Back to School Bookbag and Lunch Box Tags

Here we go again! After a summer filled with fun, vacations, relaxation and perhaps doing nothing for several weeks; it is almost time to go back to school. Going back to school usually means new clothes, shoes, and accessories. When I was growing up, my mom simply wrote my name on everything with a black magic marker. Now, children like nice little dangly things hanging all over their book bags, lunchboxes, and in some cases, their shoes. I remember walking down the hallways after school let out and having to pick up several lost dangly items that once decorated the book bag, lunch box, or favorite attire of a student who had bumped and shoved her way down the hall toward home as quickly as possible. These little dangly things personalize student's belongings and can be found in various shapes and sizes. Many of them were manufactured in anticipation of the latest movie craze. Some of them were modeled after popular cartoon or other children's television shows. Students can decorate every bag zipper, pocket, netting - anywhere a tag could be attached.

AH, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, the newest, hottest movie craze amongst all ages. I'll admit that I enjoyed the trilogy as much as my teenage daughters and look forward to the fourth movie. From this series comes several bag tags that will be sure to adorn the book bags, lunchboxes, purses, totes, shoes, and anywhere else Bella, Edward, and Jacob (my personal favorite, but don't tell my daughter) will hang. Although I, at age 40+, will not likely - although tempted - to hang a Team Jacob bag tag on my purse, I'm sure he and his friends, and enemies, will find their place amongst the nations teens, labeling the belongings of their biggest fans.

Younger children enjoy labeling their belongings with tags that feature animals. Some of them prefer to make a tag and attach a photo of their pet. Teachers will not only enjoy seeing sweet, smiling faces everyday from Becky, Ricky, and Paul; but also Blacky, Rambo, and a little white award winning poodle named Pierre. Others will prefer to purchase tags representing their favorite zoo animals such as the Panda Bear, Tiger, Giraffe or Zebra. Still others will adorn their belongings with reptiles such as Lizards, Geckos, and to my dismay, snakes. A favorite among younger students are cute little critters such as lady bugs, bumble bees, and butterflies.

Every classroom has one parent, usually a mom, whose creativity soars above the rest. I remember a time when I had planned an "end of year" party for my students. One parent had been exceptionally dependable during the school year and had contributed many things to the classroom including cute little cupcakes. Her cupcakes were not just cupcakes with extra icing featuring a cute little plastic heart on top. Her cupcakes always arrived in the shape of something like a turkey or an igloo. When she volunteered to make a cake for the party, I was delighted to hand over the responsibility to her. At the time, I taught in a small, private school so all the classes were able to meander out on the patio between the walls, two or three classes at a time to enjoy their "end of year" festivities. As I walked my classroom onto the patio for our party, I noticed that the other classes were enjoying such nice goodies and I was delighted that our class would receive such a treasure as well. We did receive a treasure and it really was a treasure. Really, it was. My cake bearer entered the patio with a treasure box, a large one, with jewels all over it. Colorful jewels were draped over the top of the treasure box, into the box, and over the sides, cascading down over and around the cake platter. All of it, every bit of it, down to the very last bead on the very last necklace was edible. I almost hated to cut it, but we did and the kids enjoyed their treasure box and wore most of it home smeared all over their faces and clothing.

The point for sharing that story is to say that there is always one parent, sometimes more who will make everything themselves, including their child's book bag tags. Some students will march into the classroom on the first day with their belongings adorned with a magnificently designed tag that mom made especially for her (or him). That same student will likely arrive on the first day of every month with her belongings labeled with a new tag that features whatever holiday is expected to be celebrated that month and they will all be very impressive.