It’s school time again! As parents, we have taken all the steps to help prepare our little scholars: we have purchased some cool new gear, stylish clothes, fun gadgets, bags, containers, and everything else required for the year! We send them off to school and hope that their brand new stuff doesn’t get lost! The reality is, kids will be kids, and stuff goes missing! The good news? With high-quality labels you can keep much better track of everything (without having to glue it to your children). This month our savvy shoppers explore the wonderful world of labels.
For each brand of label, we looked at selection, price, quality and durability:
Mabel’s Labels – $39 for the Ultimate Back to School Pack – 2 tags and 106 labels of varying sizes – 0.36/label
Emily Press Labels – $34 for the Preschool Label Pack – 100 labels of varying sizes – 0.34/label
Loveable Labels – $45 for the Back to School Pack – 2 tags and 167 labels of varying sizes – 0.27/label
Label Daddy – $50USD for the School Pack – 4 tags and 132 labels of varying sizes – 0.36/label
Oliver’s Labels – $42 for the School Pack – 4 tags and 91 labels of varying sizes – 0.44/label
The Sticky on Labels
Mabel’s Labels – Dana loved all the choices for these labels, she had 4 year old O pick his own design (this will be O’s first year of school and so it is a very exciting time!), he chose the monster pack! The fact that there are so many sizes of labels allows you to pick the perfect size for whatever you need to label. Dana went a little label happy and labeled literally everything that would be going to school, from the snack containers (bottoms and tops), to the lunch bag, the backpack, the shoes and any clothing that would be coming off at school (sweatshirts, jackets, and hats specifically). Dana applied the labels well in advance of actual school time and they have all been put through the ringer already with multiple washes for the clothing items and dishwasher cycles for the food containers and everything still looks great! The one complaint that Dana had would be that the images themselves on the labels looked a little pixelated and not as crisp as she would have hoped.
Nicole ordered the skateboard design for her oldest son (K) and tested them throughout the summer, including the ultimate test: summer camp. Additionally, Nicole has used Mabel’s Labels for some of her belongings (camera, laptop, etc) for years. She’s continually impressed with the durability of and loves that they come in a practical range of sizes.
Emily Press Labels – The preschool pack offers less pattern options than some of the competition, but the options that are offered are more than sufficient. Dana decided on the blue elephant design for A. Little A is not quite 2, but is always trying to do what his brothers do, so that includes trying to get dressed independently. Having the shoe labels that align to indicate which shoe goes on which side has a great point of reference for him! Dana is also pleased with the size of the labels: the smaller sized rectangles and squares are perfect for A’s smaller items!
Nicole also received the preschool pack in the butterfly design for her little preschooler. When put to the test, the quality was great. Like Dana, Nicole also liked the clever design of the shoe labels. It should also be noted that Mabel’s Labels sells preschool shoe labels with the same concept of half the image on one shoe and half the image on the other. (Nicole thinks the Mabel’s Labels version looks a bit nicer than the Emily Press version.)
Loveable Labels – Dana loves how organized the book of labels is, it is almost like a file folder with little tabs indicating where each label section starts so you don’t have to flip through the entire package to find the size you need. There was lots of choice for patterns and styles and each option included lots of great colours. The Loveable Labels package offered the most amount of labels compared to any other package we found, and even though the price was higher, the cost per label was the lowest of all of the brands. The selection of sizes available in the kit was also quite extensive and offered plenty of options when picking which label would work best.
Label Daddy – One of the most exciting features about Label Daddy labels is that this brand has taken the steps to purchase the rights to logos and images from Marvel (yeah Spiderman!), Disney, as well as NHL, NBA and MLB. This means that your little Frozen fan, Spiderman fanatic or sports junkie can pick their absolute favourite team or character! This is a huge factor when trying to get your kids excited for something like this! Label Daddy also offers the option to design your own label with whatever colour, basic icon and font style you want. The DIY approach is what Dana’s oldest son E opted for. The quality of the labels and especially of the clip on tags is wonderful. The clasp attachment for the tags is easy to use and strong enough to withstand E’s 12-year old habits!
Four years ago, Nicole received a pack of Label Daddy labels to review, she used these labels on everything from backpacks to sweaters to books until she ran out of them last year. Like Mabel’s Labels, Label Daddy labels stand up to all kinds of wear and tear. Nicole received a Label Daddy school pack this year for her son (M) who is starting Kindergarten. She was pleased to see that the quality remains the same and was pleased with the range of different sized labels in the kit.
*Note that Label Daddy is an American company, but ships to Canada.
Oliver’s Labels -Like Label Daddy, Nicole reviewed Oliver’s Labels about four years ago. And while she was (and still is) pleased with the durability, the designs were not great back in 2010. Good news though! It seems that as Oliver’s Labels has grown, so has their selection. They now offer licensed characters such as Dora the Explorer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Hungry Caterpillar. Also, they’ve added fonts other than Comic Sans . . . thank goodness.
Overall Rating
At the end of the day, there is not much of difference between the different brands of labels listed above in terms of overall durability. Really, any of these brands are an excellent choice. We recommend you make your decision based on the design you like most and the different sizes/shapes that you need. Because that’s what we plan to do once our current label supply runs out.
Mabel’s Labels – 4.5
Emily Press Labels – 4.5
Lovable Labels – 4.5
Label Daddy – 4.5
Oliver’s Labels – 4.5
Tell us: Which brand of labels do you buy for your kids?
Disclosure: This feature was sponsored by Mabel’s Labels, Emily Press Labels, and Label Daddy.
The post Savvy Shoppers – Labels for Back to School appeared first on My Real Review.