DIY Backpack

Gearing up for back to school means your days are filled with shopping for clothes and school supplies, as well as a backpack to put them in! Your child’s backpack can help to express their personality and original style, especially if your child’s school has a dress code or uniform. It seems like there are endless options for different backpack styles, but once school starts, we often find there is at least one other student with the same bag. Customizing a backpack to showcase your little one’s personality can be a fun way to spend an afternoon and get your child excited for back to school! It doesn’t take much, just head down to your local craft store for supplies.

Here are some ways to customize and decorate your child’s backpack with them!

1. Fabric Markers and Fabric Paint:
Is your child a budding artist? Then they’ll love getting to design their backpack with fabric markers and paint. Test a small section of the backpack or a similar fabric before using the markers and paints on the bag to make sure the color comes out the way they want it to! Once they’ve chosen their favorite colors have fun and be creative together! Your child will get to take full creative control over the masterpiece and the best part is, they’ll get to show it off all year long!

2. Pin Back Buttons/Pins:
If your child loves a certain character, show, movie or musician, you can easily use these pins to decorate their backpack. This can be an easy, stylish and cute way to show off your child’s personality. We suggest using pin back buttons, but if you do just have a regular pin, you can purchase pin back locks to ensure that you don’t lose it.

3. Tie Dye:
If you decide to get a plain light colored backpack, another fun way to customize it is to tie-dye the bag! Tie-dye is a throwback that’s popping back up as a fun and authentic way to stand out from the crowd. Pick up a tie dye kit along with some rubber bands. You can make different designs based on how you use the rubber bands so no two bags will be exactly alike. Make sure to have plenty of time to dry the backpack and wash it before use.

4. Appliques:
Appliques are also a fun way to customize your backpack. There are so many different embroidery patterns and fonts available. There are three ways your appliques can be applied: stick-on, iron-on or sew-on. You can have your child help out if you’re sticking them on, ironing or sewing, just ask them about placement so they can feel part of the process!

5. Keychains:
Remember how much fun keychains were when you were a kid? You can easily make your child’s backpack more fun by attaching keychain figures, squishies and plushies on your zipper handle. This is a quick and easy way to show some flair and doesn’t take any time at all!