12 Things You Should Label to Ensure You Them Back

We’re into October, which means the school year is officially in full swing!

On that note, have you had enough time, now that we’re in a month and a half, to notice whether there are some things your child just seems to be frequently misplacing during a day at school, in the cafeteria, or on the playground?

If so, you might need name labels to keep everything organized. Here are 12 things you’ll definitely want to label, especially if your child has lost more than a few.

1. Backpacks

Granted, it’s probably harder to lose a backpack than the other items mentioned on this list, because backpacks often contain folders and worksheets with the child’s name at the top. But it could still happen, and backpacks aren’t cheap.

2. Lunch Boxes

Lunch boxes can sometimes be identified by the size, color, and theme, but not always, and besides, the very traits that made a lunchbox appealing to your child probably made the same design appealing to half the other kids in the school.

That is, many children carry the same exact lunchboxes. Make sure yours don’t get misplaced by using appropriate name labels for kids.

3. Tupperware/Containers

It is so easy to lose a Tupperware container at lunchtime, and lunchroom staff are often overwhelmed by items that get left behind. Something as simple as a name label can make returning it no more difficult than a quick walk down the hall.

4. Water Bottles

Bottles, just like Tupperware and sandwich and snack containers, are even more liable to get lost, especially since they are often carried through the duration of a day.

Our name labels, which are compatible with plastic, glass, and metal, are perfect for labeling bottles. They’re also waterproof and dishwasher safe as well as freezer safe. If you’re sending a younger child to daycare and need waterproof baby bottle labels, we offer many styles specifically designed for popular bottle brands.

5. Folders

Labeling a folder can be as easy as writing your child’s name on it. But marker, pen, and pencil can wear off, and our name labels are tear-resistant, perfect for cardboard and paper, and available in a variety of bright, eye-catching themes that children will love.

6. Books

You should label your child’s school textbooks, but what we mean here are any books brought from home. The school likely supplies textbooks and often they remain in the desks at school anyway.

Any books your child brings to school from home, however, can easily get lost without an appropriate name label.

7. Toys/Electronics

We have to cast a wide net with this one because there are so many things that can fall under it. Tablets, headphones, and other electronics are very expensive and can easily be lost - without a name label.

Toys are the same way, and though toys might not be as expensive to replace, many popular toys are, you guessed it, also popular with other children. Name labels can help prevent disputes and ensure anything that gets lost will eventually be returned to the rightful owner.

8. Pencil Cases

Pencil cases themselves are fairly affordable, but not when you tally up everything they contain. They’re easy to lose but even easier to label, which fortunately works out in your favor.

9. Everything in the Pencil Cases (Boxes of Crayons, Markers, Etc.)

Not that you need to label every little thing in the pencil box, but larger items, like highlighters and markers, which can easily be lost, should be labeled.

The same applies to packs of erasers, crayons, pens, and pencils. If you don’t label them individually, at least label the pack.

10. Hats

Now let’s talk about kids’ clothing. Outerwear, like hats, can easily be lost over the course of a day. Sometimes it’s easy to identify the child to whom a hat belongs; other times, not so much.

This is more of a concern in the winter when children might be wearing cool-weather hats that they shed as soon as they come in from the playground. Labeling these is more important.

We carry both iron-on and stick-on clothing name labels; choose which works best for you!

11. Coats

Don’t send your child to school with a coat if it isn’t labeled! He or she will take that coat off at school and it may be easily lost or confused with another child’s coat. Check our collection of iron-on clothing labels and clothing stickers for personalizable options.

12. Gloves

Finally, gloves are high on the list of most often lost items. It may help to get into a routine where you coach your child to place his or her gloves in the pockets of a coat when not wearing them, but till such time as that becomes a habit, make sure you don’t send them off without appropriate clothing labels!

If it Seems Like it Needs a Label, it Probably Does

Is this a complete list of school supplies and other personal items that need labels? No, far from it. If we missed something but it seems like a school label, that’s because it probably does.

Use common sense and when in doubt, eliminate the possibility of confusion by labeling it, whatever it is!