Spirit Shop School-Branded Apparel and Gear Review And GIVEAWAY 7/10

***Disclosure: I received complimentary samples to facilitate my review. No other compensation has been provided, and all opinions are 100% honest and have not been influenced in any way.***

I can hardly believe it, but my oldest child is heading to high school this fall. High school. How in the world did this even happen?! It seems like only yesterday he was in Kindergarten talking about "George Wah-Chin-Chin living at the Light House" and eating his boogers, and now he's almost grown. My baby is taller than me and wears a size 12 men's shoe, too. (Yes, this makes me feel horribly, horribly old, in case you were wondering!) 

Anyway, I am very excited for my son's high school career. Not only am I super-proud of his smarts and artistic ability, I am also beyond thrilled that he will be attending school in my little hometown. I grew up here, and then moved to Virginia for 20 years. It seems there is truly no place like "home", because I have desperately wanted to come back and raise my own family here. Now, I get to see that happen, and I couldn't be happier. 

To celebrate Kyle's transition into high school, I decided that some "spirit wear" was definitely in order. People in my town have a lot of pride, and the Tigers games always have epic turn-outs. Luckily, the folks at Spirit Shop had exactly what I was looking for. 

About Spirit Shop:

SpiritShop.com is the premier custom apparel store for almost every elementary, middle, and high school in the United States. Find your school, and you'll find hundreds of great designs that will show off your school spirit.

That's pretty special in and of itself, but this is what makes Spiritshop.com extra special: each one of those designs is completely customizable. Just click the "customize" link next to one of the designs and you will be taken to the Spirtshop Design Center.

The Design Center provides you with a ton of options, including:

Swap Out Item - put that design on a different shirt, tank top, hoodie, or any of the other items in our enormous selection.

Add Text - edit the text in that design or add your own. You can change fonts, change colors, add an outline color, adjust the size or even add an arch to the text.

Add Art - add a new piece of art from our huge library. Don't like the mascot in that design? No problem. Just click the Add Art tab and choose a different one!

Upload Image - have a design of your own? A picture of a person? Add it to your design with the Upload Image feature.

The Design Center also makes it easy to:

• add names and numbers to team jerseys
• distress your design to get that retro look
• zoom in on your design to see a bigger version
• save your design or email it to friends
• change item colors
• add rhinestones

This seems like a lot of features, but it's actually super easy to use. So get started!

Our Review :

The first thing I noticed when I logged into Spirit Shop was that there are literally thousands and thousands of items to choose from, and they are all totally customizable. You choose your state and even your school! 

Once you have selected the apparel or gear that you'd like, it's time to customize. You can add text and images, distress text for a fun, retro effect, and you can even add a little bling if that's what tickles your fancy. One thing I thought was very cool is the fact that you can even choose different sports themes, which is perfect for all those athletes out there! 

Customizing and ordering couldn't have been any easier, either. This site is very simple to use and walks you through each design step. You can even check out previews and add or delete elements until you have designed the perfect piece of apparel or gear. 

We chose a simple school-branded tee and mesh athletic shorts. Our order arrived very quickly, and the garments were very high quality. There were no loose threads, and the cotton used is pretty soft, especially after a wash or two. The shorts have a nice, breezy feel, and feature a drawstring to ensure a great fit.

Here's Kyle wearing his Spirit Shop school apparel! Can't you tell he loves being in front of the camera? (Note sarcasm there.) 

I especially like the option of adding text even to the mesh shorts. This ties the look together very well, don't you agree? And even after a few washes, the lettering still looks brand new. There's no peeling or separation at all. 

Overall, I am very pleased with our Spirit Shop experience. It was fun, easy, and very quick. I would definitely recommend trying this out while you do your back to school shopping this year. Whether it's elementary, middle or high school, your kids will love being able to show their school pride! Oh, and I should mention, there are also plenty of options for colleges and universities, too!

Connect With Spirit Shop :

You can check out the awesomeness that is Spirit Shop on their website.

You can also enjoy 25% off of your Spirit Shop order of $15 or more using the following coupon code at checkout:

SPC25P

Spirit Shop offers FREE SHIPPING on orders of $60 or more, too! 

You can also connect with Spirit Shop on Facebook, on twitter and on Pinterest to stay on top of their latest products and promotions! 

Enter to WIN :

I am thrilled to announce that one lucky reader will receive a $50 Gift Certificate to try out Spirit Shop for themselves! 

Simply enter using the easy Rafflecopter form below!

This giveaway is open to US residents 18+ until 11:59PM EST on July 10, 2014. No PO Boxes. Winners will be drawn using Rafflecopter's Random Number Generator. All entries will be verified, so play fair! I will notify winner via e-mail and they will have 48 hours to reply before I am forced to redraw winners. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. This contest is not affiliated with Facebook in any way. Thanks for entering, and Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway