SPONSORED CONTENT

What if the first day of school could be about more than new notebooks, freshly sharpened pencils, and making it to the bus stop on time?

For Chicagoland families, back-to-school season comes with familiar traditions: the first-day outfit laid out the night before, the lunchbox packed, and the first-day photo. Kraft Natural Cheese brought those traditions together through a two-weekend Back-to-School pop-up at Oakbrook Center Aug. 14–15 before continuing at Westfield Old Orchard in Skokie Aug. 21–22.

The First-Day Photo Gets a Cheesy Upgrade

At the center of it all was Stringy, Kraft Natural Cheese’s larger-than-life string cheese character, on hand for complimentary professional portraits against a backdrop designed like an oversized school hallway, complete with a towering locker and an oversized backpack. Families stopped to take photos with Stringy, while kids made the most of the chance to interact with a string cheese character considerably larger than the one they might find in their lunchbox.

For some families, the photo was a chance to recreate the familiar back-to-school picture in a slightly less familiar setting. Kids posed with Stringy and took turns in front of the camera, and parents could walk away with a professionally captured photo rather than another phone snapshot.

The photo opportunity was one part of the larger pop-up. Families could also write personalized notes for lunchboxes, color back-to-school activity sheets, and sample Kraft Natural Cheese String Cheese. The coloring sheets offered a simple, hands-on activity for younger children, giving them something to do while parents and siblings took photos or explored the rest of the activation. The lunchbox note station also added another interactive touchpoint, with families creating personalized messages to tuck into lunches once the school year gets underway. Together, the activities encouraged families to spend more time exploring the pop-up rather than simply stopping by for a quick photo or sample. Branded keychains and sticker sheets rounded out the experience.

Featured alongside the brand’s original String Cheese, the newer lactose-free variety was also available to sample, opening the lunchbox staple up to a broader audience, including kids with sensitive digestion or lactose intolerance. Visitors could take a tasty, peel-apart snack break and try both before deciding which one they might reach for when packing lunches at home.

“Kraft Natural Cheese is all about bringing families together, whether that’s around the table or through experiences that celebrate life’s everyday moments,” said Dhriti Batra, director of Kraft Natural Cheese at Lactalis Heritage Dairy. “Back-to-school is one of those special times of year, and we were excited to celebrate the season with activities, photo opportunities, and snacks that helped make the occasion even more memorable.”

Back-to-School, Beyond the Checklist

Back-to-school is one of those seasonal moments that arrives with its own built-in sense of occasion. The routines are familiar, but for kids especially, the start of a new school year can feel like a milestone worth marking.

That made it a natural moment for Kraft Natural Cheese to meet families where those routines were already unfolding. Oakbrook Center and Westfield Old Orchard are both places where families were shopping for school clothes, supplies and other essentials, making the experience a natural extension of the season. The pop-up gave Kraft Natural Cheese a way to join the broader back-to-school conversation while creating a moment for families to pause amid the usual checklist.

With over 9,000 string cheese samples distributed across the activations in Oak Brook and Skokie, there was clearly an appetite for a little fun alongside the back-to-school prep.

For more information and recipe inspiration, visit www.kraftnaturalcheese.com or follow the brand on Instagram @kraft.naturalcheese.