BACK TO SCHOOL: Kidecals Review

Once your child starts preschool, school, or even camp, you will be asked to label EVERYTHING!  A few years ago, when my son started preschool, I purchased some sticky labels from another company. They were little round circles with his name and a car graphic. Although they worked great, their size and shape made teachers overlook them. They would hand me my son's jackets and tell me to please write his name on them. When I pointed out the label, they were always surprised to see it.  I don't like writing names directly on articles of clothing because I always consign outgrown clothes.  With removable tag labels, you can just peel them off when you are done!

This school year, I decided that my 1st grader had outgrown the little circles with the car graphic. It was time for something new.  Luckily, Kidecals contact me right about that time!  It was so hard to decide which labels to pick!  They have labels for everything!!!  We have a lot of school friends with food allergies so I especially appreciate their section of allergy alert labels.  I knew that I wanted waterproof labels for Noodlebug so I headed over to that page and decided on some nice rectangular labels.  (provided courtesy of Kidecals)  I couldn't stop there, though! I have been working on reorganizing my workroom and decided I needed some chalkboard labels too! (purchased by me)

The labels came very quickly and I loved how the ones for my son came in two different sizes on one sheet.  This was important to me because I need different sizes for different things!

I immediately went to work adding the labels to a few jackets. The smaller size worked perfectly on clothing labels.

The larger labels were great for labeling the inside of bags like Noodlebug's Tae Kwon Do bag!

I like how durable the labels feel and easy they are to apply. Since they are waterproof, I will be able to wash the clothes without having to remove the labels.  This would also be great when labeling reusable food containers or water bottles.  I'm going to label everything!!!

I chose the everyday set for $28 which includes 78 labels in two sizes.  (c/o Kidecals) The chalkboard labels I chose run $10 a set for 12 labels. (paid for by me)  Kidecals always offers free shipping.

For a special 15% off discount, use code ilovelabels.

The perfect item for back to school!!!

(Kidecals provided me the opportunity to try the name labels for free. I purchased the chalkboard labels in addition)

BACK TO SCHOOL: Backpack Charms

My son will be starting first grade next week. Last year, he was in a big Kindergarten class with three teachers. Now, all the kids will be split up among three classrooms. We don't know if any close friends will be in his new class.  The class lists don't go up until the night before school!  Plus, one of his closest friends is moving to another school.

Although my son is super-social and outgoing, I wanted to help him to reach out and make some new friends this year. I decided to make some quick backpack charms that he could give out to new friends.

 Materials needed:
1.5 inch wooden discs
Ball link keychains
Paint
Printed images
Mod Podge or other adhesive
Crop-a-dile II Big Bite (optional)
1.5 inch circle punch (optional)


I had some 1.5 inch wooden discs left over from another project. I bought them online at Amazon but you can find them at craft stores. 

First, I painted one side of the discs in one of the school's colors. This will be the back of the disc. While it was drying, I manipulated an image of one of my favorite children's book characters and printed out a sheet of the image repeated several times in the size I needed.  I used the circle punch to punch out the images. I ended up adding a little color with markers.  The downside of adding color and using a color ink jet printer is that the color ran a little when I mod-podged it on.  Once the paint on the wooden discs was dry, I used the Crop-a-dile to gently punch holes in the wooden discs.  I then mod-podged the paper circles onto the discs. On the colored side of the disc, I wrote the school name and the school year dates with a Sharpie.  I ended up putting the discs back through the Crop-a-dile to punch the hole through the paper. Finally, I added the ball chain keychain. I got a pack of 28 of them at Joann's.

While they aren't the most professional looking items I have ever done, I think they will be fun items for my son to trade at school. Maybe I'll make a new one each year!

(This post contains affiliate links)

First Day

I fell behind on my back-to-school posts because ran into an emotional barrier. This process of starting Kindergarten has been a lot more difficult for me than I anticipated. I'm trying to focus on the fun and excitement and I'm trying to start some new traditions but part of me isn't dealing well with my baby growing up. AT ALL.

The night before the first day we held our first School Year's Eve dinner.

I found this printable banner online but I can't remember where I found it!  If it's yours, please let me know so I can give you credit.

I let Noodlebug choose the menu and he told me he wanted my homemade enchiladas with rice and beans.

The morning of the first day, Noodlebug woke to a new backpack and a schultüte. These cones are traditional in Germany for the first day of 1st grade but I thought we'd do it for the first day of Kindergarten.

I simply rolled a piece of posterboard into a cone shape and cut off the uneven edge. I closed it with clear packing tape.  I tried to use a ribbon border but it didn't turn out well. I glued some tissue paper to the inside of the cone and gathered it up with a ribbon. The cone contained some school supplies and a few small treats like some LEGO minifigures.

There are a zillion free printable "first day" signs online but I fell in love with this one from a kit from Hallmark.

It comes with signs for every single school year.  I'm hoping I can pack it away where I can find it every year!

The first day went off without a hitch and I only cried a little bit.  I took the day off from work so I could both drop him off and pick him up.  It made me sad realizing that I may never do another drop off or pick up.  School hours don't really fit with my work schedule.  I want so much to be a stay-at-home mom but it will never be possible.  That will always be a source of pain for me.

