Name tags/snacks

[Oscariana]

Hi All, I’ve just moved to the UK after 15 yrs abroad and am finding myself a bit clueless about certain things here. I want to get things at least half ‘ right’ for my Ds (8) as he will already have an American accent and is anxious about fitting in ( as all children are). Sometimes the small things matter - such as - 1) Name tags - Are the embroidery sew in ones still used or are the iron on/perm pen things more common?
How do you personally label your children’s uniforms?
2) His school have said ‘ A fruit snack’ at snack time. For most children is this a piece of fruit or more fruit rolls etc? Ive seen children's cartoned smoothies selling - are these a common snack too? ( we do not have these as snacks in the US - but unrefrigerated fruit pouches which I only see aimed at toddlers here).
Any advice appreciated. I’d rather not ask his school as I’ve already bombarded them with questions. Many Thanks :)

I started out labelling my kids uniforms with the sewn in labels that have the names embroidered on but I am v old fashioned. plenty of people do the iron ons, and by the time my kids left primary school I was writing in names with a Sharpie as the kid wore the jumper. And i have never known anyone notice or care how the clothes are labelled.

Fruit snacks - probably vary massively by school. my kids school said 'fruit snack' and half the class bought chocolate biscuits or rice cakes. Other schools may be very strict. Do real fruit or fruit roll-ups (aka YoYo Bears in the UK) for the first week and then see how it goes.

My family moved USA -> UK when my brother was 8 and in 3 weeks he had an English accent and an interest in cricket. your DS will do fine :-)

Most people seem to use iron on or write in for ease, but I personally think embroidered name labels are more reliable. It doesn't matter no one will care. Do label anything you want to get back, so all PE kit, and normal uniform but especially jumpers. Also coats. Also write name into shoes.

I think a 'fruit snack' would be expected to be a piece of fruit either whole or pre-cut up in a tub. I don't know what you mean by fruit roll and I suspect smoothies wouldn't be acceptable though it may depend on the school.

They will probably think his accent is really cool, but may be confused by some terminology - make sure he knows what is meant by 'football' over here!

I started using iron on ones and stick ons for water bottles, lunch boxes, etc. Later on I used a laundry marker on the labels. I have never sewn a label on ever

I'd send actual fruit as a fruit snack and provide a bottle of water.

As a child I was very bothered by how my clothes were labelled as my mum used to sew my name in my things! I dont care about what other parents think personally, but dont want us to be the only ones doing things a certain way- for ds’s sake. Thanks for the advice.

I don’t care what other people think personally about how I label my children's clothes. But as a child my mum sewed my name on my clothes so Im being ultra aware of this for my ds.

fruit roll ups in the US are a bit like those bear - dried fruit snacks but in a long strip. We’re both English so he understands many words like football, bin etc. Thank goodness.

Easy2name was one of the places I bought labels from.

I work in a primary school and have noticed on discarded jumpers that the parents are either putting the child's name on with a sharpie or a stamp.
We ask the break time snack to be fruit or vegetables. Apple/banana/carrot sticks seem to be most popular for the children in our setting.

When teaching we asked for the snack to be either a piece of fruit or vegetables. Raisins and things were also acceptable as were other dried fruit (make sure no nuts in there though in case school is nut free). The majority of uniform seemed to be labeled using a Sharpie pen, however my daughter is starting school in September and I've bought the tinyme iron on labels for her that we used in nursery

I sewed in labels - I bought 12 dozen and they lasted through school. I sent pots of fruit salad usually as they didn't like whole apples. Sometimes I sent cucumber and carrot sticks

Fruit leather snacks were not allowed nor was dried fruit

I used Tinyme iron on ( and sticker labels for shoes) for my son in the US. I found the iron on labels tender to peel off, often, although not sure if that was made more likely by the very large hot air tumble dryers over there.

I buy these every year and they never come off. I buy the stickers not the iron on labels. They go through the washing machine and tumble dryer with no issues and also fine in the dishwasher. I've tried others but these are the best. Stick them onto the labels of clothes and inside shoes and they don't budge. Can't say enough good things about them.

Sorry - click on image for the company name which is My Nametags

My friend has found hers came off as well but I've never had that issue at all so I ordered again for this year. Maybe I've just been lucky though. I do use the tumble dryer but not all the time for them. Fingers crossed they survive this year

I used stamptastic so much quicker. I doubt things like fruit winders will be considered acceptable as they are really a sweet.

Thanks. Will do :)

They all have stickers to name clothes and other belongings at my school.

Fruit varies. They aren’t supposed to bring in anything other than a fresh piece of fruit or veg, but plenty of them do, and we’re not too strict about enforcing it. By year 4, half of them have stopped eating a break time snack unfortunately. I’d send your ds in with an apple, banana or satsuma on his first day, and tell him to look at what the others have so that he can get ideas of a snack he might like.

We moved from the US to UK last year. DS was 6 and DD 4.

They settled in great at school. Other kids didn’t seem remotely phased at all by their accents, and they picked up local words really quickly so now have a bit of a weird hybrid accent.

We use iron on stickers for school uniform. The odd one peeled a bit, but I just went over it again with the iron and that seemed to sort it!

Our school here doesn’t dictate snacks, but our US school would only allow fruit or veg. I preferred that personally as now I have the whining that so and so has a chocolate bar every day for snack etc etc

In our school it's rare for parents to even bother naming things. Very frustrating when they are ranting at you that little daisy has lost 3 cardigans in a week.

Snack for us is fruit or veg only - no fruit wins up type things and definitely no smoothies. To be honest though, it is rare to see any child beyond year 3 with a snack at break - they don't want to waste precious time by eating!

I use these too. Brilliant things. No need for ironing. Do different sizes etc.

Thanks all…My aim was to send my ds in with an apple or banana - so will be doing that.He has a big appetite and is very tall for his age so can’t see him missing a snack tbh. Right now has a granola bar most days - which was pretty standard at his LA school ( the second snack of the day would be fruit). Have found some good iron on labels - so will go down that route and will use tiny me stickers for belongings (as usual. )

We bought a plastic banana guard as it stops the banana getting bruised