Ready for Launch: Back-to-School Traditions Take Off

You can feel it in the air, even if the weather is still blazing hot. A certain kind of anticipation. Somewhere between the last trip to the pool and the first ring of the school bell, the season turns. And traditions come with it.

When Michelle Roberts-Freeman was growing up, that meant a special shopping trip to Kansas City. “My mom would take me to pick out new school clothes, and then I’d have to hang them up in my closet and just look at them,” she says. “I couldn’t wear them until the first day of school, and it about killed me!”

That same kind of excitement, eager and a little impatient, has a way of sticking around. For some, it shows up in the form of new lunch boxes and stacks of school supplies. “It was always a big day with the kids,” says Lisa Stofac. “Backpacks, lunch boxes, supplies, everything lined up and ready.”

Lauren Ballard’s family keeps it classic: a wardrobe refresh, a new pair of shoes, and maybe a movie at The Legends. The shoes are often passed along to others as the kids grow, and secondhand clothes are gladly welcomed into the mix. “It’s fun and useful,” she says, and it keeps the tradition grounded in practicality and care for others.

Zach Dodson’s back-to-school routine always includes one last taste of summer. “We try to take one final family outing, maybe dinner and ice cream, or something like the carnival in Parkville. Sometimes we’ll head to the zoo. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, just a moment together before everything shifts.”

And then there’s Joan Stone, who shared the first day of school with her daughter Sydney not just as a mom, but as a staff member at the same elementary school. “It was the first day for both of us,” she remembers. “There were new supplies, a new backpack, and always new shoes. And first-day photos, of course.” After school, they’d stop for frozen yogurt and swap stories, mother and daughter sharing that beginning-of-the-year buzz.

New pencils. New shoes. One more cone before the clock resets. However you mark the season, there’s something comforting about doing it in your own familiar way, even if that means just staring at a closet full of promise, counting down the days.

From all of us at Stephens Real Estate, we hope your back-to-school season is filled with small joys and fresh starts.