High Maintenance Mom

It's my favorite time of year again, Back-to-School time, when all stores find ways to tell us their products are necessary for the new school year. Now that B is entering kindergarten, I have a list of supplies to purchase including two types of crayola crayons (yes I am much more excited than B). In addition, I am purchasing iron-on labels for B's clothing. In the past I've written his name on clothing but the letters fade or run together making the name hard to read. Because B's school has a dress code, imagine 30 five year-olds all taking off their blue sweatshirts on the playground, I'd like something others can easily read...

I have to admit that I don't iron much, or maybe at all, but friends have told me the labels are painless. The only issue with ordering some of the labels is the time it takes to have them made and shipped. If you are considering labels, you might want to order them soon. I just ordered our iron-on ones from Label-land.com. 100 iron-on labels cost $9.99 and there is free 7-10 day shipping. I'm not sure how long it will take to have them made.

If you are looking for stickers for sippy cups and lunch containers, which I highly recommend for younger kids, search for "vinyl custom labels dishwasher safe". There are several companies that create the stickers and many, like the iron-on company we used, offer both vinyl and iron-on stickers. Two years ago I ordered from a company in Australia and I loved the stickers but they took a long time to get to me. I was also picky about the size of the stickers. I wanted ones that would fit on the lid of a sippy cup with my children's full names plus have an icon they could recognize (one has a shark and the other a rocket). kidlabels.com has a nice selection of icons and colors but requires a PayPal account. younameitlabels did a nice job with our last set but you need to order a larger quantity than you may need.

In addition to labels, you might also consider a lunch box. See my earlier article on our lunch box search, Hate the smell of curdled milk? Try plastic lunch boxes.