Personalized kids bag tags

The kids' school officially started the 2012-2013 academic year two weeks ago.  On Thursday they hosted a new parent orientation night and passed out information about what all the kids would need for the new school year.  On the list were nap mats.  Even though the boys are officially no longer napping at school.  Just "resting."  Because apparently when you actually nap you don't need a napmat.  But when you no longer take a nap - then you need a napmat.  Confused yet?  I sure was.

But the boys and I were stoked about picking out napmats so we just went with it.  From the very start Connor latched on to the green polkadot and would not be swayed.  Okay, so that's probably mostly because I wouldn't show him the purple/aqua polkadot option.  Because then there would have been no going back. :)

Ryan on the other hand surprised me forsaking all Cars/Lightening Mcqueen Options. He instead loved this bright dino print mat that I had originally picked out as an option for Connor.

I have to admit these mats are pretty awesome.  They both have built in pillows, and attached blankets so there aren't multiple pieces to keep up with.  Everything just rolls into one neat package.

The problem however was that Ryan's came with his name embroidered, and Connor's didn't.  Not to mention the embroidering part was on the INSIDE of the bag vs. the outside making it hard for teachers/classmates to know who's is who's.  So I decided it was {past} time to break out the laminiator and make the boys some tags as we have been rotating the ones from their old school backpacks onto their lunchboxes, backpacks, and miscellaneous bags for a couple of months now.

I thought some bright fun dinosaurs would be perfect and couldn't have been more happy to stumble on a set of commerical use templates from Paci Peroni Designs online via a google search. 

A little photoshop magic later we had tags using the boys' favorite designs that I printed onto cardstock and then laminated with the laminiator that I picked up... ummm... sometime before Christmas last year??



Needless to say I thought they turned out absolutely adorable.  We looped them onto the boys' napmats using some ribbon I had on hand for the time being.

Next time I make it to the store I will have to see if they have 1/4" gross grain ribbon (a little smaller, and stiffer) in a nice lime green and/or tangerine orange.  I was also planning to see if the store carried 5mil laminating pockets.  The laminator came with 3mil pockets which worked fine - and were surprisingly easy to use!  However, I wish they were a little stiffer to hold up to the constant use these tags will be getting throughout the year.  But otherwise I couldn't be more thrilled with how they turned out!

The boys are definately stylin with their new tags.  :)