School nametapes

[FourCandelabras]

I’m a total amateur on this - DD starts school in September; how do I label clothes? Iron on, stick on, sew on? Any particular brands? All suggestions very welcome!

Stikins, stick on name labels, stick to everything (lunch box, water bottle, shoes, clothes) and don't wash off or come unstuck. Also very easy.

I have always done woven nametapes. If you just sew the ends they can double as hooks, useful for jumpers especially. But I'm probably old-fashioned.

Stickers for anything you can't sew onto such as water bottle & lunch box.

Don't just write on the clothes' label. It washes out and soon you can't read the name.

The rule for school is that if you might want it back you must label it. This includes all school uniform, PE kit, shoes, hats, coats, lunch boxes. If you think parents/children might be light-fingered where you live, an extra hidden label in coat pocket or sleeve, or in the hem of a jumper might not go amiss either. I have also seen recommended a bit of coloured stitching at the back of the neck that shows from the outside.

School lost property is full of unlabelled jumpers and a surprising number of coats.

I like sew on ones. I’ve never come across sticky/iron on ones which don’t fall off or fade eventually. With sew ons, it’s easy to take them out when you hand down the garment, and you can also reuse the name tape. A long ribbon of 3 or 4 nametapes is useful for making a hanging loop for swimming towels, or can be looped through rucksack handles, and pull loops on trainers and walking boots too.

A set of sticker name labels is useful too, for water bottles, lunch boxes, toys going for show and tell, hairbrushes in school photo day, shin pads, etc etc etc And a Sharpie!

Stikins (you can get on amazon) are brilliant - last all year on clothes labels, lunchboxes etc
I just get our surname on them so I can use them for all 3 DC but we have an unusual surname so no chance of anyone else having it!

Stickins are brilliant but I use sew in ones on most school uniform - I KNOW it'll stay in and legible all year and I don't have to think about it from that point forward. Give each child in the family a different colour text so you can tell them apart at the slightest glance.

As a parent helper, first name and surname are really useful so someone who doesn't know your child can find them on a class list and make sure their stuff gets back to their classroom. Just surname is not too bad if it's unique but it's still a bit of a pain finding the only Urquhart in a list of 400 children, grouped by class and ordered by first name. And you'd be amazed how many people put "James" or "JB", and expect us to find them from that.

You can get soft sew in labels, that feel like care labels, on eBay. Look for ones that guarantee they don't fade. But Cash's or similar are fine unless they are particularly sensitive.

Just use a sharpie on clothes labels. The pen doesn’t wash off and save yourself a lot of faff and cash.

Iron on and stick on from Tiny Me. Can be persinslised with themes so dc can pick their things easily. Neither have disappointed on dd's nursery stuff despite very regular washing

Stamptastic stamp. Lasts through a years worth of washing, they're now faded but still readable (just).
Stamp and go, quick and dead easy!

This is all so unbelievably useful! Thankyou all so much! Off to look into Stikins, Tiny me, Cash, and Stamptasic. And very good advice on hidden labels - could definitely be needed, and I’d never have thought to do it. I’m actually a secondary teacher, but primary and the intricacies of lost property/ name labels is a whole new world!

And such a good idea to have a different colour label for each child - brilliant.

People will,say use a sharpie. Which may be fine if you pretty much know what it’s supposed to say but really hard if you don’t. And the main reason for labelling is so your child can find their own things so it’s much easier for them if you use a distinctive label.

Nametags4u is the one I use, a mix of iron on and stick on (good for stationery, lunch boxes and shoes).
I have some sew on ones as the school pack they did 6yrs ago included them but I really can't sew well and the iron on have been fab.

We got name labels with a small picture on - one DD had a dog and the other a fish. This meant also that they could recognise the picture on the name tape even if they couldn't read their name to start with (started with nametapes in nursery).

If it's cheaper to get 200 (or 400) then get 200 (or 400). You are going to need to label things right up to y11 at least.

Mine's going into Year 5 and we've used Stikins since day one. They've never come off!

I used a laundry pen. Saved myself hours of time.

I used Cash's labels for eldest two and folded them over with just surname for younger two. Just please check written ones when washing it is a nightmare for staff. Parents come in complaining if children have lost their sweatshirt despite not having a legible or no name along with about 200 other kids! The kids go around the class sniffing them which I find quite amusing as they generally find them

You have my thanks for actually labelling them. The sewn ones never come off.

Right, Stikins and Cash’s ordered. Thankyou all for the advice and tips! Hugely appreciated.