Stick To Me Identification Labels, a Review

I've tried quite a few brands of name labels, and I continue to be amazed at the creativity and differences between the companies.  I recently had a chance to try Stick To Me brand labels.  It is a small company based in Quebec, Canada.  Each order is custom made, shipped free worldwide, and packed to minimize waste and impact to the environment (shown on the right). One of the things that make these labels unique is the artwork that decorates each collection. I like that each collection includes a variety of shapes and colors.

I personally illustrated the colourful, lively collections. I love drawing images inspired by my children’s universe. I’ve used state-of-the-art technology with superior quality inks to reproduce my drawings with precision. I hope my designs will draw you into my imaginary world and will bring you as much joy as they did me when I created them. 

Annie Nadeau, Owner of Stick To Me

I ordered the Cosmos Collection which includes 200 labels:

• 120 small labels that are water and heat resistant so they are safe to use in the washing machine, dishwasher and dryer.  They are suitable for use on items such as baby bottles, thermos, or water bottles.  These labels are also intended for use on the care tag of clothing items. 
• 16 larger rectangle shaped labels that would be great for use on the pencil box, tube of sunscreen or other school and camp supplies.
• 32 small rectangle shaped labels that work great on smaller school supplies.  These also come with the matching transparent protective film for extra protection from wear. 
• 8 triangle shaped labels for general use.  The cute shape would be perfect to label notebooks and book covers.
• 24 round shoe labels with the transparent protective film to protect them from scuffing and perspiration.  I love these for school shoes, gym shoes, dance shoes, soccer cleats, rain boots, snow boots, flip flops and any shoes that might be toted around in their backpack. 
• And as an add on item, we got 25 iron on labels which can be used on clothing items by applying them directly to the fabric with an iron. I always recommend labeling clothing items that might be taken on and off during the day such as hats, sweaters, hoodies, and jackets.

With Stick to Me, you cannot split an order with 2 or more names; however, I ordered this set for use by my niece and nephew personalizing the label with only with their last name and choosing a gender neutral design. Smart!

I am a fan of Stick To Me!  Their website makes ordering easy, The product is high quality and functions as designed.   And the price is very reasonable at $21.95 with free shipping.

If your school is interested to partner with Stick To Me for a fundraiser. They do all the work such as order taking, deliveries and the school or PTA collects a commission on every sale.  You can contact Annie for more information.

Name labels from StickerKids, a Review

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The bin of unclaimed items in the lost-and-found bin at dance school was overflowing onto the floor.  I saw tap shoes that run $55 a pair, a basketball jerseys from the local recreation league, and tons of sweaters and jackets, including a leather bomber jacket. I don't know about you, but I sure would be one mad mama if my daughter lost a leather bomber jacket!

You know I am a big fan of using name tags on kids stuff. The folks from StickerKid Name Labels sent me a set to try.  We got the shoe tags which are a cute heel shape to fit right inside the shoe. I ordered them with a cute butterfly icon, my daughter's full name, and my phone number.  Her dance recital is next week, so I put fresh stickers in all of her dance shoes.  And as we prepare for summer camp, I put them in all of her sneakers, flip flops, and soccer cleats.

We also got a set of peel and stick clothing labels.  They are a small size perfect for placing directly the clothing or on the manufacturer clothing tags already inside her jacket and sweaters.  I put them on the tags inside her swim suit, her cover up and on her towel. When we head back to school in the fall, I will put tags on all of her jackets and sweaters.  I prefer the peel and stick name labels, over the iron-on kind.  I've tried both, and I just like the simplicity of the peel and stick.  So far, the StickerKid's labels have lasted several trips through the laundry cycle and they are still solidly adhered. These labels are water resistant, dishwasher safe, microwave and freezer safe, so they are great for so many things.

I recommend you order up some name labels to prevent your kids gear, and your hard earned money, from ending up in the lost and found bin. One of the unique items that they offer is  name labels with a photo image of your child right on the label.  Love it!  Check out the great options from StickerKid today!

