Best way to put id on the kids? *UPDATE*

[JenB]

I'm not too worried about my 6 year old, who can obviously speak for himself, but if my 2.4 year old should get seperated, she wouldn't even be able to say her name clearly. I would like to put their names, dh's cell number, and the hotel on their bodies somewhere.
What's the best way you guys have done this? I don't want it visible but I was thinking about something inside their clothes?
Thanks!!

Hi everyone,
We got back last Sunday and had a BALL! Disney Magic was everywhere.
We ended up taking a roll of masking tape and a permanent marker. Every morning while they got dressed, I wrote their names, dad's cell #, and the our hotel name and then put it on the inside of their shirts at about their bellies. I told my 2.4 year old that if she couldn't find mommy or daddy, find a cast member (I repeatedly pointed out their white tags) and show them her "sign". I think she misunderstood because she ended up flashing everyone her belly all day, but I felt better about it.
I did it for my 6 year old too and I really did feel comfortable with that.
Turns out, she was so clingy to me all week, there wasn't a chance of her leaving my side

Jen

 

[Hunzi]

Hmmm, I didn't have to deal with such a little one, but what I did for my 6 yr old was put a business card in her fanny pack with our names, the resort we were staying in, and our cell phone number.

Always ;-)
Hunzi

 

[Jordan's MOM]

I saw this idea somewhere and thought it was great. Go to one of those make your own dog tag machines (we have one at our local Wal-mart) and put all the info you want on the tag. The tags has a hole in it that you can lace through her shoe lace and then tie her shoes in double knots. She can't get it off or lose it. Teach her that if she can's find mommy to show her shoe to a CM. Show her how to find one. Even a two year old could do that. I would get one for both children just in case. Another idea I saw was to carry a picture of your child in the parks with you in case you would need help finding her. That way all would know what child they are looking for. If you wanted you could take your instanamatic camara and make a shot each morning with her in the clothes she would be wearing to the park. a great help if she was indeed lost. I am sure you will not need any of these things but it never hurts to be prepared.

Jordan's mom

 

[susy]

I thought of giving my 3 (almost 4) yo something to carry in a fanny pack or something inside his clothes ,but thought he might panic if separated from us (I don't know since it's never happened) and someone who found him might not know where ,or if, to look. I packed a roll of masking tape and each time I changed his shirt I put a strip with his name , ours, hotel info and our CELL PHONE # on it. We then had our cell phone on us. I put this strip right on the back of his shirt , in plain view. People commented on what a good idea that was. I told him if he was lost to find a nice mommy to call us. We don't actually own a cell phone, but we borrowed my mom's because I was getting anxious as the trip was approaching.

 

[melk]

These are some good ideas, I especially like the tag on the shoe. But as for the tape on the back in plain view I think I might reconsider that one. If there was someone trying to lure away your child, this would be just the information they would need ("Oh Johnny, your mommy, Mary, told me to come get you and bring you back to your room at the Polynesian. It's okay, she knows me"). I don't mean to criticize your idea, but I think it much safer to have their identity information hidden. It's for this reason I don't put my kids in anything that advertises their names. Maybe I'm just paranoid but in this world, you have to be.

 

[susy]

Melk, I agree with you on that one. You could always leave off the names and just write; in case lost call: cell phone #. If I saw a crying, lost child, I (being a mom) would go directly over to that child- and all the quicker if I saw a man also approach the child. I told my son to find a mommy with kids to help him if he was lost.

 

[kalamazoo]

I found a shrinky dink dog tag at the pet store and wrote our cell phone no. and the phone number of who to contact in case of emergency (a relative's home no.). I just pinned it inside ds's shirt with a safety pin. Waterproof, doesn't matter if shoes have laces, not immediately visible for unwanted attention - worked great. Just have to remember to take it off when changing clothes.

 

[jfranklyn]

We did the dog-tag on the shoe string last May when we went with our 2 year old and it worked out great. She didn't argue with it being there, and I think any cast member would have noticed it, while it wasn't readable to sometone just standing near. We got it at our local Petco.

 

[Dave F]

In the past, when DD was very young we used heat transfer decals on the inside of her collar (they were not visible from the outside but clear when looking on the inside) we listed our name and cell # also grandmas' phone in case there was a problem. I also tried to play a game with her to "find the CM" it's a strange world and I'd prefer her to seek a cm rather than look for "just anyone with kids" no disrespect meant you just never know, Also, we dressed in really bright colors so she'd find us easily and vice versa. Next time you see a family of three in dayglo lime green say hey, it's probably us. Enjoy your trip

 

[pokeysmom]

1st definitely try to dress your kids in some color that will stand out. i would also suggest that you do the dog tag, i tried the lap pack but my daughter kept taking it off and one trip it did get stolen. when my kids got older they always knew that if lost go to the castle because it was a central location.

 

[Napri]

I, too was worried about my kids having id on them. My son is a speech delayed 5 year-old, and although my daughter has an excellent vocabulary for her age, she has the typical 3 year-old shyness around strangers.

I came the conclusion that a dog tag would be a great idea, and looked on the internet for one. I've just today received and programmed in their new Dog-e-tags (electronic dog tags), and I couldn't be more thrilled! These are totally waterproof, programmable (and reprogrammable), have the versitility of using a PIN to lock out anyone from reprogramming it if they don't have the PIN, and they don't display the information unless one of the two buttons are pushed. They store up to 40 lines of text, with 10 characters per line. When someone pushes one of the two buttons, the display lights up and the text scrolls two lines, depending on whether the left or right button is pushed. If the button is held, the display continues to scroll through all text you have imput, then loops back to the begining.

One drawback: They're not cheap. Worldpetstore.com charges $39.95 per tag. But since they can be programmed and reprogrammed, I thought it was worth it. We are moving from Boardwalk Villas to AKL partway through the trip, and the info will be changed with our move. Then they will be attached to the kids backpacks when we get home.

 

[colleen mcmaster]

We also dress our kids alike and put their info. in their fanny packs. However, we have friends who use a ball point pen and write the child's name and their cell phone number on the child's arm under their shirt sleeve. Then you just have to teach your child to lift up their sleeve and show the info. to a CM. This way the info. isn't visible to just anyone passing by the child. Good Luck!

 

[Chipmunk]

I haven't used this but you might try permanent marker on the bottom of a shoe in addition to the dog tag. It probably wears off in a couple of days but it is easy to reapply.

 

[Kermit]

My mom always pinned our information into the inside of our shirts (with a safety pin of course).

Another option would be to make shoelace tags out of shrinky dink paper. They have some that you can put through the printer, so you could put Disney characters and contact information on them, print them, and then shrink them in the oven. Just start with a big font because it will get smaller when they shrink. And make the corners rounded so that they aren't weapons. The edges get hard when they shrink.

 

[Annie_has_4]

I would use the permanent marker route. no one could get it off them in any small amount of time, let alone a long amount of time. and all the kid has to do is show it to one of the CMs. The palm of the hand might be good, like we do at swim meets! doesn't even come off in water after swimming allll day.

 

[AZKathy]

My kids wear fanny packs with treats and such. I secured a luggage label with printed information on name, Dad's cell phone, and resort we are staying at inside the fanny pack so the information is not visable.

 

[DisOrBust]

I like the "go to a mommy" idea! My friends 5yo got lost at wdw for 45 mins. He had his "tag" but was petrified! He finnaly went up to a mom and broke down crying. She called a CM and STAYED with him until the parents arrived. It was not a good day for them. mom was frantic and she wasen't to impressed with the CMs trying to help her. she wanted them to call 911 but they were telling her to relax, it happens all the time.