There are two types of people in this world: those who plan for back-to-school shopping in July, and those who realize their kid has no pencils at 7:58 AM on the first day. However, this year, I made an effort to be proactive. Enter the Yoobi + SmileyWorld collection—because nothing says “serious academic focus” like neon-colored notebooks and a fortune-telling ball with a face.
Yes, Yoobi, the brand that believes buying a pencil should feel like an act of social justice, has teamed up with SmileyWorld, a brand built around that overly enthusiastic yellow face that haunted our sticker books in the ’90s. Together, they’ve created a limited-edition school supply line that’s equal parts optimistic and aggressively cheerful. You can find it right here at Target if your inner child (or your actual child) has a craving for rainbow-colored emotional expression.
Let’s start with the Yoobi SmileyWorld 1 Subject Notebook. It’s got 100 wide-ruled pages—perfect for dramatic diary entries about how unfair it is that summer ended. The pages are perforated, which is great because tearing out a page to dramatically crumple it in frustration has never been easier. And with its multicolored SmileyWorld cover, it proudly announces to the world, “I’m fun, but I also contain algebra.” It fits easily into a binder, assuming your kid didn’t already lose the binder by day three.
Next, the Yoobi SmileyWorld 5-Pack Double-Ended Stamp Markers. These offer two functions: one end writes, the other stamps tiny yellow faces onto your paper. Because nothing says “I took diligent class notes” like five emoticons grinning at you from the margins. The colors are bright—coral, yellow, teal, etc.—the kind of hues that suggest you’re trying hard not to cry during math.
Then there’s the Yoobi SmileyWorld Fortune Teller Ball—a decision-making tool for the indecisive child (or adult) who needs help choosing between “homework now” or “delayed existential dread.” You shake it, ask it a question, and one of 20 vague answers floats to the surface. I asked it if I would make it through the school year without yelling “WHERE IS YOUR BACKPACK?” and it blinked back, “Better not tell you now.” Charming.
To be fair, Yoobi’s mission is admirable: for every item purchased, they donate one to a kid in need. And with over 96 million products donated, it’s clear they’ve helped a lot of students while making your shopping cart look like a unicorn on a sugar rush, curated it. You can learn more about the cause (and feel slightly less bad about buying novelty markers) by browsing the whole collection on Target.com.
So if you’re the kind of person who thinks school supplies should inspire self-expression, emotional growth, and possibly migraines from too many smiley faces, the Yoobi + SmileyWorld line is your dream come true. Or your nightmare. Either way, it’s in stores now.