5 Ways to Use Name Labels for Back to School

Have you completed your back to school shopping yet? After we get the kids outfitted with new clothes and shoes, we then stock up on the school supplies and sports accessories the kids need for the year.  When all is said and done, how much have you spent on all that stuff?

According to the National Retail Federation's Back-to-School Spending Survey, the average family with children in grades K-12 plans to spend $630.36 on electronics, apparel and other school needs.

Yikes $630!  And here's a another dose of reality - Kids loose stuff!

The best thing you can do to help ensure the stuff you just bought will make it through the school year is to label it.  Spend another few bucks on some quality name labels and label the stuff most likely to get misplaced.

1. Add stickers to the school supplies.  The pencils and pens, notebooks, pencil case, pencil sharpener, scissors, and the planner. 
2. Shoe Tags - I pull then right on the insole of the shoes. The stickers coated with a protective coating work much better than a plain paper label.  Any shoes that kids will tote in their backpack for an after school activity gets a tag.  Then, don't forget about the shoe they will changing out of too.  Tag the school shoes, sports shoes, dance shoes, rain boots, etc.
3. While I don't tag all pf my daughter's clothes, I always tag the ones she will take on and off during the day. Sweaters and jackets are most likely to get left behind at recess, on the soccer field, wherever.  I prefer stickers that include both her name and our phone number.  I believe folks are inherently good, meaning that, if they are the one that finds your kid's jacket and you give them a way to identify who it belongs to, they will make an effort to contact you.  Jackets and coats are often the most expensive item on the back to school shopping list, so it well worth the effort to label it.
4. Definitely tag the lunchbox, the water bottles, and the thermos.  Again these are the items that sometimes get left behind.  So again, I recommend a label with both the name and phone number.
5. Finally the backpack.  The kids carry it around everyday and it holds all that stuff.  If it goes missing so does everything in it.

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Tinyprints is currently having a sale where you can Save 40% off address label, gift tag and name label orders using the code 0808DEAL at checkout.  Get your order in now before the kids start loosing stuff!

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.

Kiddo Tags, great for school uniforms and items for summer camp

I wasn't able to attend my daughter's soccer game this morning.  Instead, I took the morning off and went to the salon for a much overdue haircut   When the family arrived home, my husband announced that he was heading back to the soccer fields because they had left her favorite hoodie laying on the sidelines. I was doubtful that her hoodie would still be there, but it was worth a shot.

By coincidence, I had just been contacted by Gabby Turner at KiddoTags. She offered to gift me some tags so I could check them out.  I recently shared a post citing research from a UK retailer that found families could spend over 150 pounds annually replacing lost school uniforms but don't use labels that can help prevent it. And even though I had learned this and planned to get some labels, I hadn't yet done so.  So while hubby was out trying to retrieve our daughter's favorite hoodie, my daughter and I sat down to order up some labels.  For obvious reasons, I was immediately drawn to the clothing labels.



From the Kiddotags Laundry Safe Peel and Stick Clothing Tags product description:

"Made to stay on during use, but possible to remove when you are ready to donate your clothing, or pass them down to friends and family. Since it is possible to remove these labels, we recommend you buy Iron-On Tags for a permanent solution."

Since I'm an advocate of clothing exchange programs and hand me downs, I wanted to try out this type of product.  I wondered how many times I could wash the item before the tag would need to be replaced.

Shopping on the site was a good experience.  Once you select the type of product you want to order, you can then customize it.  Selecting the color was easy; aqua blue is my daughter's favorite color. You'll be able to choose from a wide variety of colors to suit your child(ren).  My daughter enjoyed browsing all of the character icons. She had a hard time deciding between the daisy, the duck, the dolphin, butterfly, or the panda. They have over 200 images to choose from, so whatever your kids is in to from sports to animals, to dolls and flowers, bugs and pirates, you'll find an image your child will like.  The third choice you get to make is font and they have a decent amount of fun and readable fonts to choose from.  You get to include up to 2 lines of text. I chose to put her name and our phone number on the clothing tags.  Because of our current predicament, I though that if another Mom picked up her hoodie on the soccer field that afternoon, she could easily contact us via phone.

