Back-to-school shopping can feel like a full-contact sport, but moms know the real MVPs are the things that survive the daily grind—back to school trends that are equal parts practical and cute. Forget what’s “cool” on TikTok (unless we’re talking about mom hauls, because those are gold). We’re talking backpacks that won’t rip by October, water bottles that don’t leak all over math homework, and lunch gear that doesn’t smell like “mystery yogurt” after week one.

We rounded up the back-to-school trends that parents actually swear by, because the real test isn’t if it looks good on a shelf, it’s whether it can