite awhile but most of them are pretty generic pants, T-shirts, etc, so I don’t worry much about first day or photo day.
Neither! I think I’m in the minority here, but I let my son dress himself in whatever he chooses. His Kindergarten picture was awesomely awful, green shirt and brown shorts, it was so badly matched it made my eyes hurt. But I love that he choose it and I feel like as he gets older it will be fun to watch how his ’style’, if you will, evolves.
I love Target and Cherokee
Oh, that photo of Dylan makes me laugh every time. Clearly first day of school photos can serve as a good backup should picture day go awry!
I think picture day as a lot of the family gets copies of that pic.
My first grader will not let me pick out any of her clothes. In fact, if I let on that I like something, it’s the kiss of death. She didn’t do too bad picking out her outfit on the first day of school. Picture day is this Friday already, so hopefully it won’t be a battle.
Hmm, guess I should find out when school picture day is, huh? I don’t think I’m as worried about the outfit as the HAIR of my 5yr old girl…yikes.
My daughters are old enough (6 years old!) that they care about what they wear to school. I bought them new outfits specifically for their first day of kindergarten. Last year, at pre-K, they were sick on picture day and had to take pictures on a make-up day, which I didn’t know about beforehand. So…no cute school pictures from last year.
My mom was a teacher. She said she always felt sorry for the kids whose clothes were so obviously picked out by their parents so she always let us pick our clothes for picture day so i’ve just always done the same. I also like that if they pick it out the picture is a reminder of their “style” for that year.
Picture day over first day. Although I’ll let my 5-year-old pick her own outfit for both days. I might hide the favorite dress that I don’t like in the laundry the night before picture day… but beyond that, she can totally pick her own outfit. Anyway, I go for realism in our photos. (I might still be scarred from my 6th grade photo day, where I fought my mother mightily to let me pick my own outfit, and she finally agreed and let me go in my Panama Jack sleeveless tshirt over popped-collar striped shirt, with twist-a-beads to match. I don’t know, it was 1985. I KNEW I looked cool. Then when I got to school my teacher asked me if I’d forgotten that it was picture day. Niiiice.)
Ooh pick me! Pick me! New.Michelle@gmail.com
Definetly the first picture day. That photo will always be around to be looked at. No one remembers what they wore on the the first day of school.
I worry more about 1st day. I don’t know why?!
First picture day because there will be evidence and those class photos never go away!
I hadn’t even started worrying about this yet, but now I certainly will. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
My son wears a uniform. Everyday. He’s not very flexible, so even when they have out of uniform days, he usually wears his uniform. So I have a variety of first day of school pictures AND school pictures with him wearing kakhi colored pants and a hunter green polo shirt. I’ve just learned to go with it.
I picked out a really cute outfit for Lilia’s first day. She chose to wear an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt with ballet accessories on it, even though she does not dance. She did want to dress up for picture day, though. I’m kind of dying to see the results. She always poses goofily.
I can’t believe that picture of Riley is 4 years old. It still cracks me up.
Mostly I want them in clean and matching clothes – and hopefully something new, but that’s not always possible. kshaddix@hotmail.com
My kid is only 17 months, so I haven’t experienced these specific events yet (altho he just started a new daycare and I did take a little extra care with his 1st day outfit), but I will mostly likely over-worry about both 1st day, on which I will definitely take a picture, *and* picture day. Who am I kidding — I over-worry about every “first” outfit. ;)
I care more about the pictures. Honestly, I think I only took a picture on the first day of kindergarten. I see all these great ideas for first day pictures (or the first/last day idea) and I’m pretty annoyed with myself.
I like the first day/last day idea!
Love the website. For my daughter’s first day of kindergarten, she picked out the outfit, but because she has to wear a uniform her choices were limited – white or blue polo shirt? (and they were both Cherokee clothes)
Both! The funny thing is both of my boys wore the same exact clothes for the first day of school and 2 weeks later for the photo day.
My kids are both in Middle School (6th & 7th Grade), but any clothing purchasing help is always awesome! They both like to pick their own clothes out these days and usually they do a pretty good job. Our school tends to do gray backgrounds, so anything usually goes!
My daughter needs to change outfits 15 times no matter how much planning we do, so we’ve made a 3-change-max rule (in addition to a no-pajamas-at-school rule) and encourage her to pick for herself, which she loves.
That first day/last day idea is adorable. Of course, now I feel like the ship has sailed since my kid is in third grade this year. Ah, well. My youngest hasn’t started school yet. I’ll use her for a do-over.
I put minimal energy into first day of school outfit…I did make sure it was one of his favorite shirts and comfy pants (read: no scratchy jeans, MOM) but that was about it. I set it out the night before because wow, mornings are one huge effin’ tornado around here. As for his school picture I will let him wear whatever he wants, his favorite shirt is fine because I’m much more interested in the memory of what he was into than of the perfect outfit picture…that he hates to wear. And wow, it’s been awhile since we’ve seen that penis turtle picture holy heck!
Picture day…the photography group at my childern’s school only gets the top part of the child. It is hard to have a cute outfit from the neck up.
Our school pictures only show the top inch or two of whatever shirt they’re wearing, so I don’t put a whole lot of thought into those outfits beyond “not too busy.” First day of school, I take my own pics, so I put slightly more thought into those outfits. But either way, it’s not something I generally worry too much about (which is a switch for me; I worry about everything else, I suppose!)
My boys have picture day next week!
Love the kindergarten speech bubble! My little girl is almost exactly a year younger than Riley, so we will be trying some of these ideas then… :)
And I do love me some Tar-jay!
I let them wear whatever they want for the first day of school. School pictures are the ones I really put the planning into.
I always try and sneeze right when they take the picture… Ah Ah Ah CHO!
Around here, both are important! However, with girls, I find that HAIR is more important on picture day…we go all out with braids and fancy bows!
My daughter has just outgrown all the hand-me-downs from my nieces… I would LOVE $100 to spend at Target!
Picture day totally. My husband mocks me since I try to find the best shirt to bring out my son’s blue eyes.
Still snorting about the PenisTurtle! And hey, I’d love a Target gift card!
sarahviz(at)yahoo(dot)com
This year I was more concerned about the first day…but it was the first day of kindergarten and will most cetainly be more burned into my daughter’s memory (and mine) than her first picture day. I let her pick an outfit she was excited about wearing to help ease the transition.
Definitely focus more on the picture day outfits! They can wear whatever they want on the first day of school, but mom gets to pick on picture day!
Our school pictures are so predictably awful, that I don’t really care too much about what the kids wear. I try to get them in a shirt with a collar and that’s about it. Every year I gripe about the school pictures, same method as when I was in school: pay in advance before you see the pictures. The kids preschool was so much better. They would take the pics and send home a proof sheet and you could choose. They would also take pics of siblings together. Some of the best pictures we have. But the old public school photos we get at their school are the pits.
