How do you label your kids' school stuff?

[Spoonful of Sugar]

DD starts preschool in a couple of weeks, and I have no idea how to label her things. I'm thinking of using Stuck On You or Mabel's Labels, but they only seem to sell the labels in large quantities. I don't need 50 labels. I just want to put her name on her snack container, water bottle, backpack, and coat. Is there some way to do this without buying labels? DH says I should just use a piece of tape, but I don't want to bother replacing it every day, and I'll probably just forget. So how are you doing it?

 

[NotUrsula]

Fabric paint on fabrics, and acrylic paint on plastic items. The paint is only about $1 for a small squeeze bottle with a fine tip; buy a color that will show up.

 

[Michelle67]

Sharpie.

 

[Kath2003]

Sharpie for things like water bottles, lunch box etc.

Sew in name labels (like these: http://www.wovenlabelsuk.com/School-Labels.html) for all things fabric. I'd advise you buy the plain ones (ie not smiley face etc, just the name) as most companies sell in such large quantities that you'll still be using them in high school. They work well here where every item of clothing has to be labelled (uniform do everyone's stuff looks the same).

 

[sam_gordon]

Sharpie for everything. On clothes, I usually just put initials on the tags if I even do that.

 

[golfgal]

Sharpie and usually just our last name but our last name isn't all that common and no one else in our last town or here have this last name so that helps. With just the last name, all the kids can use it then.

 

[aladams2]

Another Sharpie on EVERYTHING!!! I even put initials on each crayon/marker. So when they work in groups they know whose is whose.

 

[golfgal]

Another Sharpie on EVERYTHING!!! I even put initials on each crayon/marker. So when they work in groups they know whose is whose.

Seriously??? Does it really matter if she gets "her" red crayon back?

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Is the labeling required by the school (like it is for some sleep away camps)? If so, I'd just use a pen on the tags for clothes and masking tape with a sharpie for other things. If not, my labeling would consist of telling the kid, "If you lose this I'm not buying you another one."

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I was a Sharpie mom. First dd went to a school where kids would steal. I had to mark anything that was in her desk with HER NAME.

I did get pencils and anything that I could get labeled with her name through catalogs, like pencils, etc. because it got so bad.

 

[HM]

Sharpie pens

 

[scrapquitler]

DD starts preschool in a couple of weeks, and I have no idea how to label her things. I'm thinking of using Stuck On You or Mabel's Labels, but they only seem to sell the labels in large quantities. I don't need 50 labels. I just want to put her name on her snack container, water bottle, backpack, and coat. Is there some way to do this without buying labels? DH says I should just use a piece of tape, but I don't want to bother replacing it every day, and I'll probably just forget. So how are you doing it?

Sharpies are your friend.

Just get a sharpie and write her name on all of that stuff (for her coat, inside the back of the neck, on the label if there is one, in that general area if there isn't one). On her backpack, write it on the inside of the main pocket. For her snack containers, water bottle, lunch box, etc just write her name right on them with the sharpie. Things like the snack container or the water bottle, it might wash off after a while, just write it again.

 

[golfgal]

Is the labeling required by the school (like it is for some sleep away camps)? If so, I'd just use a pen on the tags for clothes and masking tape with a sharpie for other things. If not, my labeling would consist of telling the kid, "If you lose this I'm not buying you another one."

We really only put names on things that we would reuse from year to year, scissors, calculators, etc. The high school does engrave names on the $100+ graphing calculators for the kids if they want. We did do that AND told them we aren't buying you another one if you lose it .

Notebooks and folders got names put on them because often they are turned in to the teacher but other than that I never labeled boxes of crayons--and certainly not individual crayons, pencils, etc. One mom in the kids' elementary school used to make up computer labels for their kids' crayons and pencils. The teachers HATED that because they gummed up the sharpeners.

 

[tlbwriter]

If my child showed up with a box of fresh new markers and came home the same day with someone else's dried out old markers, I'd be labeling every one of those suckers. It takes like 5 seconds, so why not?

