Name Tags for Children's School Clothes

[babysbreath]

My DC starts Reption in September, and of course will have to name tag the clothes!

Do you tag all clothes from underwear to outer clothing?

Also, what have you found to be the best naming system.

Buy a sharpie, write name on labels for jumpers, the white inside of pockets for trousers, and the inside back of neck for shirts.
Name tapes are expensive, fall off, and can be easily removed by less than honest parents.

Probably agree with jims... have spent loads of effort on nametapes in the past. Sew on ones work but take a ridiculous amount of time, all other kinds fall off.

I don't tag underwear as (unless they go swimming) they HOPEFULLY should not be removing it (but you really never know when it comes to reception children and PE!!)

My big tip is to make sure you label shoes... I speak from experience after searching through a pile of 20 or so identical Clarks size 8s after DD1's first nativity play when they were all just flung in one big heap...

Yep, Sharpie everything! Including shoes, shoes go off for walkies by themselves a staggering amount Water bottles etc too.

I'm another one who sharpies everything!

Hurray; possibly the first time in 8 yrs that Ive been agreed with on mn

I use these transfers; like tattoos for clothing I suppose.

One thing I would advise is that you ensure your child knows where you have labelled each item; labelling is of limited use if the owner doesn't know where to look to find his/her name!

And yes, please label everything that might ever be removed... as a teacher I cannot believe the number of people who seem surprised that another child in a school of 400 may have the same coat/hat/jumper etc. and that child too may have left said item in the dinner hall/playground so that, without a clear label (with first initial and surname or else the whole name, not a bizarre secret code that means a school adult can't work out who it belongs to!) it isn't always possible to reunite item and owner.

I use iron transfeers too and I do have a sharpie pen as well,

I do no label underwear and socks I just cant be bothered

Remember to label shoes. And I buy book tags and things to add to their school coat zips - makes it easier to identity my DC's belongings from the 'mountain' when I collect from After School Club.

I use sew on labels, I did iron labels onto socks but have sort of given up as the DC are a bit older. DS1 is a bit dippy ATM and lost his whole PE kit today but at least I know it will eventually come back as its all named.

it's worth investing in a set of stick on labels for water bottles, trainers etc, and a roll of white electrical tape and a Sharpie for emergencies.

A tip for book bags. Due to children's security our school does not have the name tag showing, you have to lift the flap. Well if they all get put down in one place it's very slow lifting the flap on each bag. Stick a keyring or bag tag on it....

... or take a permanent marker to the wretched flap and write your child's first initial and surname on it. My permanent marker was made available to parents at the beginning of the year so that bookbags could be 'branded'. It has made life sooooooooo much easier.

I use a company that actually names all the clothing for you,only problem is that once ordered it is then non-refundable but they do the naming free of charge

Thanks for advice, I've bought a 'sharpie' so going to name some of her pre-school clothes to give it a whirl! Then will start on naming the school clothes if I like it.

biro on the name tags is better than a sharpie. sharpie washes out every time...

I do sew in tapes on everything apart from undies
Undies get permanent marker
Shoes get name labels in

Www.nametags.com are fab and don't fall off and you get some for lunch bags etc

I do iron on ones. Which are kind of ok. I do do socks, they take them off for PE quite often. Biro is pretty good for emergencies.

And then remembering to do it again when they have new shoes half-way through, or when you get new dresses at half term is the impressive bit!

And put a label on lunch box as well. Your child may know their box - but members of staff mayn't. And second the keyring thing, something a bit bulky - makes the book bags so much easier. First thing I did when I started helping at school was buy dd a keyring. She was so chuffed. Didn't tell her I did it to make my life easier!

I bought one pack for each of my DCs of Cash's name tapes - available through John Lewis, and they've lasted right up to secondary school. Good for PE kits and school sweatshirts. I also use permanent marker, but you need to review this now and again to make sure the name is still legible.

However, even if you use name tags or a permanent marker, there's no guarantee anyone will read them and it can often take a whole term for anything to work its way back to you - if you're lucky!

I wasted a lot of money on iron on tags that fall off after a few washes.

I bought a laundry pen and have had no problem with that.

I also wrote my ds's name in huge letters in black marker pen on the sleeve of his PE t shirt as so many were claimed by other children, despite having his name in them.

I've found that the iron on labels work best when ironed onto the care label rather than the clothes themselves.

And biro on the care label works well too.

I've used sew in labels for clothing (not underwear or socks though) for years but I don't mind the sewing. I have the stick on labels for things like lunch bag, water bottles and anything else that goes to school. DD now does that herself when she gets new items. It is also useful for other things as well as school equipment.
The more items that are labelled the better your chances are of it finding its way home. I never bothered with shoes because my dd has always had enormous feet and no-one came close to her shoe size!

I use sew in labels for most school uniform as I have 3 kids and I'm afraid I have to pass the uniform on to the next child (if it's in reasonable nick!) so I go through the massive task of re-labelling every year. Seems mad but I've not lost a single piece of uniform yet and they are close in age and one's a teenager!

I do also use sharpie on drinks bottles, food containers for sec sch cooking lessons etc. Shoes and some containers I use stick on labels but I don't like the ones that are heel shaped with the extra cover to go over it as this gets caught in their socks.

I tried iron-on but they came off after second or third wash, got caught in hair etc. So not a fan of these.

When at Sec Sch you have no control and have to rely on the kids to go to lost property to find items. Keep reminding them every day until they come home with item.

Kids stationery, pens etc need labelling at sec sch so stick on works for these but do expect to have to buy more after first couple of weeks!