We have reached the last weekend of summer.  That can only mean one thing in this house.  We have reached the last minute panic as I inventory closets and drawers to see if I really do have to make that journey to the mall for the yearly Back-To-School shopping torture experience.  After two hours and 5 stores, I left the mall with a teenage son who bought a new pair of shoes, some socks and one shirt.  My tween?  He had one pair of jeans and one shirt.  That's all.

So much for getting prepared ahead of time this year!

Knowing I would have to hit the stores once again, I began to look at other parents to see what they were saying.

At Kids and Kiddos we are reminded of the joy of trying to shop for and/or with a teen.  Here are three important things to keep in mind when preparing for back to school shopping with and/or for your teen and tween. Timing. Your shopping budget and your school's dress code.

First off, timing (and I'm sure you've heard this before) is everything.

But timing also comes with a price. If you have picky kids that really
want to look good, but want to look like another friend or something,
the last-minute shopping idea might have you frazzled. Sure you'll get
good sales, but you'll get a lousy collection of clothes to choose
from. It's like going to a buffet five minutes before it's over. All
the good stuff is long gone.

Another thing to keep in mind when shopping for the kids' clothes? What's my shopping budget?
Before you even leave the house, arrange with your kids what the
spending limit should be. This becomes very handy when you deal with
the tweens and teens, who are all about latest styles and fads and
don't really care about costs.

Be informed of what your schools' dress codes are, if you have multiple kids going to different schools, especially.

Three great things to keep in mind every year for every child when it comes to back to school shopping.

Speaking of back to school budgets,  JB Owen-Sacallis teaches us some tricks of the trade when it comes to back to school shopping over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

In part she shares this bit of wisdom:

Having a plan is the key to success in any business–and the business
of shopping is no different. Take a moment to decide what items need to
be added to your child’s closet for the upcoming season. Imagine
dressing them from head to toe and list which items they need to buy
new.

Creating this mental check list will help you focus on what you have and what you need to buy.

I love that last bit of advice.  Keep a mental (or in my case written down) check list of what I need to buy.  It will keep you from over-buying and getting off track.  Which, let's face it, when you are shopping with teens is not that hard to do!

Over at My Daily Dollars, you can read some great stress free ideas for you to use when going shopping--especially with the teen and tween girls.  Again it boils down to planning, planning, planning!

So, how to make back-to-school shopping stress-free?  Yield
to the twelve-year old desires.  We gave each girl a budget and let
them run loose.  The day actually went quite smoothly.  Each
girl went $5 over budget, but there was no complaining or wheedling.
 Since they were in control, they were happy with their choices.  Since
they stayed on budget, we were happy with what they bought.

Now, we did do a little behind-the-scenes maneuvering to keep them on track.  We selected the order of the stores... We also gently steered them to an even distribution of types, colors, etc.  When there were three tee-shirts in the cart all in the exact shade of blue, I gave a little advice on which one to put back.  Finally, I kept out a pad and tallied up prices as we went.  That way, decisions were more neutral.
 The day became how to get the best sales or the most for their money,
rather than that “if you love me, you’ll buy me this” kind of emotion.
 It’s harder to argue with the numbers. 

So, if you have been waiting to do that back to school shopping, first, GET ON IT! You are running late.  Secondly, you can use these great tips to make back to school shopping with teens and tweens not only easier, but maybe even enjoyable.  

Now doesn't that make going back to school a lot more fun?  New clothes and a good game plan?

I suppose this weekend-now that I have a game plan for stress free shopping--I will once again haul the teen and tween back to mall.  Because I really do not think that one pair of jeans and one shirt are going to cut it for the new school year.   Not only is it not practical for a wardrobe, but there is no way you will find me washing that outfit every single night. Just no.

So, get on it.  Get those teens and tweens outfitted for school and do it stress-free now!

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Editor Jennifer Satterwhite (BlogHer, Mommy & Family) also blogs at Mommy Needs Coffee and The Parenting Post.