 With Christmas on the horizon, parents everywhere are looking for gifts. For a unique, practical, delightfully versatile and crazy durable Christmas gift, take a look at KiDECALS. KiDECALS is a company out of Boulder, Colorado, that makes stickers. These are no ordinary stickers, however. They're customizable stickers that can be used to label just about everything under the sun. KiDECALS offers labels for organization, school, canning, water bottles, sports equipment, lunch boxes, clothes, shoes, walls and much more. KiDECALS recently reached out to They're Our Kids and offered us a free sample of their product to try out. Here's how our trial went.  My 8-year-old daughter plays on a travel softball team. As you can probably imagine, keeping 12 very similar bats, gloves, facemasks, etc. separated is a constant losing battle. So when I was perusing KiDECALS' website to see what kind of stickers to order, their line of waterproof stickers caught my eye. These stickers, they say, are dishwasher, washing machine and dryer safe. But can they stand up to the abuse handed out by an 8-year-old softball player in heat, cold, rain and dirt? I ordered a set of baseball stickers and personalized them with my daughter's last name and jersey number. The set that KiDECALS provided for me to test includes 24 two-inch labels and 48 one-inch labels, valued at $28. That's a total of 72 personalized waterproof labels for $28, plus they include two bonus one-inch labels to bring the total up to 74. Shipping is free, and orders go out within 48 hours. I had my stickers in hand two days after I ordered them. My daughter and I then labeled her softball equipment with the stickers, putting them on a variety of surfaces: her metal bat, her leather fielding glove, the foam of her facemask, the plastic of her batting helmet, and the canvas of her backpack-style bat bag. 
 Over the next month-and-a-half, my daughter practiced with her softball teammates. In typical fashion, everything got thrown on the ground repeatedly, falling in dirt, mud and grass. They practiced in the heat, they practiced in the cold, and they practiced in the rain. The label on her bat bag rubbed against her back as she carried her equipment back and forth. These girls are not kind to their equipment. How did the KiDECALS fare? Perfectly. All of those practices later, my daughter's labels look as new as the day we stuck them on. There was absolutely no difference in label performance based on the material. There was no bubbling or discoloration of the labels, the image didn't fade, the edges didn't pull up, and my daughter's softball equipment never ended up in another player's bat bag. Later, we stuck a label on one of her water bottles and ran it through the dishwasher a number of times. Same results: the KiDECALS label looks as good as new.  I have to admit, I was surprised that these labels held up. I fully expected the stickers on her bat bag (canvas) and her facemask (foam) to fail. I was pretty confident that the ones on her helmet (plastic) and bat (metal) would hold up, but I was on the fence about the one on her glove (leather). Bottom line: I'm impressed by KiDECALS. To get 74 personalized waterproof labels sent to your door for about $30 is a heck of a bargain considering how well they hold up to abuse and the headaches they save parents. Imagine an end to misplaced clothes, shoes, water bottles, sports equipment, lunchboxes and potluck dishes. Do you label breast milk or leftovers in your refrigerator or freezer? KiDECALS would work great for that. Trying to pick out your kid's shoes at daycare among 50 sets of other shoes that look very similar? KiDECALS. Need to remind your kid's teacher or daycare provider that s/he is allergic to dairy or peanuts or bee stings or whatever? KiDECALS. Teachers who want to keep books and other supplies from walking away from their classrooms would love KiDECALS. (Did someone say "teacher gift"?) The uses for these things are endless.  These labels are often even more customizable than just adding a name. Many styles can be altered to whatever color you want, too. And if you don't see something you're looking for, just ask!
(For example, I requested that they offer a "softball" label -- same design as the "baseball" label but with a yellow ball and red stitching -- and the company's owner told me that she has added it to her list for the next round of designs.) Oh, and KiDECALS is currently giving away a $100 Visa gift card. Details on their Facebook page. Check out KiDECALS for your Christmas list and other organizational needs: Great product, reasonable prices, quick and free shipping, friendly customer service. You can't beat that with a stick. Or a sticker.
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