December 19, 2011

Where's My Kwanzaa Pencil?

I have a lot of pencils.

They are starting to overflow in my overflow drawer, you know that drawer that has everything in it.  Mine is full of pencils.  My kids get pencils for every occasion.  It seems that whenever there is a party at school nowadays parents think it is all the rage to hand out pencils.  Gone are the days of handing out candy canes, the #2 is now number one.

When my oldest first started elementary school, I thought it was great that he came home with a new pencil seemingly every week, it would save me from having to buy them.  Then they started to pile up and one turned into two, two became four and now I have over a hundred pencils.  I have no idea what to do with them all, you can only use so many pencils.  How many pencils do I need before I start waving the white flag?


Valentines Day

As you can see they come in all varieties, so no time of year could possibly be left out of the mix.  Our latest addition has dreidels all over it, yes a Hanukkah pencil, that one is new to me.

One thing that I don't understand about these pencils is everyone gives them out, including the school, yet the school still has pencil sales about four times a year.  Of course my son has to come to me for money to buy yet another pencil.  There was one time though he bought something called a smencil, sort of a scratch and sniff pencil, I guess that was worth the dollar he paid for it, but now even it sits at the bottom of the pencil drawer.

It's just too much.

I don't remember getting all of these sort of things as a kid.  Every time someone has a birthday at school, my kid is coming home with a present.  Maybe I am doing this whole parenting thing wrong but I won't be sending my kids to school to give out goody bags on THEIR birthday.  They are the ones that are supposed to be getting presents, NOT everyone else.

Over the next couple of weeks I am sure that there will be MORE pencils coming our way, but have to say I think that we are set for life in the pencil category.  I will tell you though that if you want to get us something, get us some erasers.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?



  1. And yet we had to buy each of our kids a few boxes of pencils at the beginning of the year that went into some communal pencil box. Perhaps they are just shipping your way.

  2. I think there is some sort of pencil Ponzi scheme going on here.

  3. Ahhh pencils. You're right teacher's can't give out candy anymore. It's a damn shame if you ask me.

    For Love of Cupcakes

  4. I love pencils and still write with them (not the mechanical ones either). Perhaps we can start some sort of exchange ;-).

  5. I too love pencils... Just not sO many that I can build a lifesized log cabin out of them

  6. You should build a pencil log cabin. That would be awesome! Half those pencils are total crap too. I'm speaking from experience. The lead just keeps breaking. You could save them for starting campfires. I've done that and they burn really quick.

  7. My sister teaches in an inner-city school and I can guarantee the kids there don't have a drawer full of pencils or of anything else.

  8. Maybe there will be a project in the near future where I can use them all to build a fence around my Iroquois Long House. I better hold on to them!

  9. I think you should make a combo pencil+lego project. Or see how many times your pencils lined up tip to eraser would circle your house. Now that would be interesting. How many pencils could one REALLY have?

  10. Molly I like how you think! We will call it Pencils Across America, it will be huge, we can raise money for people without pencils!!!

  11. I'm with you,'s all a conspiracy!

  12. I still have some of those pencils and my boys are 20 and 24! And what do I do? I go out and buy pencils (normal ones of course). My 20 year old I don't think want to go to county college with Thomas the Tank Engine in his back pocket.

    And we still get those pencils...but their more advertisements for local businesses. They come in the goody bags at car shows. It doesn't end!