Hi All!
I too grew up in what is now referred to as a "safer" time but I can tell you that there never has been such a thing. When I was little I, like all kids (and most adults if they are really being honest about it - personalized parking space anyone?) I LOVED seeing my name emblazoned on every available surface. In fact I seem to remember doing some of the emblazoning
. But my mom wouldn't put my name on things that were visible to the general public for the same reasons everyone above has mentioned.
Kids and grownups tend to assume that if you know their names you know them and they then behave accordingly.
That being said, I would vote for using either a special nickname if you have one, or just using the first name but not the last since I am willing to bet that you won't have the only Emma, Britney, Matthew, Brian, Justin or Sara on the ship.
I am making magnets for most of the folks in my group and I have had some very talented DISigners creating personalized items for the better part of a year. if they choose to display them on the outside of their doors, great. If they choose to put them on the inside of their doors, great.
I will be putting my first name and my DH's on our things, partly to keep them from going "visiting" and partly because as a person with a very unique first name I admit, I enjoy having things personalized when I can because I am soooo not an off the rack sort.
On our first cruise we used white boards and I have some for this upcoming one as well but they are really up more for fun than function. And now, especially with the wave phone I should be able to draw a bead on the DH whenever I need to and he should have a shot at finding me as well (always a much harder task
.
I do think that for the FE pockets it might be helpful to put some indication of whose is whose on them but since they are only filled by others in your FE group then giving them the "code" either by name, character, color or what have you, should eliminate the whole names on the pocket thing. I do hear tell that they need to be personalized, especially on the shorter cruises it seems, to keep them going home with the folks they came with.
It is true that it is never wrong to err on the side of caution. As they used to say, an ounce of prevention truly is worth a pound of cure.
Take care all, help lots of people and have a "Wonder"ful day!
Tisza
My kids have picked out nicknames, so that I can still personalize magnets for them, but can do it without their name being so publicly available.
