The new school year is a few short weeks away and that means labelling ALL the things.
These are my top tips and tutorials to help with the relentless covering, labelling and organising.
Book Covering
Old school contact
If you’re a masochist, you’ll be contacting the books. This YouTube tutorial shows how to do it without the air bubbles. Even if you (as I do) opt for the book covers, you may still need to contact text books. Sigh.
Plastic Book covers
Someone very clever (who may have also had a difficult relationship with contact paper) created re-useable plastic exercise book covers and saved parents everywhere. I like to get the clear plastic ones. I print a cover with my son’s name and whatever he loves at the moment (Pokemon, soccer, Pokemon playing soccer) and glue it on before putting the cover over. This also means that he can put his subject on the paper page and save the plastic cover for the following year. Officeworks have them in stock (as well as the ones with pictures on them).
Fabric book cover
If you are feeling a bit crafty, you can make your own covers using fabric. This tutorial is helpful. Use a heavier weight fabric for best results. Cotton duck, available at spotlight in a huge range of prints, is a good bet.
Pencils, Pens, Scissors, etc
I find the easiest thing to do is to print skinny labels onto paper and then sticky tape them around pens etc.
Bag Tags
There are so many cute bag tags out there and you can even make your own. When your kids bag looks like everyone else’s bag, it’s a good idea to differentiate. The other thing you may like to do once school starts is print a small checklist of what’s needed every morning, laminate and place on the bag.
Lunch boxes & drink bottles
You can get these great labels from avery (again available at officeworks) that will withstand the dishwasher and are waterproof. I tend to just use our last name as the boys interchange sandwich boxes.
Drawstring bags
These are always helpful to have on hand. My youngest son’s daycare separates morning and afternoon tea in the fridge and a drawstring bag is a cuter and more environmentally friendly option than a paper or ziplock bag. They are super easy to make. They are also useful for my eldest son’s bits and pieces and excursion days.
I remember the first time I saw a book getting contact. The clear contact paper had been cut to size and folded around the book and I thought that was it and I was really confused how it was see through 🙂
Although – why don’t books for school just COME WITH clear contact paper? That way you can just add a name label or recover with colour if you feel like it? It seems like a pointless burden on parents.
Vanessa recently posted…I’ve Lost All Of My Interests
Funny you should say that – some of them actually DID come with plastic covers this year. First year ever though.
Very clever, Robyna. At our school the kids share all of the book supplies (in the younger years at least), so know need to cover or label them. We use the Bright Star Kids labels for containers, drinks etc. I love the look of the Avery ones though. I will have to try them next time. #teamIBOT
The Avery ones are helpful just to have in the cupboard when other labels fall off. The younger years are great like that in terms of not having to label.
Thanks for the tips Robyna, it’s our little man’s first year at school so I need to get labelling!
Sarah @sarahdipity recently posted…Summer Holiday Memories
Give yourself a day or so! Good luck.
Great tips thanks!
Glad they were helpful!