PBK acrylic containers

So despite the high price, I bought a set of acrylic containers for our preschooler's lunchbox from Pottery Barn Kids. The description said "the tight fitting lids make them perfect to toss in backpacks or beach bags". Um... were you talking about the drinking bottles?

We've had this set for about a month now, and of course they weren't used daily - maybe once a week? Twice at most. But the lids are no longer tight and I have to put a rubber band around it to make sure it won't go loose in the bag (so much for tossing into any bag, unless you want your food rolling around in it).

It cost $16.50 for all three (the sandwich sized container & two smaller containers) plus the incredible California tax of nearly 10%, and is doing far less than the iKea containers that sell for$4.99 for 17 containers (and that I got for free while attending a church picnic). Less pretty but at least it holds its lid.

Clothing labels

Looking for a neat way to label preschoolers' clothing, lunchboxes, etc etc has been another chore for me until I came upon these labels called Stitkins.

I have tried using Sharpie markers and other permanent markers on plastic lunch containers and clothing labels which presented several problems:

(1) Plastic containers: They wash off in about 3 washes. Meaning they disappear. They start to fade with one wash. So it turns out, the markers are not really permanent after all (they're only permanent on surfaces where you don't want them to be!).

(2) Clothing labels: It bleeds as you write, so you have to write really big but the labels are really small. And what about all these brands that don't have labels to start off with? Do you mean for me to just write on the cloth??!!

(3) Shoes: Similar to the plastic containers. Doesn't last very long, especially on the crocs.

But Stitkins come in a variety of sizes, do not need ironing, and last in the dishwasher and laundry (apparently for 10+ washes. I will test exactly how long they last!). I am looking forward to NOT rewriting every three days.