When getting your nieces and nephews ready for school, it’s usually about backpacks, school supplies, new clothes, and a locker chandelier.

Back up. Locker chandelier?

Long gone are the days when students just used crates to organize their locker space. The new trend is that now lockers are getting the interior design treatment worthy of royalty. Middle school girls are hopping on a trend to decorate their lockers, and the demand has created its own industry. Some of these decorations will actually help your nieces organize their space – all in coordinated fashion.
Locker basics include:

Wire shelf. The shelf divides up the locker creating more space for books and papers. Assign books to the shelf according to their class schedules. For example, the books on the top shelf are for their morning classes, and the ones on the bottom are for the afternoon classes.

Dry erase board. The dry erase board attaches to the locker so your students can write down reminders and notes to themselves. The boards usually have a holder for the dry erase marker.

Magnetic notepads. The notepads are great for making notes your nieces and nephews can take with them.

Magnetic organizers. The magnetized pen holders are handy to hold extra pens, pencils and highlighters, and longer magnetic organizers can hold additional items.

Removable hooks and clips. Use removable hooks to hang jackets, umbrellas and hats, or use clips for papers and photos. At the end of the year, the hooks can be removed without damaging the locker.

Magnets. Magnets come in all sorts of cute shapes and sizes, and they can pin up photos, permission slips, and other papers.

Mirrors. Magnetized mirrors are a necessity for girls of all ages, and they match the rest of the locker accessories. 


Picture frames, shag rugs, wallpaper, and chandeliers are optional.

With a majority of the locker organizers and decorations geared toward girls, what about your nephews? How can you help them organize their lockers?

With your nephews, keep it simple with a sturdy shelf, hooks for their jackets, magnets for papers, and a dry erase board to write down reminders.  Most boys won’t care about wallpaper, but there are sports wallpaper stickers and musical ones, depending on your nephews’ interests. You could cover a second dry erase board with stickers and pictures from their favorite teams, games, and TV shows.

To keep their locker shipshape, encourage them to clean out their locker every time they get a report card. With a little help from their Savvy Aunties, your nieces and nephews will have the coolest lockers in town.


Published: October 12, 2011