My vote: I try to get a cute picture on the first day of school. My boys pick out their own clothes. Sometimes I’ll suggest that they may want to choose a different shirt to go with those shorts, but they never take my advice and go change. Oh well.
I got the Kindy school picture photo thing this week, and I am already trying to figure out how to talk him out of the ratty Star Wars t-shirt. On the other hand, that’s just so him. But really it’s that K picture that follows you. It goes in your file, it’s everywhere!
My girl isn’t quite school age yet, but I know that by the time she is, I’ll be taking about a trillion photos of her before school, no matter what she’s wearing!
I don’t have kids but I LOVE Target so I’m hoping to win.
Well we are part of a virtual school, so no picture day for us here. But I have done first day of school type pictures, with information for his teachers. I look forward to having a whole collection of them when he graduates from high school.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crumleydotorg/6067575558/in/photostream/
Ah, that turtle picture cracks me up every time!
School photo day, because the photo goes on his school ID card. Invariably, he freezes in some unnatural expression. Ah, autism. The retake generally comes out better (you didn’t think I was gonna PAY for those horrible photos, did you??), but the school never puts the retake on the school ID or in the collage of the class photos, so I’m stuck with the photo of kiddo with the frozen grimace all year. I wrote a note to the aide to PLEASE help him obtain a natural expression this year. You’d think the photographer could do that. And we bought the shirt for this year’s school photo AT Target, so that means you should definitely pick me suemorgannanamama@gmail.com !!!!!
I also love the 1st day of school photos, and must say they are equally important as the official school day photos.
But what I was not prepared for was a *Spring* official photo day too! They had it on the schedule and I just assumed it was just for kids that missed it in the fall. Nope, it was for all kids and just trying to get more $$ from us. And let me tell you, those pictures were AWFUL. Absolutely no planning at all and I don’t think I could have had my child looking worse for pictures if I tried!
love the idea of first & last day of school pics…we’ve just done first
I’m curious of this is open to Canadian residents as well? There are over 200 comments..I’m not about to read everyone :S
We have Cherokee at Zellers in Canada, and I have to say I have loved the brand since I was 10! (Ok, so not THAT long ago{13years} ..but for me it feels like a while) so I would LOVE the gift card! (We’ll be getting a Target in the next year or so
I love the idea of first/last day pictures. It’s amazing how much they change in a year!
to be honest, i didn’t care much what she wore on the first day or on picture day (today). I am more focused on her being happy and moving in the morning (as in, getting out of the house in time to catch the bus). If I cared more she probably wouldn’t be wearing a yankee cheerleader uniform for the first day of school – but it wouldn’t have been worth the fight.
I have my first back to school pictures on the 19th for my own Riley (a girl!) I haven’t picked out an outfit and would love to get something suitably new and adorable from Target Cherokee.
First day photo was huge…school photo not so much..my kids didn’t take the best school photos. I always preferred the ones I took. Thanks for the contest
Oh, good God, woman, I’ll never get that card. Oh, well. I *used* to do the first day of school pic, but this year–girl is in fourth grade–it fell by the wayside. I’m more interested in school photo day looks, frankly. But even so, at this point in time, the girl has definite ideas of what she wants to wear, so I just nod, smile, say “Yes’m”, and if she tries a midriff or something that has lots of holes in it, I nix it, she bitches, I bitch, and then we work it out. :D
Picture day is a mech bigger deal. You know those will be looked at in yearbooks by tons of people and it would SUCK if you were the one wearing the rediculous looking shirt with flowers and turtles and airplanes all in one:)
I’ve always taken just a generic first day of school picture with my daughter. With her backpack. But, I still make her, even though she’s 13!
Probably 1st day of school clothes. I don’t like posed pictures that much, I’m much more into candid, so I really do despise school photos. I know I’m going to get a dorky smile or no smile in that school photo, last years looked like a mug shot, a cute mug shot, but you know what I mean. If I can get my kiddo out the door with clean clothes on and w/out a fight over what shirt he’s wearing and it wasn’t what he wore the previous day, I call it a victory! :)
I don’t actually plan on ever buying photos from picture day. They’re SO BAD.
We homeschool, so there isn’t really all that much to-do over the first day of school outfit. But I would very much like some Target bucks.
Definitely 1st day of school, that has to be perfect! The Picture Day photos are so horrendous, there’s no outfit on earth that would make those worth buying.
I worried about both equally in Kindergarten, but for first grade, definitely picture day. We were out of town until the day before school started so that might have been part of it too!
I have a preschooler who is four and she is in charge of picking out her own clothes. It’s like a rainbow threw up every day, but hey, she’s four and it makes her happy. I’m not going to kill that happiness in my own quest for matching socks (not to the outfit, just to themselves) or the like. There will plenty of time in her preteen and teenage years where she agonizes about her choices.
It may be weird, but I don’t care about/don’t like school portraits. They seem so ridiculously staged to me, and, yes, I realize that’s the point. But I take so many pictures, and like my camera so much, that I don’t feel the need to have school portraits. In other news, I also don’t stress over what he wears the first day of school, but maybe that’s because so far, his pre-school has also been his summer daycare, so a “first day,” per se, hasn’t exactly occurred. Maybe I’ll feel different next year when he starts, gulp, kindergarten.
School picture definitely counts more. Of course, that is the one I failed on last year. Totally forgot! Oh well, that will be the one we laugh at the hardest years from now.
School picture day is more important. The key for me is that outfit has to be representative of what he normally wears on a day to day basis, but newish and clean. My mom always tried to put me in a dress and curl my hair on picture day, and that just wasn’t me.
This is my first year working at a school, and if first day of school was a precursor for picture day, I cannot WAIT to see the outfits. All the kids were clearly wearing their best outfits & were very proud of their clothes.
My daughter is not in school yet, but I would definitely go with picture day.
Love the idea of first and last day pictures. Hopefully I will remember once my daugher goes to school.
You were the first blog I ever followed regularly, and still my favorite. Bonus when you post funny penis turtle pics and give away Target cards. For picture day I usually head out the night before and pick up something new off the sale rack, since by that time it’s still warm enough for short sleeves but the stores are stocking for winter. Don’t think I’ve ever spent more than $8.
I’d say picture day. First day was a little more, shall we say, rushed, and I don’t feel that my iphone captured the moment particularly well.
I don’t have children, and I *love* those first and last day photos. I’ve never seen the child in the same outfit, though. That’s too cute!
I’d like to say neither but I’m thinking it will be BOTH. Or at least , I will try for both and most likely fail. In the grand scheme of things, picture day is probably more important since the evidence might last longer on the walls of relatives.
ooh, I love Target!
I care more about first day of school, just because I have this fuzzy little dream of lining all of those pics up in a display at their HS graduation parties. And the weirder the school pics are, the better, I think.
First school picture for sure! And I always think your kids are dressed so cute, by the way.
