Make Your Own Backpack Tags

It's almost time for the kids to head back to school which means you'll be buying and filling a backpack full of supplies for your child to take to school. Back pack tags are a great way to help your child distinguish his or her back pack from other children's and it gives you a place to have your child's contact information in case the back pack gets lost. I have an easy way to custom make a backpack tag for your child.

First you will need some shrinkable plastic sheets. You can find these at office stores nowadays, some craft stores, and online. And the coolest part is that you can print on them!

Find some clip art that your child likes such as sports stuff, flowers, a favorite character, etc. You could also use the letter of your child's first name or his or her school mascot. Once you have selected the image you like, print it out on to the shrinkable plastic sheet. Once you heat the sheet, the image is going to be reduced to about a third of its original size so keep that in mind when printing the image. Follow the manufacture's directions that come with the shrinkable plastic sheets on exactly how to print on the sheets.

Once your image is printed, write any contact information onto the image using a permanent marker. Cut the image out and punch a hole in the corner of the image.

Next, you'll heat the image according to the manufacture's instructions. Let the image cool and thread some invisible cording through the hole and you are ready to attach it to your child's back pack.

If you didn't want to print on the shrinkable plastic sheets you could also stamp on them or give your child permanent markers and let him or her draw a picture on the plastic sheets and then follow the steps for heating.