I like School Tool Box. They give early sign up discounts and other discounts for referrals and such. They also have had a booklet that came with each box for the past two years that had a free book coupon for the book fair and a $1 off coupon for the next year's supply box. I like the rep at www.schoolpals.net. She's really friendly and helpful. Always returns my calls right away.

We also use EPI - awesome... no complaints from us!

Our school uses a company called SchoolKidz. They customize the kits with labels to include the child's name and grade, and the supplies come in color coded boxes with handles. Great quality and great prices. Was a very successful fundraiser for us!

Currently using EPI, absolutely awesome! packaging was great, delivery on the date scheduled.

The school I am at now uses EPI for this, and has been very happy with them. This will be our second year using them, and it is done as a fundraiser.

Some schools just do it as a service, and sell them for exactly what they cost the parent group.

The school I was at two years ago decided they would get a group of people together and shop at all the sales at Wal-Mart, Target, Staples, etc., then pull the packages together themselves. They had a whole committee of volunteers who were willing to go shopping. I didn't hear how that one turned out, but I think they are still doing it that way today, so they must not have thought it was too bad. Way too labor intensive during the summer for me to consider.

Yes, there are several vendors who will work with you on that. You'll want to organize it in the Spring, really get the word out and ideally take pre-orders then. And you'll have to work with your school to determine what must be in each grade's package.

The Yellow pages on this site is a good source of referrals. (Look Top/center on home page.)

PTO Yellow Pages Link for School Supplies

The Yellow Pages includes contact info. For this category, they list:

Educational Products, Inc.
Innisbrook Wraps
Locker Organizer
School Tool Box
School-Pak

Maybe some of the others can provide feedback on their experiences. I believe we used EPI, but I didn't work on that project, so I could be wrong.

Most companies like this will send you samples. You can put together your needs and have several of them bid on it to see who will offer the deal that best fits.

[ 08-24-2005, 12:24 AM: Message edited by: JHB ]