I read a blog where the lady has a shirt made for each of her girls that reads Class of 2020 (or whatever class they each are). That is pretty cute. My kids where uniforms so there isn’t much in the way of creativity there. Backpacks, mums, fireplace. That seems to be the standard around here. My answer is picture day because they can wear real clothes that day.
I still love that pic with the turtle. Captures so much about that age!
Here’s my sell-out entry (fingers crossed)! Love your writing Linda!
First school picture, absolutely! Just be sure to put your kids in some horribly trendy outfit so they can look back and cringe at large collars/plaid pants/big bows like we wore.
Go penis turtle!
I loved your picture with the “thought bubble” saying kindergarten!
Love the idea of using the same outfit!
I didn’t know that first day pictures were supposed to be all creative and artsy…? I must be out of the mothering loop. When I was a kid the outfit I wore on the first day was always a big deal to me for some reason, and now that my kid started preschool a couple weeks ago I wanted her to look nice, but it wasn’t a very big deal at all. A little dress, a simple hairdo, a picture with her new bag, and we were good to go. :)
The cheesier the school photo, the better. I just spent good money for this sitting-on-top-of-a-pirate-chest pose… (And he was just wearing regular clothes. No eye patch or anything…)
I totally remember that penis turtle picture–hilarious!
I’m entering the giveaway yay!!
First school pic day is way more important. I didn’t even realize first day of school clothes was a thing! Either I forgot or my parents never cared haha!
I had almost forgotten the penis turtle!!! OMG. So seeing as Target is one of the main shopping places for the boyz..would love to win!! alloydneto@gmail.com is where you can reach me if I win.
First day, I usually pick something clean…sometimes a new shirt to help them get excited. School pictures…”just please god stay clean until it’s your turn and don’t do that crazy forced smile thing…pleeeeeeazzze!” I have two boys so I don’t really put a lot into fashion.
I let my kids pick their own first day outfits now that they are 10 and 7 and 7 respectively. They have gotten the part that it should be a little bit dress-upity, but not super formal. I love that they love to do it!
I think as a child I always picked out my first days clothes with more excitement. But I know my mom cared more about the school photo clothes. I remember having to retake school photos when I had spilled something down my shirt or hadn’t brushed my hair enough. But then there were also the wonderful class photo pics in elementary schhol. With a little three tiered stand and the teacher in the picture as well as the whole class. Those are awesome. Do they still do that these days?
I think I will care more about this kind of stuff when Eriana is in school school, not just “school”, which is what we call Mother’s Day Out once a week for 5 hours. Right now she looks cute in everything. I do plan on giving her a lot of freedom in decision-making for her clothes, so we’ll see how that turns out regarding pictures and stuff. :)
Our school principal has decided she wants the fall school pictures to be taken with the kids in uniform. “It will look so much better in the yearbook.” And no one will buy them.
First day! By picture day I’ve given up…I’m happy if she’s even smiling in the picture at that point…
That penis turtle picture is seriously the best thing ever.
Gotta vote for the first day of school pic. (And I LOVE the idea of doing the same outfit on the last day, too!) There’s something about that picture, the new lunch box and backpack, standing in front of the door FOR THE LAST TIME as a non-school-goer. As if they are going to be somehow magically transformed when they get home from that first day … yeah. Love it.
It took 45 minutes and lots of tears to get my six-year-old dressed for school this morning. I’ll settle for anything she is willing to put on her body that I find remotely acceptable, and I am starting to consider dropping the acceptability clause.
That “penisTurtle” theme cracks me up…hoo boy! I almost HOPE that’s the backdrop for my kid’s school picture this year!
First Day pictures are WAY better because generally parents remember that it’s the first day of school as opposed to Picture Day (um….SOME parents, anyway)…
Mine just turned 2 so these days are coming – now I’m going to stress about it! : )
both both both because retakes are such a pain in the ass! And thank GOD that our school photographer has the ability of touching up photos. That grape juice down the front of my kids new shirt was literally cleaned up in the photo lab!
Eh, I remember spending an equal amount of time preparing for both first day and picture day. My parents, on the other hand, only ever cared about picture day.
It doesn’t matter how hard I try – my kids always look like they were dressed in the dark by a colorblind fashion-phobe.
Both…and I have to think more about sibling wear on the first day since I make them pose together. My Charlie wore the same pirate shirt on his brother’s first day os 1st grade and on bis own first day od Pre-K. The horror!
School picture day is a week away…would love some Target cash to buy new outfits!
P.S. I found the first month of Kindergarten to be a huge adjustment for all of us, so I hope you and Dylan are coping and that Riley isn’t acting like a doofus like my son did. Not that I am calling your child a doofus. Okay, signing out.
I definitely care more about the first school picture outfit. It doesn’t matter now though because my kids wear uniforms.
Wahoo Target! (and I am *that* parent who never cared about picture day because the pictures are always terrible for us and we never purchased)
Aw I used to love picture day!
The penis turtle photo of Riley cracks me up every. single. time.
I love the first/last day photo idea! I also, LOVE me some Target. :-)
Riley is such a cutie.
Eeeek! Picture day is tommorrow, and I’ve already promised myself that I’m going to steer away from absolutely darling dresses–that don’t look at all impressive from the neck up. Mental inventory of my girl’s closet is commencing…now!
Oh, I hope I win. valerietrythall@gmail.com
First day/ last day pic is a great idea. Always love your posts.
I don’t have kids (unless you count the bizillion I am in charge of at school). However, on of my favorite school picture of myself is from about 1980. I’m five and I’m wearing a colored striped shirt, suspenders, and 2 or 3 jr.fire marshall badges. I don’t know if my mom didn’t know it was picture day or didn’t care but I love that the picture really captures the kid I was…not the kid my mom thought I should be.
I always try to find something cute for the first day of school and then I have my kids wear the same thing for picture day.
I don’t have kids yet, but I always try to look nice on both the first day of school and picture day (I’m a seventh grade teacher!)
My vote is for first day of school pictures taken at home. My parents took those every year and I’m much more relaxed and “normal” looking than in my actual school pictures.
I’m not a momma, but personally, I felt like my back-to-school pictures were always cuter than picture day pictures. I would say that I always picked out my outfit for each day carefully. Not because of the picture on the first one, but because you want to look good when you see your friends after the long summer!
I would love to win this! Thanks for the chance!
Hoo, I went out and bought all KINDS of cute outfits for my daughter’s first day of pre-k. And she was so upset about going that she wore a pajama top and old jeans. She was the one crying as I deserted her in the midst of a parent picture taking frenzy. Good times!
Picture day…much more important for the better outfit. And really only a good shirt…those school pictures basically chest up.
I love the first day photos because then I get pictures of my boys together.
I could LIVE at Target!
I love that first/last day of Kindergarten idea! Too bad my littles aren’t in school yet and my big (14) is not likely to humor me. Thanks for the Target giveaway, we love Target!
