Back to School... Allie's First Year of College Edition...

Let me make it abundantly clear that there are cheaper ways to shop for back to school then Allison & I did. The following aren't budget options, but splurges with a budget in mind. We set a budget and the way we stayed on it was by cutting corners on the things she didn't consider as important... 

Example we got her the duvet cover she really wanted but the duvet filler we got on sale at Target for $12... 

We made a lot of these trade offs... When it came to clothes she didn't need the basics, she had all that so we spent our budget getting her some good wardrobe foundation pieces. 

She NEEDED dresses... The kind that could go from day to evening, from church to wedding to sorority mixer during rush... She really only has two dresses right now... One casual and one cocktail style so when I got a email about a 40% off sale at J Crew we knew where we were headed... 

We got the following three dresses there...

We thought one navy, one LBD (or Little Black Dress) and one "champagne" one off white would be able to fit just about all occasions. She is at the age where I feel okay making a few better purchases for her. And these were all dresses that could be dressed up with a clutch and heels, dressed down with boots and a cardi and/or scarf and even somewhere in the middle with pearls and flats...

The following shoes, the Reva Flat by Tori Burch are another classic piece... You can dress up jeans or dress down one of the above dresses with them. She has wanted them for a long time so now seemed like a good time to surprise her...

Speaking of surprises... I found the following Kate Spade bag at Nordstrom Rack and I knew she would LOVE it... She was literally speechless... A good moment for me! 

Now we know she is leaving one northern climate for another so we did keep that in mind... She is pretty much set for winter gear but had her eye on this vest from J Crew Factory...

And she needed snow boots. She has her good tall leather Frye boots that she got last year for Christmas and a couple other "dress" boot options but her old snow boots were pretty much done. She decided to go with the LL Bean boot... I don't know if this is a nod to home or just the ones she truly loves but being a "Mainer" I do approve! 

But she is all girly girl so we did throw in some pink... She loves Vineyard Vines and we found a great deal on this 1/4 zip fleece at TJ Maxx!!! 

It's not all clothing...

She found this cute planner... And who doesn't love Lilly Pulitzer? When they were little almost every summer they had matching Lilly Pulitzer dresses until they would no longer go for matching then I had to settle for coordinating... In their early teen years they declared they did not like them. It wasn't as big in Tennessee as it had been on the coast. You can imagine my delight as both girl came back to her classic summer style! This planner is not only a statement of who she is today but a nod to the past!

And she knew she wanted kelly green & navy bedding so she was thrilled when she found this duvet at literally the last place she thought she would... She found it on sale at pbteen! The reason that is so shocking is that all through her teen years she turned her nose up at that catalog always saying it is for grade school & JR high kids... Imagine her surprise when an internet search turned it up! 

She found white sheet with navy trim at TJ Maxx in an XL twin so she will get the look she wants...

She also found this cute pillow on Etsy (on left) that will add the touch of glam that is my preppy Allie who has a touch of glam! 

We found a navy blue anchor decal like this for $7 at Target she wants to put over her desk...

And these cute eyelet lights for $15 she fell in love with...

We also got her a "bath wrap" because... Well why not? 

We got it in the navy blue stripe with the monogram in Kelly green.

The last two items were among the most expensive on the page...

At the beginning of the summer she bought a "Beats Pill" with college in mind... It is a wireless/bluetooth speaker she can use with all her electronics that gives amazing sound. This will be handy for watching movies on her laptop and of course for listening to music! 

We got her these "Beats" solo headphones... Unlike the above speaker that she loves and is convinced she will use all the time, I remember what living with a roommate can be like... Plus the presence of headphones can totally signal that you aren't up for conversation while reading, etc... I think these are a dorm must have! (Plus the kelly green matches everything else!) 

I am not going to bother showing you all the boring stuff like the $12 mini tool kit or the $8 iron among other boring necessities... I will take a picture of the dorm when she gets it all set up! 

PS. Don't forget my offer in my last post... As of the posting of this nobody has committed to joining me. I'd hate to see a ticket go to waste! 

Thanks for listening,