Dare we whisper the words “back to school” without risking the wrath of teachers - and students, too?

Well, United Art and Education (headquartered in Fort Wayne) has several special deals that should soften the blow to teachers. The company, which sells school supplies used by teachers, realizes many educators use their own money to purchase classroom decorations, games and aids. So United Art will give away hundreds of educational prizes and merchandise during Teacher Appreciation Days, which run from Monday through Aug. 31.

♦The Sharpie Scratch 'N Win Game begins at 9 a.m. Monday. The first 400 customers will have a chance to win. Prizes include $10 and $20 gift certificates, totes, Sharpie markers and more.

♦The first 2,000 customers will get a free school-year desk calendar.

♦From 9 a.m. to noon Monday, the store's double-bonus coupon event offers twice the savings on classroom decorations, teacher resource books and other back-to-school favorites.

♦Educators will have a chance to get an extra $200 in classroom supplies by signing up for a chance to win weekly prize giveaways.

In Fort Wayne, United Art and Education is at 4111 N. Clinton St. It's open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, go to www.unitednow.com/retail.

Meijer is offering a new service designed to streamline meal planning, coupon clipping and grocery shopping.

The Meijer Mealbox http://is a newly introduced micro-site (or widget). The technology allows shoppers to put Meijer Mealbox on their personal home page (on sites such as iGoogle, Facebook, etc.), where it will update automatically.

Once a shopper selects a meal for a given day, the program automatically offers up applicable coupons for the recipe. Nutrition information is provided, and you can even print off a shopping list.

Now if it would only bring the food home and cook it for me …

I was shopping for wrapping paper at Anne's Hallmark Shop the other day. The store was promoting Hallmark's new adhesive wrapping paper, so I decided to try it.

I'm sorry to report it was quite a disappointment.

This paper with a low-tack adhesive is supposed to simplify gift-wrapping, but I found it to be unwieldy. It's difficult (but not impossible) to reposition your box once you've set it down on the paper, and on some surfaces it leaves a tacky residue. If you're not careful, you can get air bubbles or wrinkles in the wrapping paper. And I found the ends didn't stick together too well.

For this reason, Hallmark helpfully includes some clear adhesive seals (read: tape) to seal the ends. And the new product isn't cheap: $4.99 for a 25-square-foot roll. You get $2 off if you have a Gold Crown card.

I think I'll stick to regular old paper and tape.