Awwww, Riley’s traumatized day care picture! I remember that. Hope school picture day captures your biggest boy with a smile like he just won a Target gift certificate. Oh wait, that probably would make me smile more than him.
First day of school – first impressions are a one time only thing!
*And usually my kiddo trashes her new clothes by picture day. She’s rough and tumble!
Tough question…probably picture day gets more thought. Love Cherokee clothes at target!
PenisTurtle. Seriously. No wonder he’s crying.
I don’t have any children yet, so I can’t weigh in on the first day of school outfit. I do, however, want to share that I have a friend who is in her mid-20’s who remembers EVERY first day of school outfit she’s worn, from kindergarten through, I assume, college and grad school. I don’t know why I’m so amazed by that, but there you have it.
I have been reading you for a while now and I am a big fan! The penisturtle almost made me pee my pants laughing. You are one of the blogs that have been on m googlereader since I have had it. Thanks for sharing your life and family. You are amazing!
Picture Day ALL THE WAY!
Picture Day – my daughter’s school pictures happened during the pre-Kindergarten orientation. We were there with her so I was able to smash down both cowlicks before the pictures. Yay!
Love free stuff from Target too.
Oh, that picture of Riley with the turtle just about kills me.
I care about the first day photo. I don’t do a sign, but do make him stand by the door in all his clean, spiffed up glory. :) School pictures are so hit or miss (and his happen in November), so I make sure to get the first day.
Definitely first day photo. Assuming that I remember the day and he doesn’t actually wear a pajama top–i’m torn, he wants to chose his clothes, and i want to encourage independence, but really? plaid shorts and a striped shirt? sigh.
I wish my kids wore uniforms!! It would make mornings so much easier.
My kids arent old enough yet for first day pics but i will never forget my first day of freshman year picture…white granny boots, pegged jeans, one of those Forenza deep vee-neck sweater vests and an asymmetric feathered hair cut. Good times.
I care more about the picture day outfit. We already had ours. With three under 5, I was happy to just have her in something clean that day.
Both! I always buy a school photo package, despite the gazillion pics I take anyway with my professional camera. It’s a rite of passage, I think.
Are Canadians eligible for the gift card? I can make the trip to Target over the border ;)
I picked a cute outfit for my daughter for the first day of preschool, but I will pay more attention to picture day I think!
I love how you all of a sudden get hundreds of comments once there’s a giveaway. ;) All the lurkers come out of the woodwork!
I’m definitely more concerned about picture day than the first day.
I hope I win!!! :)
I definitely care more about picture day!
Picture day is the most important for me. But the first day is also exciting. I love the idea of taking a last day of school photo. I will definitely do that for my daughter this year. Thanks!
I managed to miss the first day of school since my paperwork from the school was filled in with the wrong start date. Oh well, my kids should probably get used to it. Therefore, I would LOVE to think that she will be more jazzed about picture day than her “fake” first day of school. Oh my poor second daughter, if I am this lackadaisical with withe first, she will be lucky to get to school at all, forget any fanfare…
Hilariously, of all the things I had to worry about my kid starting kindergarten this year, clothing was not one of them because…. huzzah! Uniforms! Which, of course, I purchased at Target. Polos and khakis, baby. And pictures? Also in uniform. No thinking required, my fav. :)
I don’t have kids so I don’t really have an opinion on the whole picture day thing. But I LOVE that pic of Riley!
My son’s current favorite outfit is a Spiderman jumpsuit complete with fake cotton filled super muscles. Today he tried to convince me that he NEEDED the toy that shoots “spiderwebs” (silly string that is strapped to your wrist). SO perhaps if we won I could buy him that…….and maybe some underwear or something ;) You know… perhaps some real clothes.
My kid is 14 months old. She already insists on picking out her own clothes most day – and her own shoes EVERY day, multiple times a day. I’m guessing I’m not going to get much say in her wardrobe by kindergarten. Then again, my little diva-in-training appears to have more fashion sense than her Mama already, so maybe that’s not a bad thing.
We could definitely use more clothes for my son, thanks for the chance!!!
Pick me! Pick me!
Love all of your pics!
I wore the same outfit for school picture two years in a row… not a great idea, in retrospect.
I think the first day of school is the best picture because you get to see how excited the child is to go to school. The picture taken by the school doesn’t have that emotion.
Love your blog! :)
I spend way more time thinking about picture day – which means 4 minutes instead of 2. Oh well, we all have our strengths. Thinking about back to school outfits isn’t mine. My kids also grow at warp speed (my 7YO girl was just predicted to be 6′1″ by her doctor’s computer) so I’m just happy for the nanosecond when their clothes actually fit.
School photo day matters more – but when in first grade your kid does a wipe out on his bike and scraped his face two days before his school picture, it doesn’t really matter – RETAKES baby! The boy is now in fourth grade and HE CARES what he wears in his pictures!
Picture day for sure. I always wore a uniform to school, so a dress up day was a big deal!
We missed my boy’s Kindergarten picture day, we are on vacation, boo hoo. And the one day they don’t have to wear a uniform, too! Wahh.
Photo day, definitely. Outfits and haircuts, good or bad, that we’ll remember forever!
Always have loved reading your posts! Love living my photo creativity vicariously thru you!!
With 4 boys, I have to set out clothes for the whole week every Sunday night! Ohterwise, it’s crazy in the mornings.
We can always use a Target gift card, no doubt! Thanks for the chance!
Opportunity appreciated!
School photo day more as those pics will haunt kiddo forever, but first day’s still pretty important, too, as it can make things feel more special for starting off the new school year.
intlulu at yahoo dot com
I’ll take a $100 Target gift card, please.
The school picture has got to be awesome – it stays with you forever.
I take lots of pics on the first day of school, so both outfits are pretty important, although on picture day it’s more about the top than the whole outfit. And I LOVE Target!! I spend about $100 a day there, so one day for free would be awesome! ;)
I, uh, don’t remember what Cameron wore his first day…because that was, like, TWO WEEKS AGO. I’m not sure I would even notice if he were wearing pajamas and a swimsuit but I do get freaked out by the BIG WHITE TOOTHPASTE STAINS all over the front of his shirt every morning just as we’re walking out the door.
I can barely get myself dressed to go to work, thank goodness I don’t have kids to dress too! I’m even fretting over what I’m going to wear for my new driver’s license photo.
I obsess over both. Because both days require pictures (either mine or the photographer’s) and pictures are forever.
…unless my computer crashes and my backup drive gets corrupted. And then I cry.
Yay giftcards. Definitely picture day
I like the idea of the same outfit for the first and last day of school. Hate school pictures.
I imagine I will want the perfect outfit for both, but be more concerned with picture day.
My kids are just glad they are going to a new school so they don’t have to wear uniforms anymore. I loved the uniforms but after 7 years, I’m loving no uniforms too.
