We might not have always been excited to go back to school, but gearing up for the big September event was always one of the best parts. The smell of freshly bought paper, the promise of a new set of funky pencils, the fashionable way we were going to organize our binders and all the stickers we were going to deck things out in.

The nineties were kind of the best. At least in terms of the “must-have” essentials we begged our parents to buy for us.

Here are 14 such items we loved.

Milky Pens

These were the best for writing notes to your besties and your crushes. Of course, the paper had to be folded into intricate designs before it could be handed off.

Erasable Pens

Basically these were pencils that never quite erased all the way, but these puppies allowed us to write every other line a different colour. And that made us feel cool.

Needle tip fine pens in the popular erasable FriXion ink colors! How do you like these com… https://t.co/oQSSOmXCHG pic.twitter.com/Of5o5P84Nz

— JetPens (@JetPens) April 27, 2016

Spacemaker

For the life of us, we can’t remember how this giant hunk of a pencil box actually saved space. All we know is that we had to have one for all of our essentials.

Mr. Sketch Scented Markers

Remember when we were actually encouraged as children to sniff markers? Although we’ve yet to come across anyone who actually liked the black licorice scent.

Treasure Troll pencil toppers

Because we just needed a troll on our pencil, okay? The only tricky part was getting it to actually stay on.

Yikes Pencils

These pencils were the bomb… until they snapped in half on you mid-writing, thanks to the flimsy middles. Every. Single. Time.

Yikes Pencil Sharpener

For sharpening all those pencil halves, naturally.

Themed Lunch Pails and Thermos

These thermoses were perfect for holding all of our Chef Boyardee lunches. Well, except for the fact that they leaked all over. That didn’t stop us from getting a new set every school year though.

Stackable Pencils

Never having to sharpen these made them a nifty little tool. Until you lost one of the little nubs and the whole thing fell apart. #PencilFail

Eraser Tips

These were a surefire way to make any standard yellow pencil just a little more personable.

Pencil Grip

Back before things became computerized, we did a lot of writing by hand, making these yet another colourful pencil essential.

The Classics 12-Pack Extreme Gel Pencil Grips, Assorted Colors and Shapes, 1.3-I https://t.co/SonSFyNlzh pic.twitter.com/BEXcQyeMUA

— bid super deal (@BidBidsuperdeal) May 20, 2016

These Cat Stickers

To this day, we don’t know why we loved them, but we put them on everything.

Scratch ‘n’ Sniff Stickers

Mmm, chocolate-smelling stickers… why was our generation so obsessed with sniffing our school supplies anyhow?

Scratch n sniff stickers #eighties style! pic.twitter.com/9M5MgYghTe

— Zoe (@HeydonZoe) April 24, 2016

A Canvas Backpack

We all thought we were artists when we covered ours with patches, Sharpie pen designs and personalized graffiti. They never fit all of the stuff we splurged on above, but this bag was still essential come September.