A Utah Mom's Life in New Hampshire: Kidecals

Last year Thomas lost three jackets at school. Lilly lost her backpack (and the jacket inside). We looked in the coat room and in the lost and found. We looked all over the playground. It was as if they had disappeared. Vanished.

I hate losing things. It's one of my pet peeves. Yet, it's so easy for kids to do. They set down their water bottle at soccer practice or leave their basketball at the gym. When they visit their grandparents they leave socks and underwear and jackets. It gets so annoying.

Needless to say, I was excited to have the opportunity to try out the name labels from Kidecals.

Adhering to any surface, Kidecals can go through the dishwasher or the washing machine and stay firmly attached. I ordered a bunch of pretty generic circle decals with our last night and my phone number and when school started I attached them everywhere--to their jackets, backpacks, water bottles and lunch boxes.

Thomas was especially excited to get a new jacket for school. He typically wears Neal's hand-me-down jackets but since he lost so many last year, he needed a new one. I found a great one on sale and Thomas loved it. He kept telling me how amazingly soft it was and it's orange which is his favorite color. The Thursday before Labor Day, Thomas and Lilly didn't come straight home from school. We were hurrying to pack to leave for our vacation that night so I was getting antsy. Finally, I saw Thomas and Lilly slowly and sadly walking toward home. The morning was chilly so Thomas had worn his new jacket to school but now he couldn't find it anywhere. Lilly had even helped him look. He was crying and I promised to head back after B track to help him look. He was sure that if he didn't find his jacket before we went to Wyoming on vacation that he would never see it again.

Later that afternoon, Thomas and I returned to the school to search. We searched his classroom and the coatroom. We talked to his teacher. We talked to the other third grade teachers and looked in their classroom. We looked in the classroom where he had gone to art. We looked in the lunchroom and all over the playground. We checked the lost and found. For crying out loud! The jacket is orange. It shouldn't be that difficult to find. Finally, we gave up. Thomas insisted that we had to buy a new jacket exactly the same.

Later the next week, after we had returned from vacation and the kids were in school, I had to take a forgotten lunch box to Amberly at school. I stopped by the lost and found and lo and behold there was Thomas's beloved orange jacket with the Kidecal label right inside. We had found the jacket!!!

Not sure the Kidecal label had much to do with that long story, but it still helps me feel better to know that my kids' belongings are properly labeled. The labels are cute and trendy and can be personalized. There are so many options.