The hunt begins with shopping carts, rolling down the aisles of a mammoth office-supply store. Following in their wake are sticky, complaining kids. They're not ready for summer to be over, but they're clamoring for new back-to-school stuff to cram in their desks and backpacks.

Ah, but it can't be just any stuff, of course.

Take Jennifer Bowman, whose 4-year-old son is starting preschool. She's already scoured four different stores in Cape Coral, Fla., frantically trying to collect everything on his teacher's school supply list.

"They want specifics, and they run out in the stores. Like the sizes of glue sticks, or the round scissors rather than sharp scissors," Bowman says. "You've got 500 children looking for red folders in the area."

Even as retailers attempt to tame the process by customizing shopping and partnering with local schools, parents still find themselves caught up in a special sort of August madness. They struggle against competing tides of chaos: crushing crowds, a child's desires ("I want a 'High School Musical' notebook!") and a teacher's picky shopping list.

Back-to-school spending is expected to hit $18.4 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

The average family will likely spend $563.49 in stores, up from $441.60 in 2002.

Nancy Owens, a special-education teacher at Chippewa Elementary School in Holtsville, N.Y., remembers one particularly bad season at an office-supply retailer recently: "They locked the doors because they couldn't let any more people in," she says. "That's what happens."

Teachers say they are simply trying to maximize instruction time by demanding standard materials.

Children often waste precious minutes searching for things in their desks, Owens says. That's why color-specific items often dominate teachers' lists.

"If everyone knows that science is red, that makes it easier," agrees Dorothy Kuda, a fifth-grade teacher at O'Brien Elementary School in Rockaway, N.J. "So if I see someone's Bratz folder, I'm gonna be like, 'What subject is that?' "

Durability is another issue: many teachers prefer plastic folders over paper ones.

"Parents think they buy it once in September and they're done, but in fact those folders fall apart," says Owens. "The plastic ones do last longer."

Other teachers ask for specific types of glue sticks, boxes of tissues for each child; some educators even photocopy pictures of requested supplies.

Oversized binders are banned at the Conchita Espinosa Academy in Miami because parents eventually complain about backpacks that are too heavy, says fourth-grade teacher Monica Valdes.

Many teachers also prohibit mechanical pencils, a source of distraction and annoyance in the classroom. "They run out of lead and then (the kids) have no other pencils," says Valdes. "The time it takes them to find lead ... I don't allow them."

To make everyone happy, some parents end up buying two of certain items — one to satisfy the teacher, the other to please a Bratz-hungry child.

Monica Hoherchak, of Stamford, Conn., mother of four, assigns each of her children a supplies budget for the year.

"So if they want to splurge and get the fancy pencils, they can," she says.

Most children need a take-home folder for homework assignments, or a journal notebook: A perfect opportunity for kids to express their personalities through their design choices, teachers and parents agree.

Purple pens — "the new red," as Ryan Vero, chief merchandise officer for Office Max calls them — represent another frivolous item kids may prefer to a No. 2 pencil.

But the choice between the fun accessory and the practical item — rainbow highlighters or standard yellow? — is not easy for the hassled parent navigating a crowded store aisle.

The scene has gotten so crazy that Crayola is dispatching teachers to 1,500 Wal-Mart stores this month to advise parents on school supply purchases (and not just Crayola, they promise). Good marketing? Sure, but they're clearly tapping into a real parental anxiety.

"It's amazing how many parents — especially that mom who comes in with a cart full of four kids — say, 'Please, help!' " says Sonia Pace, of Spring, Texas, who has served as a Crayola Teacher Coach for the past four years. The teachers receive $100 gift cards to Wal-Mart for their service.

Some major retailers work directly with schools to post teachers' lists at local stores, simplifying the search process. At Office Max, teachers can build their lists through the MaxPerks for Teachers program and earn up to $500 for supplies when students purchase items at the store.

The contingent of parents who pre-order school supplies is steadily growing, but some are reluctant to abandon the hunt.

"The kids love going in and looking at all the notebooks and the pencils," says Hoherchak. "And it is an event."