I care more about Picture Day. But I did feel super pressured to find something special for the first day of school. We ended up in Old Navy two days beforehand, and it was apparently the first time I’d ever taken my kids clothes shopping in a place with a dressing room! (Ages 5 and 3, both girls.) They had a blast trying on ridiculous things and running around, and I took photos, and it was a nice bonding experience, I guess. (No worries–the store was barren and there were no other people in the dressing room, and we totally cleaned up after ourselves.)
First day of school, I was just trying to get the crew (one in Kindergarten, one in preschool at an entirely different location) out the door without a) being late; b) killing anyone; c) forgetting his lunch (I’m responsible for that now?), classroom supplies or snacks. I aspire to put a little more effort into picture day, but who am I kidding, I’ll probably forget all about it and send him to school in a neon Little Gym shirt.
I’ll admit, I do like dressing my kids all cute and funky like, but not to send them to school where they drop food on themselves, and roll around in markers and glue sticks.
Gift me some gift card!
I have major empathy about the rough picture backgrounds but your penis turtle one trumps our’s last year- chipping paint white picket fence which we said symbolized the death of the American Dream ;) perfect for 3 year olds!
Rest assured I’d put that $100 Target to very good use!
I love the first day of school!!! And I would love an excuse to go to Target. :o)
I’m the loser mom who couldn’t care less about picture day because the expressions on my kids’ faces usually make them look like they just escaped from prison or something equally less than savory.
I wonder if I could find a turtle JUST LIKE THAT ONE at Target. Cause I’m feeling all bereft without one.
I’d love to win! :)
how many packs of night-time pull-ups can I buy with $100? Two?
I must say, I don’t buy school pics cause they are generally CRAP, so our first day pics are all important here :)
My pre-k’er will only wear Star Wars shirts, so pretty much every picture for the last couple of months has been all jedi.
I’m more concerned with the school photo day myself, but I do try to make her look extra cute on the first day. I should take photos, but alas, I haven’t.. next year!
My daughter is only 7 months old, but I know I’ll freak out about pictures! I have some horrible ones of me from my school years!
I don’t know about anyone else, but the first day of school was the first time I noticed that his clothes are wrinkled! Yikes! Thanks for the give away…
Love dreadful school pictures!
I let them pick their first day clothes, since I figure it’s more important that they feel comfortable than it is that I’m happy with their outfit. Their school pictures are so universally bad (seriously–where do they find these hacks?) that I don’t give them a moment’s thought. I’m always too busy giggling over the goofy looks on their faces to notice what they were wearing.
I guess the first day of school. I think that kids are like adults, if they feel like they look great, they will have more confidence, etc. I want my kids to start the year happy, confident, and ready to learn!
Picture Day, yeah more important. They usually get enlarged and hung on the wall for a full year and more people are apt to see ‘em.
Gosh, Riley is sure getting handsome.
LOVE Target. LOVE the blog.
There is no way I can not comment when $100 at Target is a possibility! For me, definitely the school photo day, but not the individual… the class photo. The wardrobe battle is one I just will not fight, which I’m sure means there are many, many good people out there who think I’m a horrible mother based on the crazy combos my kids put out there. The individual headshot photos don’t really rile me up, since you can’t see enough to really do much damage (aside, of course, from making sure that is not the day the slip out the door hair unbrushed). It’s the class photo, where my short kiddos always seem to end up in plain view, that I fuss about.
Oh goodie. A $100 Target gift card would take care of the cover charge I pay whenever I go in!
What a great giveaway! The school picture totally matters more than the first day of school outfit.
I love Target’s selection of boy’s clothing, plus they have great prices for high quality!
demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com
I think school picture day will be more insane-making than the first day of school. And the penis-turtle of aught-seven will always and forever be the gold standard of awesome school photos.
Heh. Stream hole. And yes, school picture day. Even though I never buy the horrid posed pictures (contemplated doing it this year because they were so funny…).
school picture day hands down. My son started Kindergarten in SHORTS AND A T SHIRT because summer finally decided to arrive in southern Oregon @ 99 for love of jesus and NO AIR CONDITIONING.
Gotta love target!
Normally I would say picture day but since I completely forgot about picture day (it came on his 5th day of school – what the what) let’s go with first day of school!
Oh goodness, I had forgotten about the penis-turtle picture, and now I can’t stop chortling. Not chuckling! Not giggling! Straight up chortles for the tortles. Turtles.
I don’t have kids yet either, but I love that picture of Riley! He looks like a little model. What a sweet face.
Picture day was always more important, but we never get too stressed out about either one!
I have some really awful school pictures that would make the turtle one look like it was shot for Vogue. Or some magazine with clothes for kids. Or something :)
At least when you do a sellout post you make it funny and readable! :)
Love that Riley picture!
Sure, why the hell not? The 21st is my birthday, after all! (trufax yo)
At first I did a double take when it was Riley in the Cherokee updates…
We’ve already had photo day, and I really didn’t stress so much. I admit I did buy him something new for the first day school (shorts and sandals) but just put him in a nice shirt with a collar for picture day. Now I just have to see how the photos turned out…
I don’t like the look in that turtle’s eye…
My peanut is not yet old enough for school, but I didn’t take any pictures of her first day at childcare. I do try to dress her cute when she goes to childcare though.
The bus stops right at the end of the drive way so I always get a picture of the boys lined up waiting for the bus.
I’m just proud of the fact that my son was wearing pants…seriously, there are some days that I double check to see that he is clothed.
My son is only 1, so I haven’t had to worry about school pictures yet. However, I feel like I totally phoned it in for his 1st birthday party.
I don’t have any kids, but I have received lots and lots of school photos from nieces, nephews and friends. My only advice – avoid busy prints. Thanks for the chance to win!
You are just the funniest. Seriously. PenisTurtle? Tears are streaming down my face. Also, $100 gift card would be rad.
I took the obligatory first-day-of-school-picture-by-the-door. I let my daughter dress herself to avoid the battles that ensue if I demand that she wear pants. She has worn a summer dress with a long sleeved cotton shirt underneath with loud plaid tights for the past four weeks.(Washed, of course, and we own multiple pairs.) Yeesh, I think some fall shopping is in order.
My daughter is in the third grade this year and with the whole new world of coolness that she is now aware of we could totally use that gift card!
I ask my daughter to think about what she wants to wear for the first day of school and usually she picks out a new shirt. But it’s not a big deal around here. I do take pictures, though. And I usually forget picture day. So far we’ve had decent pictures taken (1st and 2nd grade), this year I’m determined to remember and get her to wear something nice! And I have to get my Kindergartener’s hair to behave, too.
My kids are still too young for the school photo situation, but I’m sort of in love with planning their outfits every day, so I think that both occasions will be fun for me!
Oh I don’t know. I like a first day of school pic but try to get something decent from about midway up for picture day because that will likely be looked at more down the road as the kids recall what they looked like.
