Name Labels from Bright Star Kids, a Review

The folks at Bright Star Kids contacted me to ask if I would take a look at their name labels and share my thoughts with you.  They provided me a complementary sample of a school value label kit as the basis for my review. All opinions are my own.

I had never heard of Bright Star Kids so I spent some time familiarizing myself with the brand by spending time on their website. I loved the site and enjoyed looking at the seriously cute, kid friendly products that they offer.  In addition to name labels, which I'll get to in a second, they carry cute wall art, personalized clothing, backpacks and kids accessories. I also figured out why I hadn't heard of them before; they are an Australian company which isn't normally on my radar because I'm in the US.  They offer worldwide shipping in a reasonable time frame for a reasonable shipping fee.  In fact name labels ship to the US, UK, the EU and Singapore and most arrive in 7-15 business days.

Many Uses for Name Labels

I'm a huge fan of using name labels for kids stuff.  When my daughter was in preschool, I made homemade labels for her bottles and food containers by writing her name on blank shipping labels or simply using masking tape.  They never held up, so I was replacing the labels on each week's supplies.  The personalized name labels hold up SO much better.  The stick-on labels actually stay on through the dishwasher cycle.  The clothing labels last wash after wash. 

I used the labels from the kit to label my daughter's summer camp supplies such as her sunscreen, her insect repellent spray, her sandwich container, and her flip flops. I even put a thin pencil tag on her favorite pair of goggles.  When school starts up in the fall again, we'll tag her pencil box, pencils, colored pencils, markers, highlighters, her composition books and her folders. I'll put the clothing tags on all layering items such as coats, sweaters, and winter hats.  The round tags with covers are great for rain and snow boots which she has to change out of after arriving at school.  It is also great to tag stuff for her activities such as her ballet slippers, tap shoes, and her soccer cleats.

Sounds like a lot of tags, right?  We'll it is, but there are over 175 labels in the School Value Label Kit:

• 10 Large Labels - these stick on labels are great for larger school items such as lunchboxes, water bottles, and food storage containers, pencil boxes, workbooks, or electronic devices. They are safe to use in the dishwasher, microwave or freezer.
• 30 Small Labels - these stick on labels are great for smaller school items such as glue sticks, rulers, staplers,  notebooks, hair brushes, eye glasses case, calculator, and small toys.
• 10 Subject Labels - these stick on labels are made from vinyl which are perfect to put on all your kids school books or notebooks. You can write their subject and class with a permanent marker or pen. 
• 80 Tiny Pencil Labels - these stick on labels are great for thin school items such as pencils, pens, markers, highlighters, or even, lunch utensils. 
• 16 Large Round Labels and 16 Clear Covers - this combination is perfect for shoes.  Use these in sneakers, flip flops, dance shoes, soccer cleats, or rain boots. 
• 30 Iron on Labels - these labels are designed be used on clothing items.  They are safe to use and stay on through the washer and the dryer.

Using the Iron on Labels

I had never used iron on labels previously, so I tested it out.  I gathered up a few new sweaters and hoodies that hadn't yet been tagged. For first things first, I had to identify the iron-on labels in the package. All of the stickers in the package have a color background and white lettering, except, the iron on labels which have a white background and the lettering is in the color we had selected.  They were otherwise indistinguishable to my untrained eye.

Being a newbie, I then read the directions:

1. First, I emptied my iron of any water and turned it on the highest, non-steam setting.  
2. Once it was hot, I placed  the sticker on the clothing, topped it with the parchment paper provided and gently moved the iron around it for approximately 10-15 seconds.
3. In the last step, I peeled the parchment paper off and checked the edges to make sure it had merged with the fabric.

It wasn't hard at all.  And I'm NOT a crafty person.  I did five items in just a few minutes.  Since I like to pass along my daughter's clothes when she outgrows them, I placed the iron on label onto the manufacturers sewn-in tag on most of her sweaters.  That way, we can simply cut out the tag before passing it along for another go in another child's closet.  For some square tags, I cut the iron on tag into two pieces stacking them on top of each other. On another shorter tag, I simply cut off the extra space from the ends of the label to make it fit. Both variations seemed to work just fine.

The Value of Using Name Labels

In my opinion, the value of personalized tags is two-fold.  First you save time by only tagging items once.  These labels stay on throughout the school year.  No more tagging with homemade tags every Sunday night.  Second is the value of the kids stuff.  We parents spend a pretty penny on back to school clothing and supplies.  It is a pity when it ends up unclaimed in a bin at the lost and found.  And then there is the sentimental value attached to a favorite sweater or super duper 4-color pen or sparkle gel pen.  When those things disappear, sometimes, tears are shed.  Prevent the tears and increase the chance that kids won't loose the stuff you buy them, but placing a label on it.  It's like insurance for kids stuff.

Back to School Supplies

As a Mom sending my first child off to elementary school for the first time, I was surprised to learn that I was expected to provide a rather lengthy list of school supplies from a list provided by the school.  Other Moms told me that this is the way it is done these days.  The schools no longer provide basic supplies for the classroom, so parents are asked and expected to shop for these items.  The intent is to make sure all students have the supplies they need, regardless of their families financial situation.  And like uniforms, it takes the emphasis off the design and brand of the item.  No need for a fancy “Traper Keeper” when a simple pocket folder works just as well.

Our school provided the list on a flyer in our school registration materials.  It contained lists of different items for each grade. I've heard that teachers get to provide input on what should be included on the list for each grade.  It was understood that the supplies we provided are managed by the teacher to distribute to the students as needed.  This makes sense especially with younger students. 

The supplies from the list that I purchased for my daughter’s Kindergarten year filled two large shopping totes.  They included expected items such as crayons, pencil and scissors.  But it also included any items I wasn't expecting such as paper towels, paper plates, and plastic zipper bags.  I recall that it cost me quite a bit to purchase everything.  I recall that it was nearly $80. Some items specified a certain brand of item while others didn't.  I was unsure if it was okay to substitute a store brand.  I couldn't find some items in the size or quantity indicated, such as a 3 boxes of 16 color crayons.  I could only find boxes with 24 colors.  Would that be okay?

We were on vacation during the back to school orientation night where you could stop by to meet the teacher and drop off school supplies.  We instead took ours on the first day of school.  The shopping totes I used to carry the items in were sent home in my daughter’s book bag.  So I never heard if the substitutions were okay.

This year’s list for first grade was much shorter and not as expensive.  I got my supplies in July as soon as they hit the shelves.  The week prior to school, we got a note from the classroom Mom who had spoken to the teacher.  We were advised to label certain items because our first graders would be responsible for some of their own supplies this year.  They would be expected to keep them in a pencil box in their desks.  Since I had already purchased our supplies, everything I had purchased was basic.  No cute character on the folder or pencil box.  My daughter seemed very happy with the simple clear pencil box that would now be hers, but I wondered if some of the other kids would have some supplies that reflected their personalities or interests. 

So, since we have all just been through the experience of purchasing school supplies from the school’s list, what do you think?

•  Do you sometimes substitute a similar item because you can’t find the specific item requested?
• Do you buy some store brand items?  Even when a certain brand is specified?
•  How does this process change as kids get order and take on more responsibilities for their own things?
•  Do you think the school is asking for too much or that the amount of supplies requested, and the cost to us, is excessive?

(Photo used with permission from Microsoft Press: Credit)