Hive’s Backpack Blowout: Free Backpack Giveaway in Dexter, Michigan

A free back-to-school shopping experience for local students and families

We’re helping local students start the school year with new backpacks, the supplies they need, and the confidence that comes from feeling prepared.

The beginning of a school year already comes with new routines, new expectations, approximately 900 forms, and enough logistical decisions to exhaust an otherwise functional adult; school supplies should not be one more impossible thing.

sunday, august 23, 2026 | 12pm-3pm
2615 baker rd. DEXTER, MICHIGAN 48130

No registration required. Backpacks and supplies will be available first come, first served while quantities last.

the details

Need school supplies? Come see us!

The Backpack Blowout is a free, drop-in event.

No advance registration is required.

Students will check in when they arrive, choose a new backpack, and shop for the school supplies they need at different supply stations.

This is not a grab-a-bag-and-go situation.
We’re creating a free back-to-school shopping experience where students can choose the supplies they need, personalize their new gear, participate in activities, and leave feeling genuinely excited about the school year ahead.
Students can look forward to:
- A Brand-New Backpack
  Every student will receive a new backpack to take into the school year feeling prepared, confident, and significantly more organized than most adults we know.
- School-Supply Shopping Stations
  Students will visit different stations to choose the notebooks, folders, pencils, headphones and other school supplies they need.
  Because getting to choose your own things feels a whole lot better than being handed a mysterious prepacked bag and told to enjoy whatever color folder fate selected for you.
- New Reusable Water Bottles
  Students will receive a new reusable water bottle for the school year and can stop by our decorating station to personalize it with stickers.
  Hydrated, prepared, and immediately able to identify which water bottle is theirs. Huge day for everyone.
- Backpack Keychain Station
  Students can make a keychain to add to their new backpack, because the fastest way to make something feel like yours is to attach beads, colors, and an entirely unreasonable number of charms to it.
- Games and Prizes With Launch Ann Arbor
  Launch Ann Arbor has generously donated 50%-off admission passes for the first 75 students attending the Backpack Blowout.
  They will also be joining us at the event with cornhole and opportunities to win prizes, proving once again that community support can also be extremely fun.
- Our Much-Loved Prize Wheel
  Yes, the beloved prize wheel is coming back.
  Students will have a chance to spin for all kinds of goodies, including the highly sought-after butter squishies, dumpling squishies — including a UNICORN DUMPLING, which is obviously a very big deal — gift cards to local businesses + more.
  We’ll keep adding prizes as we get closer because apparently we have fully committed to making this wheel unnecessarily exciting.
- Free Passes From We Rock the Spectrum Ann Arbor
  We Rock the Spectrum is helping make the day even better by providing free passes for new customers to come check out their incredible sensory-friendly play space.
  Their gym is designed to give kids a safe, welcoming place to play, move, explore + have fun with sensory-based equipment, swings, a trampoline, climbing structures, arts + crafts and more.
  Basically: another really good local place for kids to be exactly who they are. 💛
- FOUR Free Passes to DinoLand Ann Arbor
  And because apparently the prize situation just keeps escalating… 😂
  We also have FOUR FREE PASSES to DinoLand Ann Arbor up for grabs!
  DinoLand is an indoor family play space with climbing, soft play + plenty of room for kids to burn off approximately 700% of the energy adults wish they still had.
  We’ll share more at the event about how to snag one of the passes!
- People Available to Help
  Hive volunteers will be stationed throughout the event to welcome families, answer questions, help students find supplies, and point everyone in the right direction.
  Our goal is organized and welcoming, not “wander around until you accidentally locate the pencils.”
- A Back-to-School Experience That Actually Feels Good
  We want students to leave with more than supplies.
  We want them to leave feeling prepared, included, celebrated, and ready to walk into the school year knowing their community is behind them.
  We’ll continue adding activities, community partners, and event details to this page as they are confirmed. We have a lot of ideas and, apparently, very little interest in keeping this project small. :)
- Backpacks and school supplies are free.
- Supplies are available for up to 75 students.
- Items will be distributed first come, first served while supplies last.
- Attendance does not guarantee a backpack or specific supplies.
- Each student may receive one backpack.
- Families do not need to be current or former Hive Wellness clients.
- No proof of income or explanation of need is required.
We’re currently looking for community partners who may be interested in helping us provide:
- Books for students to choose from
- Snacks and bottled water
- Backpack tags, keychains, or personalization supplies
- Sensory tools
- School-year essentials such as water bottles, lunch bags, pencil pouches, or headphones
- A simple family-friendly activity
- Helpful resources for parents and caregivers
Have an idea or something useful to contribute? We would love to hear about it.
BECOME AN EVENT PARTNER

Help us fill 75 backpacks

Our goal is to give 75 local students a new backpack and the supplies they need to walk into school feeling prepared, confident, and ready to start the year.

Want to help? Pick the option that works for your time, budget, and current capacity for leaving your house.

Every bit of it counts.

Shop our Amazon Wishlist

Purchase backpacks and requested school supplies directly from our Amazon wish list. Items can be shipped directly to Hive and added to the supplies available at the event.