Honestly with 5 kids the whole perfect outfits idea kind of has gone out the window. I did have matching clean outfits for them on the first day of school. Picture day….not so much. Well they were clean but that is as deep as I went into it. I asked one of the older kids to pick out something for the younger kids. I actually like school pictures to be more of an actual representation of what they are “like” at that moment in time. Weird outfits, bad hair, bad attitude whatever… Those are the photos you look back at and remember fondly. Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to possibly win in your giveaway. My email is scrapwithstacy at gmail dot com
PS I love the idea of taking a photo of my kids in the same outfit on the last day of school. I will have to remember to do that. Thanks for the idea!! It will be perfect on a layout!! Stacy H-W
My second grader had his picture day last week. The first day pictures I take make me feel better about the train wreck that comes home in that crinkly-windowed envelope. ;)
To this day I’ve not seen a more sad first-day-of-school picture than the one of me heading off to first grade (before kindergarten was mandatory). My own kids were chomping at the bit to go!
That picture of Riley makes me crack up every time I see it, poor thing, so miserable and who wouldn’t be with all that crazy shit surrounding you. Anyway – I put my twins in the same outfit for the pictures last week as they wore on the first day so I guess they are both just as important to me. I am not as worried about their shirts as I am about what the look on their face will be – natural smile? forced smile? scared smile? no smile? Ah, the joy of prepaid unpredictability.
I’m on the first photo day boat… I’d like to care more about what my kids wear to school on a daily basis, but I sometimes can’t muster the energy and I feel like they’re expressing their creativity by being able to choose their own outfits. I want to foster that, as long as they’re dresses appropriately for the weather. If something’s terrible, I’ll veto, and I’m trying to help my daughter be creative and matching at the same time… good luck with the first photo outfit! I’ve begun considering options too, as that is one day I DO choose what they wear to school. :)
I don’t have kids, but. . .um. . don’t most of them grow so much in a year that they don’t fit into the same clothes at the beginning of the year that they do at the end?
HA. I’m an adult and I still can’t seem to get the outfit right unless I lay it out the night before.
I have to enter your drawing. The bright colored shirt looks nice on your son.
My son’s an adult now, but, looking back to when he was in school…Holy Cow!! I must have been asleep when I dressed that boy…
My husband would dress our DAUGHTER in swim shorts and a spiderman pajama top if I didn’t pick out her clothes for each day that I’m going to be unavailable for getting her ready for school!
Oh picture day- I am a preschool teacher (which means I have to endure having my own photo taken, too- they give us a “complementary package” so I have a pathetic-looking 8×10 of myself every year, along with a handful of wallet-sized photos- to hand out to all my friends??) and we always hedge bets on how many terrified looks vs smiles will come out. No matter how kindly and non-creepy the photographer is, terrified looks always win.
I could so use that gift card, and more importantly, that second pic of Riley makes him look like a teenager!
ka_hartman2000@yahoo.com
I’d say I place equal importance on first day of school and picture day. But I’m photo obsessed. :)
Definitely school photo day!
Definitely picture day. Even though I hardly BUY the pictures the school offers, I want them to look good…you know, in case the photographer is judging me.
School Photo day for sure. Those pics get sent to all the family and live on forever on mantles, walls and dressers all across America.
I feel compelled to buy the pictures, even if they aren’t all that great. Like, if I’m rejecting the pictures, I’m rejecting my child.
I have never bought the pictures, my kids are in sports and dance and I prefer to have those.
I love the pictures you posted! First day of school pictures are great. :)
Love all the picture ideas – I like being creative, but the ideas don’t come to me on my own, I always need a little help :) With that said, PICK ME PICK ME!!!
First day of school picture – a must do!
I think they are both equally important, but I hate that school pictures always focus on kids wearing their “best” clothes with their hair combed perfectly. That’s not what your kid looks like 99% of the time so why are you preserving an artificial memory? I say let the kid pick out the clothes (within reason, so there’s no historical record of sponge bob jammie tops) and be who he/she is NORMALLY!
As I just experienced a photo shoot with our toddler, I can appreciate Riley’s turtle photo up there. While our child didn’t cry, there’s no way she got a picture of him not moving. He would not sit still on the ground, on our laps, in our arms – OMG.
Anyway, we definitely need new clothes around here!
I guess I care more about the picture day. Elliot just started VPK this year so I haven’t done any “real first day” pics. I want him to at least look like we THOUGHT about his clothes before he left the house. :)
Love the first day/last day idea!
Both, definitely. But when did the price of cheesy school pics become nearly as high as taking your kids to a REAL photog?? These people have lost their damn minds.
I remember that pic of Riley. Poor guy. Anyway, school pics are WAY more important than first day clothes. I know because when I go back now and look at the clothes I wore for MY school pictures, well, it isn’t pretty.
My child hasn’t started school but I still like to shop for “back to school clothes” for her. I can not wait to pick out first day and class picture outfits.
I concentrate more on school photo day. And now I’m to the point where I only make sure it’s a nice, clean shirt and that their hair is nice. WHY put my girls in big, poofy dresses when the photo is just chest up? So! Nice shirt and jeans. Nice hair. Hopefully no ketchup flakes from their lunch that day (more a concern with the boy). Done!
caquincy@yahoo.com
Whee, contest! That’s exciting. Around here in preschool land, the “first day of school” is pretty much just like the week before, except that tuition gets a little higher. We’re not in grade-school land yet, so I do not know that awesome sense of relief that comes from packing them off to school after a summer of cobbled-together camps, grandparent visits, and missing workdays…
Well, my daughter wears a uniform to school, so that takes care of the whole “What are they going to wear on the first day” problem right away. I will tell you that Jessica insists on the blue Cherokee shorts and skorts ONLY. (I swear this is true). They fit her the best, they have a hook thing rather than a button, and she’s happy, so I’m happy. I’d also be happy with a $100 gift card!
And just in case you need it in the atual post, cla517(at)yahoo(dot)com
First day photos. They look natural. The posed school photos (of our kids, at least) always had that deer-in-the-headlights look. We rarely bought them.
I clearly will never need this advice because my children are never getting old enough for school, ever.
I found your site just wondering around som blogs, couldnt tell you how I actually ended up here. LOL. I love your blog, I love the first and last day picture idea. I have a 13 year old step son and a 2 yr old son. Hopefully soon we will have one on the way.. I would love to win the gift card! It would so help us out right now!
yes please!
First day photos are wonderful for seeing the growing. Seems like when you are around them everyday you don’t notice as much as when you compare last year to this year!
They took school pictures two weeks before school even started here! It was crazy.
I’m not a mom, but an Auntie who lives away from her five beautiful nieces. On the first day of school, I love seeing the photos my sisters post from the bus stop or school.
I’ve always been horrified at my school pictures. I’m going to take much more care with my boy when he gets into school.
My daughter is two so we haven’t had to venture into this territory yet!
I would love to win this give-away. Thanks for having it!!
