Best Place to Label Uniform?

[LilyDisney]

Hi All,

I'm very much an advance planner!

DD starts reception in September, uniform is all bought (except shoes, and it's bugging me I have to wait until August!

We've got a huge load of stick and iron on labels from Stuck on You that I got for Pre School.

Where's the best place to attach them on uniform? We've had nothing go astray at PS, but then it's not uniform nor full time.

Is stuff going missing/getting stolen really as bad as everyone makes out?

Somewhere easily visible and somewhere where it can't be cut off.
Mine are usually back of the neck for jumpers/shirts etc, but not on the label. Back of the waistband for trousers etc.
Something more expensive, like a coat or logoed uniform, I might also hide a second label just in case, so up a sleeve, or in a pocket.
Shoes I normally wrote initials with a permanent marker on the inside of the tongue.

@seeline thanks good plan :)

It might also be worth writing the name (in fabric pen or plain biro) on the wash labels too, as the stick on/iron on labels do tend to curl up and fall off after a lot of washing. Don't forget to label all bags and shoes too. (Shoe labels often come off after being worn a while. ) In all honesty, after 9 years of schooling so far, dc have probably only lost about 2 items, and nothing has been stolen (but obviously that does depend on the school, I have some friends who's dc go to a school that seems to be full of thieves )

My DCs are 13 and 9 yo and I have (touch wood) never lost any item of school kit, so not every school is a hotbed of misappropriated clothing.

I usually put name labels in the collar of tops and jumpers and in the waistband of bottoms. Although I have gotten increasingly slovenly and the items with initials sharpied on the clothing care tag seem to come home as successfully as the beautifully hand-stitched labels.

The only labels which seem to have been genuinely very useful were a set of matching luggage labels - same bright colour, same picture, same font for name which I put on the DCs bookbag, lunchbag and PE bag. In the early days when reading is a bit shaky - knowing to look for the purple, glittery mermaid name label on every bag, really helped DD find her stuff confidently.

Neck lines and waist bands with well ironed on ones (melt into fabric) and sharpie pen. Miles easier by yr1/2 as they can read own name and know own stuff. In 6 years of school between my two we have lost maybe 1-2 items. I dont tend to have expensive logo stuff tho and do have a lot of hand me downs / stained tshirts so dont worry too much if the odd jumper goes astray for a few days. That said my DD did say she had come home in her mates trousers today uuum

Lots of children read their own name when they start school and they don't all lose clothes. Mine never did. I liked Cash's name tapes as they stay put and don't fade but do take longer to sew on. They also do excellent shoe stickers. Teach your child to read the name tapes. Check they have all their belongings when they come out of school. There doesn't have to be piles in lost property but boys seem to have more of an issue with remembering what clothes they were wearing at the start of the day!

We've not lost anything yet either, though I am sure it will happen some day. Funnily enough, at both schools attended by my DC, we've had parents complain about missing clothing and yet the lost property basket is overflowing - when I've gone to look for something of ours I've not only found our missing item but also ones advertised as 'probably stolen ’ on the FB page.

After a full term and three warnings to check lost property, anything remaining goes into secondhand uniform sale during the school hols. Lots of people seem to wait until that point, and then whoever's doing the sale says 'oh Mrs Bloggs, is this Fred's jumper?' and Mrs Bloggs buys it back for 50p, very happy that for such a small price she's spared the pain of looking through lost property .

We started off with sew-in name tags, then iron-on ones. Now I use a Stamptastic stamp in the wash label or the brand label in the neck if possible. It eventually wears off water bottles but hasn't worn off any clothes yet and takes about 2 seconds as you're rushing out the door.

If trousers have a white lining on the pockets I write the name and class on the lining with a laundry marker. Clark's sell good labels for shoes & plimsolls which don't rub off. Everything else gets an iron-on label near the neckline. If coats have a space to write the name in, I do that too. Only one jumper lost without trace so far (2 children Y2 and Y4)

Somewhere really obvious so that when teachers or TAs are desperately trying to give stuff back to children, they can name check easily. It will also make it easier for you to keep checking the name is in place.

Don't use initials as LOADS of children in the school will have the same initials.

If you want stuff back, label it so a stranger knows whose it is. Printed/woven labels win.

As pps said, back of neck and back of waistband are perfect. In schools with sticky-fingered parents, also put a label on the OUTSIDE near the hem.

I prefer woven to stick-in as they can be removed and replaced for siblings coming through the school. You don't have to bother because it'll get back to the right house, but it makes laundry easier when you're dealing with loads of apparently identical blue polo shirts