9 unbelievable but true facts about children's lost items

I forgot my jacket, swapped some of my pens and lost my favourite toy! We know these phrases all too well from our children and they cause headaches for most parents. At Stickerkid, we have tried to investigate the lost item phenomenon to better understand why and under what circumstances they occur.

Which things do children most often lose? How much time do parents spend looking for lost or forgotten items? In what unusual places have they been found again? The following results are based on a survey of our German customers. They will certainly give you some tips, tricks and ideas when you find yourself in a similar situation with one or more lost items to recover.

Top 3 lost items for children: cap, gloves and water bottle

According to our survey results, everyday items are lost more frequently than leisure items. The top 3 things your children lose are caps or hats, gloves and water bottles. This is followed by jackets, scarves, socks, sunglasses and pacifiers. Now you know what to label first! To avoid losing or forgetting these things, label each item with a personalised name sticker , which will make your life much easier!

As for items related to hobbies, keep an eye on all your balls, stuffed animals and toy cars - especially before leaving the playground, the grandparent’s house or a friend's bedroom. Also remember to label every item, no matter how big or small, with self-adhesive name labels to avoid losing, forgetting or accidentally swapping them.

Can't find lost items anywhere? Try in these places!

Your children are most likely to lose their belongings at school and nursery. But both at home (or at grandma's house) and at the playground children are also often losing or forgetting things. Think about this when you leave these places, or just apply a sticker with a name and a surname and that's it!

To help you label all your children's school or nursery belongings, you can make your life easier with our and Daycare packs . You can also opt for personalised labels of different sizes that can be used on all types of objects.

Personalised labels to get kids to stop losing things

More than half of all lost things are found again

Don't lose hope, the search (almost) always pays off! Almost 50% of respondents to our survey say that more than half of kids’ lost items end up being recovered. Personalised name labels certainly play a big part in this: if you’ve applied them to all the important items, the chances of finding lost or forgotten belongings will be increased tenfold!

More than 30 minutes a week looking for lost items

According to the answers to our survey, you estimate that you spend 33 minutes a week looking for your child's lost or forgotten things. That may not sound like much, but it's the equivalent of 29 hours per year, or one day and one night! With all the time you already spend on your other chores, claw some back for yourself with customisable stickers!

Lost things cost an average of €37 per year

Good to know! According to the respondents, the average value of lost or forgotten things is around 37 euros per year for children’s items. This is not an extremely high price, but it’s still equivalent to two cinema tickets or two museum admissions. Preventing lost items also means not having to find and purchase a replacement item, which can be particularly tricky for the old favourite toy or any special edition items.

The most unusual hiding places for lost or forgotten things

Still haven't found your child's lost or forgotten things? We've come up with the top 3 unusual places where things are getting lost. It should give you some ideas for future places to look: in the fridge, in the washing machine and in a shoe. And yes, you’ll thank us later ;-)

Will your child tell all or keep it a secret?

Half of the responses we’ve received indicate that your children are honest about losing things  and will tell his or her parents immediately if something has been lost or forgotten. Only a quarter of the children remain silent until the parents themselves notice that something has gone missing. So which camp is your child in? Does he or she let you know right away or is he or she in the habit of covering up their tracks? In any case, if you label all of your children's stuff with name stickers  you'll increase your chances of them being returned to you easily and quickly.

Social networks are a helpful tool to find lost items 

Mums and dads are probably already familiar with this trick. Nowadays, social networks are indeed a very useful way to broadcast the loss of your children's belongings and then hopefully get hold of them again. Whether it's a shared parent Whatsapp group or a post on Facebook, these communication tools can be very useful!

Tips for teaching your children not to forget their things

- All belongings should have a clearly defined place in the house: keys by the front door, glasses in their cover and all the notebooks in the school bag. As soon as an item is no longer in use, it should be returned to its place.

- Habits facilitate learning. For example, prepare the school bag with your child so that he or she knows what should be inside it and what they need to bring back at the end of the day.

- Teach them that finding lost things takes effort and time. For example, show them the route they have to take when searching for an item in the area.

- Don’t replace lost items immediately so that your child becomes aware that they’re missing. Or replace only the most important things. If necessary, involve your child (for older children) in replacing the item in question with his/her pocket money. According to our survey, water bottles, snack boxes, caps/hats and specific accessories for different times of the year (gloves, scarves, flip-flops) are the items you have more than one spare of in case they’re lost or forgotten.

- Teach them to look over their shoulder every time they leave a place to avoid forgetting their belongings when leaving school, the gym locker room or the playground. 

- In addition to the above tips, label everything important with customisable name labels ! This will increase the chances of everything making its way back quickly and easily.

Personalised labels that prevent forgetting and losing things

It couldn't be easier to create your own personalised labels with Stickerkid! Simply choose the type of sticker you want - round , heart-shaped , mini , big or clothing - and customise them entirely to your child's taste. 

After choosing the shape, you can choose from a wide range of colours and a selection of illustrations to further personalise your stickers. All that remains is for you to insert your text in the desired font so you can write your child's first and last name or any other information you deem useful (telephone number, allergies, etc.). It's completely up to you!