I’m still giggling about “stream-hole.” Target is the shizz.
I want her to look nice every day, but picture day is most important. I fret all day wondering if they took pictures in the morning before everything we worked at early has fallen apart. If she just smiles a real smile and not a ‘hey i don’t know you guy taking my picture’ frightening fake smile – we’re good. Also, I love Target and its RedCard (debit).
for everyday, I struggle with trying to make sure he looks nice but isnt wearing anything that will be a loss if they get trashed.
With teenagers, I am no longer in charge of what goes on their carcasses (except for the PAYING of said clothes, of course). Thanks for the giveaway, and of course I will “like” you!
dressed is best!
I did the first and last day of photos for pre-k, k and now first grade but not in the same outfit. The backstory for me dates back 20 years!! I had two friends in HS who happened to be neighbors since kindergarten. On the last day of their senior year, they showed me the year after year photos of them on the front porch on the first day of school and I remember thinking if I ever have kids I am doing that. The photos were so sweet in their simplicity! I decided to do the end of the year photos when I noticed how much he was changing in pre-k. It has been neat to see the difference!
As for school photos, I do not “stress” about it but I do try to stick to plain colored clothing. A photographer we go to suggested no stripes or dots or graphics. I like the idea of having a decent picture from picture day and not letting him look like a dork like I always did. I know some parents just let their kids wear whatever to picture day. My son seems to like the idea of a special “shirt” to wear on those school picture days!
TOTALLY forgot about my daughter’s first picture day at preschool and I own the evidence – crazy fuzzy hair and horrendous yellow “Fargo” mosquito tshirt and all. Since then, I’m quite a bit better about at least remembering and fixing the hair although I don’t go too crazy with clothes. I’d like the picture to look like HER, kwim?
I’m terrible at picking clothes for my kids. Maybe because they are boys and I’m, well, just a crazy woman/mom? Don’t know. Anyway, I’d love $100 and I promise I wouldn’t buy anything too crappy for my boys to wear.
I have already spent way more than $100 on Cherokee clothes for my little one for her school clothes this year and dang if she doesn’t look cute! They outdid themselves this year. I don’t really care what she looks like the first day of school, but picture day (which is tomorrow for us) we do get a little fancy over here.
My daughter started pre k 3 weeks ago and i pick out her outfit everynight because she dresses herself and sometimes her choices are a little unique LOL. I just want her to match and look like she has parents that care.
Im not even going to pretend like I have kids I need to buy school clothes for. I just want to buy myself new clothes. AND there is this chair on Target.com that I have my eye on.
We haven’t had to do the “first day of school” outfits yet, so for us I worry more about school (daycare) photo day. Which rolls around at least twice a year, and I meticulously plan outfits that coordinate between the two kids. And then, without fail, my youngest cries. So we get no pictures anyway.
But I’m sure I’ll put the exact same level of stress and planning on first day of school outfits, too, knowing me.
Great giveaway!
I don’t stress about either one. My daughter on the other hand does. She says she got made fun of for wearing her 1st day of school outfit on picture day. I’m thinking, wow, I can’t even tell you what I was wearing 2 days ago!
And I love your idea with the bubble. It’s to late to start it with the older two, but I will have to do it with the youngest one.
Oh! Help with outfitting the child for fall/winter?! I would LOVE that!!! Haven’t reached the first day of school thing yet, but I do remember planning my own outfit each year once I was old enough – even into highschool. I think I may have been a dork.
We have public school uniforms here in Nashville so no worrying about what to wear…ever! It is so easy!
My standards, too, are pretty low. I cannot tell you how many shirts have been ruined at school. And for the price of those dang school photos (we go with 25$ for the photo cd – per kid!) you know I stress out over the picture outfit the most.
I heart target gift cards!
My favorite memory of fall was always back to school shopping!
Can’t…stop…looking…at…PenisTurtle…
My daughter’s too young for first day of school pictures but I love them anyway. It’s fun to see all of my friends’ kids on their first day with new shoes and backpacks. Love.
I have been following you for years and I super heart you and target! :D
and by follow I mean your blog not you…lol let’s clear up that creepyness.
Waa, pick me!! I’ve been following you since DIARYLAND! Assuming that, you know, you are picking yourself by scanning the comments for the most creepy stalkery levels and not using a random number generator.
Definitely more concerned about photo day. Although we did tote his school clothes in the car so he wouldn’t mess them up for his pre-first-day-of-preschool Chipotle lunch. Got him changed in the parking lot. Why yes, I AM that mom who let her kid run around outside in nothing but a diaper.
I’ve had her outfit for her Kindergarten pictures bought 2 months ago! I was not prepared like this with the first two though! Maybe me being older now has something to do with it?!
I will no doubt be tizzing about photo-day as well for my kindergartener, especially since I have no idea when it is…
I love the first day/last photo idea! I’m definitely going to do that.
First day of school outfit for me, because that’s where I take a bazillion photos with (vaguely) real smiles and (reasonably) attractive backgrounds like nature and stuff. Those photos make it in frames and on FB, because I am awesome and stuff.
The official school photos? Totally cheesy backrgounds and deer-in-the-headlights pained grins. So we just go with it…choose the worst background (lasers and fog, holla!) and the worst outfit. I may have even instructed my child to include jazz hands in his pose. Those photos we giggle at and save for blackmail. (They don’t go in the yearbook; I am not cruel, people.)
BTW, I like ya, so I “liked” ya.
Ohhhh, Target. I love you.
Cool giveaway, funny post!
I love first day of school pictures! I have them from Pre-school through my Senior Year of High School. They are just awesome at capturing who you are each year. And funny how you can tell EXACTLY when my mom stopped picking the outfits and when I started :)
Love the first day\last day photo idea. Pictures always turn out horrible so I have always put extra time into the first day outfits. However, this year my daughter wears a uniform so picture day will be a biggie since she can wear whatever she wants for the picture.
Well, we just had school picture day, and I was so worked up about it (probably since I missed the memo on pictures two years ago, the HORROR) that I put my daughter’s hair in rag curls like we are from the PAST. So, school picture day, definitely.
looks like with these many responses, there’s more a chance my kid will be potty trained today because he decided to stop torturing mama, than i have at winning a gift trip to tarjay : ) but i’ll throw my hat in just cuz i’m feeling optimistic
yay tar-jay!
:)
We’ve got school photo day this week. I’m going to go start picking out some shirts now… :)
I rarely comment but yay contest! Also every time I see the school picture of your son I get tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard. He will love/hate that picture when he gets older!
Definitely photo day.
Now that my kiddos are little, the first day of school clothes are way more important. But once they hit middle/high school, that photo outfit will be SO essential. I’m still embarrassed by some of those yearbook photos. (Ruffle pirate shirt? Yep. That’s me.)
I totally didn’t think nearly enough about first day of school clothes. Ours just went to preschool, so I probably have some time to get my act together for Kindergarden….
