There’s always a mountain of items to be purchased (or recylcled!) for the kids heading back to school after the summer. But being summer, and kids being kids, they’re most definitely in need of a bag or backpack for sleep-overs or visits to the lake…
So why not pick them up a new one now before the rush, and give them something that’ll be useful through the summer too?

Here we’ve dug up some very cool and fun bags (& great bargains) to help point you in the right direction.
For your convenience, descriptions beneath each item are linked to a purchase destination.

AGES 4 – 6

With nothing heavy going on the little ones backs, more consideration can be paid to design and fun!

Skip Hop Zoo Pack Little Kid Owl Backpack.

Rory the Lion, little kid backpack.

Creative Kids monster backpack.

AGES 6 – 12

Carrying their own books, lunch and sport equipment, growing bodies can benefit from a wheeled alternative…

Kid’s Sparkling Wheel Rolling Backpack with Lunch Bag in Shadow Puzzle.

Kid’s J World Sparkling Wheel Rolling Backpack with Lunch Bag.

AGES 12+

Very little you can do will stop their desire for the only coolest of bags (& brands) at this age…

JanSport Big Kid Classic backpack.

High Sierra Loop Backpack,Blossom Big Plaid/Ash

Volcom Purma Plaid Backpack.

DAKINE Girl’s Jewel Pack

Burberry recently came out with their fall / autumn collection, and I’ve picked out two very funky denim out fits for the brand loving minihipsters.

Ruffled Polo and Check Cuffed Jeans:

FOR THE BOYS:

Rugby Polo and Check Cuffed Pants:

Photo’s courtesy of Saks, where they have a broad range from the Burberry fall collection.

CrewCuts from J.Crew is one of my personal favorites, and they have some fantastic accessories for your little hipsters, such as these great hair accessories to keep her hair tidy but oh so fashionable:

Girls’ carnation headband:

Girls’ silk flower hair clip:

And while it’s not very useful for the hair, I thought this backpack was fantastic.  Girls’ petal drawstring backpack:

Congratulations to minihipster Jakai, who recently won the Little ASOS competition which comprised of a 300 pound gift voucher for the online store: http://www.asos.com/kids/.

Here are the winning shots of Jakai from minihipster (check out the LookBook posts of Jakai here and here):

And here are two more great shots of this very stylish little guy:

We have a few more submissions of Jakai from his dad, so stay tuned for more Jakai posts on LookBook over the coming weeks! (including some pics of Jakai modeling clothes from his prize from Little ASOS).

Chloe’s children’s line is something you can imagine Gwyneth Paltrow dressing her little Apple in. The pieces follow the feminine, pretty styles from the adults line, without being too grown up.

I found these pieces on the Bergdorf Goodman website:

Tie Dress:

Mosaic Dress:

Bib tank & tab-front shorts:

Bow knit dress & logo tights:

And the cutest little Leather Ballerina’s:

Check out the Chloe website for the fall collection, or Bergdorf Goodman for spring / summer.

Madonna and her newly adopted daughter Mercy James, were photographed leaving a Kabbalah service in London on Sunday.  Madonna’s brood are always the picture of cool, and gorgeous little Mercy James is no exception… wearing  Gap’s Printed maxi dress for $29.50:

Check it out at www.Gap.com!

Harajuku Lovers is singer Gwen Renée Stefani’s brand of apparel, accessories, stationery and now fragrance, launched in 2005. The concept for Harajuku Lovers revolves around the fashion-orientated Shibuya area of the Harajuku district in Tokyo and the four “Harajuku Girls”, Gwen Stefani’s Japanese back-up dancers when performing solo and general entourage.

Stefani’s other fashion line, L.A.M.B. (standing for Love, Angel, Music, and Baby, being the four “Harajuku Girls”), has a fantastic line of kids shoes which was previously profiled here in the MiniHipster StyleFiles.

Harajuku Lovers t’s:

Check out the range at Tuttibella.com or Bloomingdales

Seeing as we’re running a competition to win a £300 shopping spree with Little Asos (see here for details), I thought I’d show you some of my current favorites from their site:

FOR THE BOYS

Mini Boden Printed Hoody:

Toby Tiger Knitted Multi Stripe Jacket:

Toby Tiger Blue And Red Stripe T-Shirt:

FOR THE GIRLS

French Connection Ditsy Floral Dress:

Diesel Girls Vintage Wash Ribbed Cuff Denim Shorts:

Mini Boden Jersey Holiday Dress:

Check out the full range on their site here: http://www.asos.com/kids , and don’t forget to enter the competition!

I’m a big fan of the Brazilian flip flops, Havaianas, for my casual summer foot wear – nothing beats a pair of flips flops on a hot summers day, and these are especially groovy and oh so comfortable.

I was surprised that Havaianas have been around since 1962, and were inspired by traditional Japanese sandals (was this the birth of the flip flop?).  I was also surprised to see that they have a great range of kids flips flops, and I’ve picked out a a few of my favorites:

FOR THE GIRLS

Kids Slims:

Wonder Woman:

Slim Peacock:

FOR THE BOYS

Superman:

Batman:

Kids Surf (with 8 colors & styles to chose from):

Check them all out at http://www.havaianasus.com/kids-baby-sandals/

Fathers Day is around the corner for those of us in the US, Canada and the UK (for our Aussie and N.Z. readers, you can get in early for Dad’s special day on September 6th), and Juicy Couture is celebrating with a special ‘Daddy’s Girl’ tee,  available at all Juicy Couture retail locations beginning June 11th (I checked online at the Juicy Couture site, but wasn’t able to find them – looks like it’s in-store only).

Available in both women’s and girls sizes at $58 for women, $38 for kids sizes 7-14, and $32 for kids sizes 2-6, proceeds from the Juicy Couture ‘Daddy’s Girl’ tee will benefit the Pediatric Urology division at the LA Children’s Hospital.

So you can show Dad how much you love him by wearing your tee 365 days a year, while also supporting a good cause.