My husband returned from the soccer fields and amazingly he had found her hoodie right where they had left it. When those tags arrived, guess which item I reached for first!

I first tagged the items most likely to go missing, her coats - the raincoat and her hoodie. I then tagged her cardigan sweaters since she carries one in her backpack everyday.

Because my daughter will be attending a day camp this summer, I also ordered up some Shoe Dots Kiddo Tags.  At camp, she'll be changing clothes twice a day for swimming. A likely opportunity to loose her sneakers, water shoes or her flip flops, right?  So we'll be tagging all of her shoes for camp.  So far, I tagged the flip flops and her sneakers. I didn't put our phone number on these, just her full name.

Once camp started, I realized that I should tag her swimsuit. I wasn't sure which of the two types of tags might work better, so I tied one on each piece of her tankini. I placed them inside the tag as to not scratch her skin in the fitted swimsuit.  It's now been three weeks of regular use in the pool and through a few cycles in the washing machine, and both tags are still securely attached.

Each day, She goes to camp with two beach towels, so I tagged those too.  They also have remained in place through the weekly laundry cycles.

Overall, my experience with KiddoTags has been great.  Customizing our tags online was fun and the products have worked as described.  In addition to laundry safe labels, they offer dishwasher safe labels, daily labels, shoe dots, bag tags, as well as medical and allergy alert tags and bracelets.

And here are a few factoids from their website that you might feel good about:

"Kiddo Tags™ are printed in the USA, and operated by a stay-at-home mom. FREE SHIPPING (USA orders over $35) and a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee."

If you'd like a chance to win a $50 voucher from KiddoTags.com, stop back on August 2, 2013 when we'll be kicking off a giveaway.

Currently you can purchase a $40 credit to use at KiddoTags for $20 over at Mamapedia.  Act quick because this deal is only offered for the next 4 days.

KiddoTags.com provided me with products to evaluate in order to facilitate this review. All opinions shared are my own unless specifically otherwise stated.

Don't loose Money replacing lost Uniforms - Get Clothing Labels Instead

My daughter came home from school with an extra sweater in her book bag. She told me that she didn't think it was hers, but that the teachers at the after school program kept putting it in her cubby. Upon a brief investigation, I found that it was a navy Land's End cardigan identical in brand and style to one she owns and wears often; however, it belonged to her friend. How did I solve this great mystery, I looked at the tag. Her Mom was smart and placed a label on the tag. Why I was the only one to check? Well - that remains a mystery. I sent it back to school with her with instructions to return it to her friend directly or to one of the teachers in her classroom pointing out the tag.  I'm sure her friend was glad to have the sweater returned.

This incident reminded me of an article I came across recently out of the UK. Research by label retailer, My Nametags, published in February 2013 "shows that the average family could spent up to £150 this school year replacing lost school uniform… yet 64% of parents don't bother to use name tags to prevent this." Twenty percent of survey respondents with children indicated that they regularly loose items of school clothing. The press release smartly implies that parents can save money in the long run by spending a small amount of money on clothing labels.

The findings of the My Nametag's research, although self promoting, were in line with a similar study by Sainsbury's, a UK superstore. This 2012 study found that "British primary school pupils lose a staggering £187m worth of uniform every year". They reported that "two thirds of parents polled said they lost uniform, which had never been found, while one in five said this happened in their child’s first week."

This problem is not unique to the UK. This spring as I was visiting the school for parent teacher conferences, the school had set up a clothing rack in the entrance and hung out all of the clothing  items from the lost and found bin in hopes that parents might recognize items they thought were lost for good.  Although I commend the school for their efforts to reunite lost items with their owners, I'm hoping to raise the odds that any our lost items will be returned to us.