I was very unhappy with the name tags this year. The hole was too close to the top and they kept breaking. We used reinforcements, but in many cases, they had to be replaced almost every night. I am hopeful that the name tags will be of a better design next year.

We worked hard on the name tags for 2008 to ensure we did not have similar problems. We just finished using them with kids for a solid week and I didn't see one torn name tag! The name tags themselves are very sturdy - a laminated card stock. The lanyard does not have a clip on it like it did for Game Day. They are now multi-colored lanyards that you loop through the name tag hole. Give them one more chance - I think you'll be pleased with the changes we made!

At our church we usually make our own tags. Last year I found some name tag holders at a surplus shop you just slide the tag into the holder clip it to their shirt and reuse holders next year. you might could find some at a surplus store near you if not and you would like some i can see the store here has anymore and email you their address and phone # or arrange shipping for you KIMMENSER@HOTMAIL.COM

One of our assistant directors had her 2 year old wear one of the tags around the house for about 2 weeks. It did not break.

Please those of you who have your VBS early...like in June...please report on how well the nametags held up for the week. This year, we are having our VBS in July. I am going to wait to buy the Lifeway nametags.

It sounds like there are some good solutions to the name tag problem. The only problem that I see is that, in my opinion, preschoolers should not be wearing anything that goes around the neck. I have seen too many little ones come close to choking because they got hung on something or one of the others grabbed them and pulled them by the straps. I believe there should be other options for preschoolers, something a little safer.

There is another option for preschoolers. Lifeway has sticker nametags that we use for all of our preschoolers.

quote:

Originally posted by CayCooke:
One of our assistant directors had her 2 year old wear one of the tags around the house for about 2 weeks. It did not break.

That sounds "battle tested" to me. TFS!

We plan to use the lanyards from LifeWay for the teachers/volunteers and Oriental Trading has some cute beachy sticker nametags that we will have a new one for them each night as they check in.

Another option for preschoolers would be to make your own out of construction paper. Use a different shape and/or color per age group. Once you put their name on it, you could laminate it.

If you make your own tags out of
construction paper, you can laminate them
and then print the child's name on them
with a permanent marker, like Sharpie pen.
It must be a permanent marker to write on
the laminated tag. This allows you to do
advance prep. Another idea is to use
colored cardstock for tags and laminate them.
Cardstock comes in some very bright colors.

We're using the lanyards for leaders and island guides... they can re-use them each day. But for the children we're using the name tag stickers lifeway has. We'll put them on the backs of the younger children (new ones each day) and the older kids can put them on the fronts of their shirts. It really helps for the little ones to have them on their back, they don't remember they have it on so they don't play with it/tear it off... not that the others kids won't do that for them though Just be careful if you use stickers that the kids know not to stick them on bathroom stalls, tables, etc.