We’ve organized the list around what students actually need, so you can help without attempting to decode a school-supply list in the middle of Target.

SHOP THE WISHLIST

drop off school supplies

Want to shop locally or personally experience the back-to-school aisle at Target? We respect your journey.

We’re collecting new backpacks and requested school supplies at:

Hive Wellness Collective
8178 Jackson Road, Suite C
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103

Our Amazon wish list also serves as our current supply list. You do not have to purchase through Amazon; use it to see what we still need, shop wherever you’d like, and drop your items off at Hive.

We’ll continue updating the list as supplies arrive so we can avoid ending up with 400 rulers and zero notebooks.

SEE WHAT'S NEEDED

VOLUNTEER WITH US

We have 75 backpacks to fill. We could use some extra hands.

Community events involve a surprising number of boxes, labels, supply stations, last-minute questions, and tiny details that suddenly become extremely important.

That’s where you come in.

We’re looking for volunteers to help us prepare for the Backpack Blowout and keep things running smoothly on event day.

You do not need any special clinical experience. If you’re kind, dependable, comfortable interacting with families, and capable of following directions while surrounded by an unreasonable number of notebooks, we would love your help.

Complete the volunteer form and tell us when you’re available and how you’d most like to help. We’ll follow up with shift information, event details, and everything you need to know.

VOLUNTEER

Business + Organizational Sponsorships

Your logo could be doing something useful right now.

The Backpack Blowout is helping 75 local students start the school year with new backpacks, the supplies they need, and the confidence that comes from feeling prepared.

Local businesses, schools, teams, and community organizations can help us turn that goal into 75 actual backpacks, not just one very ambitious spreadsheet.

Hive Five Sponsor — $150

Helps provide school supplies for approximately five students.

Includes:

Name listed on the Backpack Blowout event webpage
Recognition in our shared community-sponsor social media thank-you
Post-event impact update showing what our sponsors helped make possible

Backpack Builder — $300

Helps provide school supplies for approximately ten students.

Includes:

Logo and website link on the Backpack Blowout event webpage
Logo included on shared event signage
Tagged recognition in our community-sponsor social media thank-you
Post-event impact update and approved event photos to share with your audience
Opportunity to send a small employee volunteer team

Community Champion — $750

Helps provide school supplies for approximately twenty-five students: one-third of our entire goal and, objectively, a pretty big deal.

Includes:

Featured logo and website link on the Backpack Blowout event webpage
Prominent logo placement on event signage
Individual sponsor spotlight on Hive’s social media
Recognition in our community email newsletter
Recognition in our post-event community thank-you
Post-event impact summary and approved event photos to share with your audience
Opportunity to send an employee volunteer team
Optional resource table at the event, when appropriate and aligned with the needs of participating families

BECOME A SPONSOR

To receive full logo and promotional benefits, sponsorship commitments and usable logo files must be received by August 10th, 2026. Recognition is optional, and sponsors may choose to remain private.

Also excellent.

Businesses and organizations can support the event by providing:

New backpacks or school supplies
Food and refreshments
Printing or signage
Family-friendly activities
Volunteers
Event equipment
Professional services
A weirdly specific resource we didn’t know we needed until you mentioned it

Tell us what you have in mind. If it meets an event need, we would love to find a way to work together.

Have something besides money?

OFFER AN IN-KIND SPONSORSHIP

Look who’s helping us pull this off

The Backpack Blowout may have started with one very ambitious idea, but getting 75 local students ready for school takes an entire community of people who see a need and ask, “Okay, how can we help?”

These businesses, organizations, and community members are helping provide backpacks, school supplies, activities, food, funding, resources, and the approximately 900 other things required to turn an idea into an actual event.

We are wildly grateful for every contribution, connection, shared post, donated supply, volunteered hour, and person willing to help us make back-to-school feel really freaking good for local kids.

Community Champion Sponsors

Wolverine State Concrete

CHAMPION GYMNASTICS

Backpack Builder Sponsors

Roth Fabricating Inc.

Dr. laurie + mr. steve barkway

Core mechanical, inc.

DEXTER LIONS CLUB

dundee recreation commission

innovative fluids, llc

Hive Five Sponsors

CR Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of adrian

DECKS UNLIMITED

Woelmer Steel

The Herman family

great lakes eatery & PUB

More Really Great Humans

Wishlist contributors, in-kind supporters, community members + friends who jumped in to help

Betsy Beil, HOWARD HANNA REALTOR

Dinoland ann arbor

we rock the spectrum

launch ann arbor

art moehn chevrolet of jackson

Hamdan quality roofing

Want your name up here?

There is still time to help us send 75 local students into the school year feeling prepared, supported, and genuinely excited about what’s ahead!

Sponsor students, purchase something from our wish list, contribute supplies, volunteer, host an activity, or bring us your most useful and delightfully specific community connection.

BECOME A SPONSOR

SEE WHAT WE STILL NEED

Look who’s helping us pull this off

We are wildly grateful for every contribution, connection, shared post, donated supply, volunteered hour, and person willing to help us make back-to-school feel really freaking good for local kids.