Re: getting it today-decorate options???

[Guest guest]

We were going to paint our son's, but my husband didn't like the way the paint

was going to look, so we put stickers on it. We change them about every 2

weeks. I'm much happier with the stickers, b/c we can decorate it for the

holidays, and change them out depending on the mood. Definitely use the clear

backed stickers, they work much better than the paper ones. We didn't put

anything over them, and they stayed until we took them off. We have bought the

majority of the stickers at 's. He's getting his second band in a couple

of weeks, and we already have St. patty's day stickers to go on it. My husband

and I take turns, he's but ants and bugs on it... The ants actually looked

pretty cool...

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> From: valleyranchchamps <andiescandies24@...>

> Subject: getting it today-decorate options???

> Plagiocephaly

> Date: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 1:11 PM

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> so after delay after delay we are getting the helmet today and my son is

9 months, is this still ok? we went with a navy blue and after going onto the

website i think it is going to be more of a royal color..yikes. .any ideas on

how to decorate it? blindyourband all the kids have white helmets? can i use

decals you would put on your car? or scrapbook stickers?? i dont want him to

look terrible so i really want to jazz it up somehow..any tips??

>

[Guest guest]

I second what Jill says about the helmet decorating being a good icebreaker. We

followed that advice, and the part about using his name on front has been

especially helpful. People say hi to him and use his name, and I feel like he

has a little fan club now, from checkers at the grocery store to other children

at my daughters' school. I did have one person (a receptionist at our

pediatrician's office of all places!) ask if the helmet was a TOY, since it was

decorated like a football helmet! One kid at the school said to me, " Wow, is

your son gonna be a professional football player when h grows up? "

I also think that if you try to smile when you're in public and especially when

you notice people staring that it really puts them at ease. Some of them are

wondering if your baby is post-surgery or has some other severe deformity or

condition, and they're worried about it (you can tell by their faces), so

smiling puts them at ease. Sometimes if I don't have the chance to explain it

much I just say, " It's okay, it's just a temporary thing to help round out a

flat spot. " Often I think people also treat us extra-nice too BECAUSE of the

helmet (and sometimes probably because they think the cause must be worse than

it really is), and I don't mind that one bit!

We also used modge-podge over both stickers and vinyl decals and it worked well.

Started to peel eventually but you can always re-apply it. I have read some

people with STARbands saying that the mod podge peeled quickly, so maybe if you

have a STARband you'll want to try the clear nail polish instead.

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> Blingyourband.com has a fun assortment of stickers and scrapbook stickers work

great, too. We ordered the " Under Construction " set from blingyourband.com and

really loved those. It was a great plagio " icebreaker " and kind of lightened

things up when we were out and about...people responded positively and would

generally then feel comfortable talking to him and asking questions about the

helmet. I didn't do much decorating on his first band and our experience was

very different. Not many people spoke to him and we got lots of stares. I was

more uncomfortable the first time around, too, so that could have been part of

the problem!! In band #2, I put his name on the front and really put some

thought into decorating it. It was just much more friendly-looking and we ended

up making new friends every time we went out. People talked to him everywhere

we went and were very kind. We started with " Under Construction " on the back

with all the trucks and cones around the sides, but the trucks and cones came

off after a while. I ended up leaving the " Under Construction " words on the

back the whole time (as well as his name on the front) and changed the other

stickers around it (using scrapbook stickers). We had a football helmet for a

while and then did something special for Christmas. Have fun with it. It really

does go by quickly.

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> Jill

> Cade's mom (DOC Band#2 grad 12.11.09)

> Austin TX

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