I think the first day because those pictures tend to be “whole kid” where our school still does the “top half” pictures for picture day.
I cannot believe how old Riley looks in that picture by the fence– what a spunky little man!
I’m with you – no (big) wrinkles or stains, and the outfit will suffice. That’s why I have two boys, right?
Haven’t been to Target in ages. Would be fun to spend a bunch of cash there. Thanks!
I have no chilluns and can’t really say what I’d prefer, but I can say that I don’t know about eponymous fragrances. Who’d want their name to be the answer to “What smells?”
Definitely clothes on picture day, those could back to haunt you later.
I would prefer the school pics to look better!
Not only did I not choose a nice outfit for the first day of school, I forgot about picture day and he went wearing an old t-shirt that’s almost too small from his first year of soccer. I fail at preserving precious memories.
photo day!
Picture day definitely wins. But I also think that photo with the turtle is the BEST THING EVER.
I have almost no say in what my daughter chooses to wear each day, except to insist that it’s appropriate for the weather. I can only imagine what she’ll choose for picture day. I suspect it will either have a skull and crossbones or a monkey on it.
I love Target, but who doesn’t? A shopping spree for my three little boys would be fun, but then I’m sure we would fight over clothing design!
I do something similar w/my first day of school photos, but I put the year in there too, so that when I’m old I’ll still know what year my girl was in 3rd grade.
School photo days are much more critical, especially with 2 girls. I have very little input at this point, other than pointing out stains, food on the face, stuff like that.
I have a “first day of school” photo of myself in second grade that I really love, so I’d have to say first day over picture day. It’s a different kind of pose, more natural instead of forced, I guess?
What sweet photos! I adore Target! Thanks so much for the chance to win! Cheers!
Whoa, that’s awesome – I could SO use this for my three year old. Preschool requires more clothing than I was expecting!
Picture day fo’ sure. Still love my 33 year old baby brother’s first grade picture day pics with the stitches on his cheek where he fell on a glass coffee table the night before.
We were more concerned with school pictures. It was important to me to have a shirt that looked okay with the background color this year, wierd I know.
My daughter just had her very first day of preschool last week, so I am a newbie at this one. But to be honest I think the first day of school picture is the most important one to me. I love the idea of a first and last day of school picture. Really cool.
I think the first school picture would cause me more panic than the first day of school. At least you can sort of take your own retakes of the first day of school picture…but sometimes the photographer doesn’t care if your kid looks less than stellar when they say cheese.
Mommy-taken first day photos are so much more ummm “real” in my mind. The school pictures are so staged and weird, although I buy them every year.
Definitely picture day. And I LOVE the 2007 photo! That ones lives in infamy.
That ONE not ones. Dammit.
My son is 11. As long as its clean, I have no say. oy
My daughter wears a uniform to school this year (something new for all of us to get used to) and much to my delight Cherokee makes uniform clothes. So the white collared shirts I got for her from Target were made by Cherokee! And she looks adorable in her uniform.
Great give-a-way. My daughter is old enough now (5th grade) to pick out her own clothes (with approval), so she is in charge of the 1st day outfit.
I think that the first day of school is about making an impression with their peers – so I would be more lenient and let the kids take more control (with some over-ruling power for mom/dad). School pics are for the parents – but I also think it’s fun to see their personalities shine through and will be very fun to look back on their individual style in photos…
Since Target is my favorite store ever ever amen, I thought I’d give this commenting thing a shot.
georgiaisyourfriend@gmail.com
My kids wear uniforms, so no picking of anything –except headbands for my daughter. But I do care a little more on picture day.
picture day and the first day are about equal for me. most of my son’s clothes are from the thrift store, but he still looks good! i must say that the cherokee shorts and pants that i have gotten used have held up well and fit him well.
thanks!
The problem with school pictures – you get immortalized in the YEARBOOK…
I’ll be honest, it stresses me out a little bit how much parents get into the perfect way to document their kid’s first day of school, will the pressure ever end? I’m only half joking by the way.
Hmm…. I guess I care more about the school photo, which is odd, because I do first day of school photos myself, and those are the ones I’ll likely keep…
I plant my girls on the same yellow bench every year for first day of school pics. I DO NOT, however, order those school photos with corporate sponsors. They rarely capture the cuteness of the kid and always cost too much!
I am a bad mother, but I don’t even remember what mine wore on the first day of school. I did take pictures but it was like two weeks ago and I’d have to consult them to see what they were wearing. In my defense, I am pregnant and tired. :)
Commenting…
wanna target gift card! please and thank you!
I’m going with school picture day.
Both definitely but I think I worry more about my girls hair for picture day because you can barely see the outfit.
cool. i like target :)
As a teacher, I LOVE seeing the cute and creative outfits that the kids and their parents throw together for the first day of school and school picture day!! I had a student wear a princess Halloween costume for picture day because it was her favorite! <3 Also, the little guys always look darling in a button-down, vest, and tie! <3
Fun giveaway!
4/5 of our family gets 1/2 of their clothes from Target so that’s, well, a lot of $ we spend at Target!
I probably care more about first day, because I take pictures then, and, well, it’s the first day. I always forget about picture day, but luckily my son generally manages to wear a whole outfit, not just underpants or something, so it works out okay. And his school gives you keychains with his picture on them, so that is rad.
Oh, my. “Penis turtle” made me snorfle.
My kids are 4.5 yrs and 2.5 yrs, and so far we’ve only done preschool photos. This year I’m definitely going to put more thought into the clothes!!
I enjoy Target immensely…I was there earlier today :)
Oh, uniforms are spoiling me. I’m now actually stressing out about picture day, as my kid doesn’t have to wear his uniform. GULP.
Love the penis turtle picture! Looks like some serious wailing occurred prior to the picture be taken. Poor Riley!
Why yes. I would love a gift card to Target! (Please!?)
You can write sponsored posts anytime, you are still so fun to read. Oh, and if you picked me it would make my day!
I have a soft spot for Tearful Turtle Riley, because I was also red, blotchy, and tearful in my kindergarten picture (the first picture day I ever had) because the little boy behind me would not take his hands off my shoulders. I wish I could have blamed the scary turtle theme, but all we had was a blue sky backdrop.
School pictures always turn out MEH for us so I am not super into them. I am annoying on this topic.
I would LOVE to win! Especially a Target gift card!!
Picture day always brought out the experimenter in me. Try a side-part on a day immortalized in photo history? Sure, why not?!
Thanks for the giveaway!
Penis turtle??? Too freaking hilarious
Oh the PenisTurtle theme of ‘07… That shiz was golden! And not in the rain sense. ;) Anyway, I’d love $100 at Target seeing as my kid grows like a weed on meth and I’m about to have two more bodies to clothe…
I guess picture day is more important than first day of school outfit-wise. Either way I have tried to let my daughter pick her own clothes so her personality shines through. Her personality is noted so far as color-blind hobo.