For now, I'm just looking forward to getting home and hearing about his day. 

Favorite Tools for Packing School Lunches (Repost)

I am reposting this post about my favorite tools for packing school lunches that includes a few new additions.

100 Days of Real Food completely changed the way I pack my son's lunches.  Although I did pretty well with selecting healthy non-processed choices, I would often fall into a creative rut and send the same things every day. I love how 100 Days of Real Food educates me about making better food choices. And since she posts photos of her kids' lunches on her Facebook page, I always get great inspiration there as well.

Over the last year, we have worked to improve not only Noodlebug's food but we have also moved towards a zero-trash goal. I get great lunch ideas from both 100 Days of Real Food and Weelicious.  Weelicious is coming out with a new cookbook for lunches soon and I can't wait to see it.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces of lunch gear:

1. Hanna Andersson Lunchbox

We bought this Deluxe Lunch Bag from Hanna Andersson last year.  I also got the matching food jar.  The deluxe version has an additional compartment so you can keep hot/cold items separate. This style is no longer available but the new ones are now online.

2. Klip it Lunch Cube

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 I love this thing! It folds in half and is easy for my son to open.  I highly recommend hard-sided boxes like these to keep your food from getting squished in a soft-sided lunchbox.

Sometimes, I will use a Ziploc divided lunch container instead. We wash these out and reuse them.

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3. Silicone Molds

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I always worried about the amount of sugar in most yogurts so I started making my own yogurt smoothies with a recipe from 100 Days of Real Food.  I usually make a big batch on Sunday, fill the molds, and throw them in the freezer.  We add one to Noodlebug's lunch most days along with an ice pack.  I put the molds INSIDE OF the hard-sided lunch container to keep them safe. We've never had a problem. They are usually thawed perfectly by lunchtime.

4. Ice Packs

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We use a couple of different types of ice packs. I have two of the above Rubbermaid ice packs.  I have one monkey and one frog.

I also recently bought this Kids Konserve ice packs from Ecomom.

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5.  Reusable Napkins

Although it would be easy enough to sew your own, I splurged and bought some of these fun napkins from Funkins. Each one comes with a tag where you can write your child's name.  They have so many fun patterns!

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6. Utensils

I just got this set of Sugar Booger utensils. I love how they come in their own carrying case.

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They come in a variety of patterns and are available at Ecomom and Amazon.

7. Food Storage

I got this great idea from 100 Days of Real Food. These little silicone muffin cups are great for dividing out crackers, fruit, salads or anything else that needs to be contained. We often use these for hard-boiled eggs.

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 My son loves the pouches from Plum Kids and Ella's Kitchen so I still stick those in his lunch occasionally.  However, I just found Squooshis recently and we are trying that out.

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 We've been using these resuable Squooshis with organic applesauce from the jar.  You could easily use them for anything squishy, however.  The bottom of the Squooshi has a ziplock and we haven't had any accidents so far.

For anything that doesn't fit into the hard-sided box, I use Itzy Ritzy bags:

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 These bags come in a variety of sizes and colors.  I have a few different size things like crackers and fruit.  Much much better than plastic baggies!  They are BPA-free and are machine-washable!


I am very careful to label all of Noodlebug's stuff and I use two different types of labels.  First of all, I love these rubber labels from Inchbug:

They are very stretchy and fit around just about any kind of bottle.  I have been using them for years and they hold up beautifully. Find them here.
On a side note, I use Inchbug's tag labels for clothing.  They are small stickers you can put on a tag and they even go through the wash!  When you are done with the item of clothing, just peel them off!  I love these since i resell all of Noodlebug's clothing.

You can also get labels like these from Name Bubbles.


Check out this 100 Days of Real Food page and this Weelicious page for some wonderful visual lunch inspiration.  There is also a great Bento Box series with lots of photographs at Hellobee.

 We are working really hard on eating healthier as a family and eliminating garbage.  We started using most of these products when my son was 4 and he has had no problem getting used to bringing everything home. We haven't lost anything yet! I love all the inspiration I'm finding on the internet.  I hope these tips help you over the Summer and into the school year.  I'll add to it as I find new things!

(There are NO affiliate links within this post. I receive no compensation and all opinions are my own.)

First Day of School Teacher Gift

I got all my inspiration for this project from Laura Winslow Photography.

I always love going through the Dollar bins at Target. You can find the most interesting things there! That is why I thought Laura's idea for a first day of school teacher gift was so perfect! My son starts Kindergarten next week and he'll have three teachers. I wanted to do something special for the first day.

They still had the cute pouches in the dollar bins at Target so I grabbed some for $3 a piece. I then printed out Laura's free tags and attached them using ribbon that I already had.

Laura put cute pencils and lip balm inside of her bags.  Personally, I always find myself needing hand lotion during the day.  So, I headed to the area at Target that has all the travel sizes and grabbed some lotion and EOS lip balm.

All in all, I think the gifts were about $5 each. It's just a small gift but I'm hoping it will show the teachers that we appreciate them already!  Thanks to Laura Winslow for the fun idea!