 

[englishteacha]

Sharpie. I even label a lot of MY things that I bring to school. I don't need some kid walking away with my nice winter coat, or my Nalgene bottle, thinking it's theirs!

I label my coats in an inconspicuous place, like inside a pocket. That way if I donate or resell the they don't have my name in giant letters in the back. For a child, though, go for at least the initials on the inside of the collar! Teachers aren't going to want to check every pocket for a name label for a child. And you KNOW there will be at least one other kid at school/daycare with the exact same coat/boots/mittens/whatever as your child!

 

[golfgal]

Sharpie. I even label a lot of MY things that I bring to school. I don't need some kid walking away with my nice winter coat, or my Nalgene bottle, thinking it's theirs!

I label my coats in an inconspicuous place, like inside a pocket. That way if I donate or resell the they don't have my name in giant letters in the back. For a child, though, go for at least the initials on the inside of the collar! Teachers aren't going to want to check every pocket for a name label for a child. And you KNOW there will be at least one other kid at school/daycare with the exact same coat/boots/mittens/whatever as your child!

Before I retired we had a monthly meeting at a golf course for everyone that did what I did. We had to dress in suits so EVERYONE had a black trench coat. I used to hang mine up backwards on the hanger and loop the hanger through the tag so no one could just grab it off a hanger thinking it was there. It looked like a choir room in the coat check room .

 

[Debbie7452]

The thieves don't care if it's engraved. My DD's ipod was engraved with her name and phone number and we never saw it again. Also her graphing calculator was stolen out of her locked locker. There was a rash of such thefts and we suspected a school employee was to blame.

I replaced her silver ipod with a pink one. I thought it would be less attractive to 50% of the population at least. I use a Sharpie on personal items like backpacks and lunch bags. Our school puts most supplies in a "community" bin so there's no point in labeling each marker and crayon.

 

[golfgal]

The thieves don't care if it's engraved. My DD's ipod was engraved with her name and phone number and we never saw it again. Also her graphing calculator was stolen out of her locked locker. There was a rash of such thefts and we suspected a school employee was to blame.

I replaced her silver ipod with a pink one. I thought it would be less attractive to 50% of the population at least. I use a Sharpie on personal items like backpacks and lunch bags. Our school puts most supplies in a "community" bin so there's no point in labeling each marker and crayon.

Our kids are just not allowed to bring Ipods to school. If they do and they "lose" it, they know we won't replace it. Calculators say in their backpacks which go with them from class to class. I know that many schools don't allow this but our school encourages it because with 4 levels and a few additions it takes a while to get back and forth to lockers so they want them going to lockers as infrequently as possible. Plus, your locker could be in the basement and all your classes on the 3rd and 4th floors .

 

[Robert81]

I have had the same problem years ago. I bought some printed labels and fix them with velcro on my childrens bags and other things for school. I can advise this Page to you: labelsandribbon.com
I hope it might could help you.

 

[DopeyDame]

The thieves don't care if it's engraved. My DD's ipod was engraved with her name and phone number and we never saw it again. Also her graphing calculator was stolen out of her locked locker. There was a rash of such thefts and we suspected a school employee was to blame.

I replaced her silver ipod with a pink one. I thought it would be less attractive to 50% of the population at least. I use a Sharpie on personal items like backpacks and lunch bags. Our school puts most supplies in a "community" bin so there's no point in labeling each marker and crayon.

I was a girl coxswain on the mens crew team in college. Which meant I always needed to have a wrench handy for the boats and it often got passed off to the rowers. Wrenches ALWAYS went missing, despite my name on it in black sharpie. So I put my name in pink puffy pain on everything I owned for crew. Once I did that, somehow my wrench always made it back to me. Guess the big athletic guys didn't want a pink puffy painted wrench.

But OP, as many others have said, Sharpie is your friend.
I did get a pack of 50 mabels labels. A year and a half later we have about half left, but they are still super handy when needed!