Smug in September: My Nametags review

For the past few years, whenever the end of the school holidays came round, I'd witness the panic as friends rushed around like headless chickens trying to get everything ready for the first day back to school.

And I'd smile smugly as I didn't have any of that stress. Homeschooling the children meant no dragging kids round shops to buy new uniforms and school shoes, no feeling sad that our summer days of spending time together were over, and no spending hours on end labelling all those items of clothing. 

This year things are different. Both boys are back in school and so just like most other parents I was going to have to face the 'back-to-school' ordeal once September hit. 

But then an email pinged through that meant that maybe, just maybe, some of that back-to-school stress could be reduced. Our friends at Savoo, a brilliant voucher and deals site, asked us whether we'd like to review some name labels from My Nametags. 

Thinking back to our labelling days, and remembering the fiddly sewing and not faring much better with iron-on labels, I nearly declined. Thinking that My Nametags would be the same old selection of iron-on or sew-in labels, I just couldn't face it. But then I took a quick peek at their website and was mega delighted to read that their colour stickers can just be stuck into clothing and are wash-proof! 

They can also be used in shoes without needing any protective covering too. School or no school, we have always used shoe name stickers because it is incredible just how easily shoes can go missing! However, we have previously bought specific shoe stickers which can work out quite pricey. So you can imagine how pleased we are to find that these stickers do the job brilliantly. So that's where I got started, sticking them into J's new school shoes ready for September. 

Another precious item at high risk of going missing is Hoppy and Patch. We've written about Hoppy and Patch many times before and they are pretty much family members, so they got a My Nametags sticker each on their care label. 

They were also the first to put My Nametags washability to the test...and passed the test! 

Just when you thought things couldn't get better than this, The My Nametags colour stickers are also dishwasher safe, so next up were the drinks beakers. 

Then this afternoon I made a pile of all the polo shirts and school trousers and imagined that it would take the whole afternoon to label them. Yet quite literally minutes later, the job was done! I'm impressed! 

We were kindly provided with a sheet of 56 colour stickers for the purposes of review but these retail at a very reasonable £11.95 with a mere £1 for P&P if you wanted to get some for yourself. Fantastic value! 

With a wide range of icons, backgrounds, fonts and colours, you can truly personalise your labels. We had a play around with a pretty purple design for Miss T (see screenprint below), but then decided upon the bee icon (how could we not with our surname being BEEsley). We thought The 'bubble' border looked like honeycomb as the background design. 

There is plenty of space for the name of your choice. By just sticking to our surname meant that I could use the same set of stickers for all three of the children, making them even better value for money. 

So thanks to Savoo and My Nametags, I have school uniform stress sorted and I can once again feel smug for September!