Mementos for school leavers
Have you ever heard about personalised mementos for school leavers? You know, like leaver’s hoodies, gym bags, pencil cases?
To be honest, they really weren’t a thing when I was little (well to be fair it was 40 years ago) but in the last couple of years it really appears to be something that more and more schools, or PTA’s are organising. When I was leaving primary school all we did was sign each other’s shirts on the last day, and I still remember the disaster of a friend using a permanent marker and it going through the flimsy material to leave me with a tattoo of her name until I could scrub it off!
These days one of the most popular suggestions for personalised mementos are leavers hoodies, such as the ones found here . I remember vividly all of my children ordering theirs, the excitement of which colour to buy and getting it in a size large enough that they could wear it for many years to come. My three have them not just as leavers hoodies but as souvenirs from sports tours too, and Jonnie now even has his hanging up on his bedroom wall. They are such lovely mementos to keep as reminders of those trips. And for me too to be honest. I remember the gut wrenching feeling I had when I realised school was out forever for all three of them and I would no longer be doing school runs or plays, and to see the leavers hoodies they still have always makes me smile.
For children leaving primary school they are also lovely reminders of the names of friends who may well not be going on to the same secondary school too. But they aren’t the only personalised mementoes for children leaving primary school that you could think about.
We also have some mugs that were personalised and showed some final term artwork too. If you have a got a mug with a painting of a wonky house on a mug then who even are you? 🙂
Notebooks are another winner of course, and can be used when starting “big school”. It can be daunting on the first day to be amongst the youngest in the school again and feeling really small compared to the bigger kids. There are lots of helpful tips here if you do anticipate the school transition being a trick one later this year.
Having a book with your name on that was a gift from a parent or grandparent can be really reassuring for a young child, and remind them of their days in primary school when they felt a little more secure. And who doesn’t love a notebook with their name on it?
You could also of course get a personalised pencil case as a leaving gift (and I know some teachers have done this for their whole class). Again as a reminder of those days in primary school and because sorting out and filling your new pencil case just before term starts at big school is such an exciting thing to do. I still have a pencil case and love having a rummage through it and making sure everything in it works!
Remember of course if you are ordering personalised hoodies en masse and in multiple sizes it is well worth doing it sooner rather than later. It takes a while to get the names all finalised, colours chosen, sizes checked and monies collected and we all know how busy the end of term can be so well worth doing it a few months in advance to avoid any last minute hold ups!