Back to School Must Have: Mabel's Labels

My five-year-old, aka the Schmoopette, and my two-year-old, aka the Schmoopadoo, are heading off to college kindergarten and preschool in just a couple of weeks. While I trust my daughter to distinguish what's hers and what's not, my little one has a speech delay and sometimes has a hard time communicating. Since his two-day twos program will be full of fellow grabby tots, I (and every other parent at the co-op) have been asked to label ALL his belongings.

Enter Mabel's Labels. I bought labels from them ages ago when the Schmoop went off to pre-school, but since then used a Sharpie or, more often than not, plain forgot to write anything in the older kids' backpacks, lunch boxes or clothes. It's no surprise, then, that the kids occasionally came home with the wrong coat, hat, water bottle or pencil box.

If my older two, who could talk circles around the chattiest of chatterboxes (I know, because I am one!), lost track of their stuff or didn't speak up when they were given someone else's things, how much more is my quiet two-year-old going to lose his little school supplies? But that's not gonna happen, because we have the Ultimate Back to School Combo, which comes with:

• 50 Tag Mates^™ 
• 40 Skinny-Minis^™
• 16 Shoe Labels
• 2 Teeny Tags^™

The Teeny Tags are perfect for pencil or lunch boxes; the shoe labels are self-explanatory and will especially come in handy for the Schmoopette's ballet slippers and tap shoes; the Tag Mates go on clothing tags; and the Skinny Minis can go anywhere from books, pencils, crayon boxes, Tupperware, water bottles, and you get the picture. Now I can send the Schmoopadoo to preschool with one less worry on my mind. But I'm fairly sure even that peace of mind will not keep me from crying when I drop him off that very first day. I predict it will be the first-timers and me crying, with the middle-child moms laughing at all of us!

The lovely folks at Mabel's Labels have agreed to send one of my lucky readers their own Ultimate Back to School Combo (retail price, $44). To enter, leave a comment by midnight E.T. on Friday, Aug. 27th. Share a time your kid accidentally lost something or came home with a classmate's belongings, because items weren't labeled. Or, if that's never happened, go to Mabel's Labels and tell me which design you'd choose for your kid's combo. One entry per person. I'll (randomly) choose a winner on Saturday, Aug. 28th.

Full disclosure: I received two review sets of the Ultimate Back to School Combo for the Schmoopadoo and the Schmoopette, who start pre-school twos and full-day kindergarten in two weeks. However, anyone who has ever met me (or any other movie critic, for that matter) knows that seeing or getting something for free doesn't mean I'll like it!

Comments

[Caly]

we've yet to loose or bring the wrong item home. Now that 2 are in school our odds go up! ;) I'd most likely pick the Colourful Ultimate Back-to-School Combo =) Thanks for the fun give-away!

http://www.mabel.ca/products/colourful+ultimate+back-to-school+combo+2010

[Kelly M]

My youngest daughter was in a 3Y preschool classroom last year and she came home with other children's items fairly frequently. The assortment she managed to get put in her bag was pretty amazing. She even got home with someone else's socks a couple of times. This was after a dance class, of course. :) It would be very nice to have labels to make sure that both of my daughter's items always find their way back home if lost.

[Heather]

Ben came home yesterday wearing pink pants and carrying a lavender blanket. I'm not sure if it was a labeling thing, but I'm pretty sure we don't own any pink pants.

Maybe they thought he was a girl. Maybe I should use the labels to label HIM! ;)

[morninglight mama]

Oh man- my parents bought my son the COOLEST NY Yankees winter hat last year, and of course, it was lost after just two weeks. No luck on the Lost & Found searching... we were all bummed.

Thanks for the giveaway!

[Karla]

Forget preschool! I need labels just to distinguish whose things are whose in our house!

[Liza]

My daughter had a dopelganger in her class and we were constantly getting the other girl's stuff at the beginning of the year!

[Jill]

I am a labeling addict, but it comes and goes in spurts. I label a ton of stuff when I buy a batch of new clothes, or my kid starts a new classroom. But if I buy one thing here and there, I often forget to label and it goes missing. Like the batman thermos that was H1's pride and joy.

[Emily]

I too am guilty of labeling with a Sharpie. Here's a tip: if you label a filled water bottle with a Sharpie, the marker will not stay on. My 6 year old lost a water bottle almost weekly at camp this summer.

[Cyndi]

My oldest daughter just started losing things this summer. She lost 2 pairs of goggles, a water bottle, and a wet bag at camp this year. My youngest daughter is forever coming home with someone else's clothes, jewelry, hair accessories, or backpack. I think the teachers in her preschool class have each kid line up with her backpack, check to make sure it's right, and then when they turn their backs, my daughter switches backpacks with a girlfriend. It's the only thing that makes sense.

[Emily]

Man, we've lost a lot! N came home without his backpack one day! Fortunately his teacher knew it was his and put it in his cubby. At camp he even lost a waterbottle that was labeled!

[Katy]

Last year my son came home with someone else's winter jacket. I bought it at Costco, so it was not surprising that another boy in his preschool class had the exact same one! And I actually did have it labeled (with a Mabel's Label, no less), but I can see how craziness ensues when you're trying to get 20 kids ready to go at the end of the day!

[Sue @ Laundry for Six]

My son and his best friend had the same lunchbox last year and they were constantly switching them. So I really need some Mabel's Labels. Pick me!

[Jackie]

We're always losing lunch containers and utensils! I try and use a sharpie, but that doesn't work. What a great idea!

[Amy K]

My kiddo's back up clothes were used on another child in daycare. I was washing all the play/daycare clothes and had to send his higher quality/brand name clothing to school. When I looked in his bag, his clothing was missing and I questioned the teacher. I was told that another child had no spares and needed clothing. His clothes were labeled on the tags, so I thought that was ok. Turns out the mom was happy to have some new and nice clothing for her child. I asked she return them and she kept promising she would. Weeks passed and no clothes. One day, the child came to school in none other than my kiddo's clothing! I asked the mom to please return them to me, even if they're unwashed. She informed me they weren't mine and belonged to her child. I went to show her the labeled tag, only to find out she'd cut the tags out of them! If I had some Mabel's Labels, I could have put his name on the actual clothing material, rather then Sharpie his name on the tag.

[Bunk Bed]

We homeschool so we don't have any trouble mixing up our things with other kids. We could however use some classroom labels to keep our supplies straight. These labels are great - colorful and easy to see.

[Leticia- Tech Savvy Mama]

Mabel's Labels are the best! I was ridiculously excited to come home from vacation to find the ones I recently ordered had arrived but since I label everything, we can always use more! Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

[Sinyee Angulo]

Isabella Angulo loves Delia's handmedowns, but they're all Sharpie labeled in Delia's name. We could really use Mabel's Labels to cover them up.

[Jari C]

I, too, use a Sharpie to label my kids' spare clothes, which must work because I ran into my son's preschool teacher just today and she informed me that while cleaning the classroom for the start of the new year, they'd found my son's stuff from last year! So though I haven't lost anything (yet), it would be nice to actually have real labels in the next go-around!

[Kris]

Caroline's regular black shoes were lost last year during Japan day. She left them outside the classroom, as instructed, and when she came back...gone. No one could ever find them.

[Montessori Mommy]

My daughter doesn't accidentally bring other kid's items home from school, she does it on purpose--insisting that they are hers. Labels would help her to distinguish what's really, REALLY hers.

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