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But what is everyone talking about when they say they are covering books?
We never did at school (in the UK) and I haven't before with my two :redface: am I supposed to? What does it even mean?
What do I cover them with :think: i'm assuming some kind of wrapping paper :dunno:
Help! Is there other secret stuff that I need to be aware of before they go back to school lol???
TIA (and for not laughing!)
Clear contact... to increase durability ;)
Contact was what we used - clear sticky plastic stuff that we covered text books in to protect them (from tearing mostly) and sometimes out notebook covers also.
I laughed, sorry.
Yeah, clear contact over text books (you can use a ruler to help smooth it down as you go) and you can get patterned/character contact for covering the books you write in, like Bath says, it keeps them durable and they're less likely to tear, it waterproofs them a bit for when their water bottle leaks in their school bag, and it's easy to see which is theirs.
I remember having silver hologram contact when I was young, it was soooo cool! :lol:
It's also sometimes called Duraseal (a different brand to Contact). Clear plastic adhesive sheet to protect the covers of textbooks and exercise books.
Hey you mums out there with schoolkids...
When I was a kid you used to be able to get all kinds of different patterns (stripes, dots, Smurfs, flowers) but I only ever seem to see clear Contact now...could I hijack this thread and ask if kids still cover their exercise books with patterned Contact or is that hopelessly outdated now? (And using the Name Labels from New Idea magazine!!!!!)
Ok so exercise AND text books...ok I get it.
And yep hijack away - i'd like to know if there is funky stuff you can use instead of clear.
Thanks guys and thanks for not laughing (not you Nelle **glare** ;) )
We used to have different color contact for each subject. Gee, I'd forgotten about that. I guess I'll be needing to start doing it soon too - I hope I can do it without too many bubbles!!
I used to like this pretty contact design with Australian animals in cartoon form in Beatrix Potter type colours... and yes, haven't seen that around in years.
I love covering books in contact... as long as it's the good stuff... not the flimsy stuff.
Rach I will come help I love doing it! I cant wait for my kids to start school just to contact the books :)
Oh Nelle I had silver hologram as well !!
I did have a slight giggle CQueen, but I laughed harder at Nelle saying she laughed so blame her :P
Before contact was probably invented (or before we could afford it) my mum used to cover books with clear plastic and stuck it down with sticky tape on the inside covers. I think my brothers used to cop brown paper :lol:
When I went to high school we didn't have books. We just got note pads given to us, and had to put them into folders like display books or ring binders with those plastic sleeves in it.
LOL I had a few books covered with brown paper and plastic...just like Mum did when she was a kid! And so did other kids at primary school too. We would cut pictures off birthday cards and stick them on there to pretty them up.
I looooved book covering day and when I got old enough I would Contact my own books, Mum taught me how. I loved getting all my new stationery ready for school...even DH says how much he loved getting new stationery LOL.
We also sometimes used pretty gift wrapping paper and then clear Contact over the top.
I am so looking forward to doing my kids' books but I don't want to send them to school with really uncool books!!!!
You can also get clear book covers (from places like officeworks etc)
I have used wrapping paper then put stickers on then the clear book cover
or photos as decoration.
Its fun but time consuming !
LOL Curly I used to love getting the stationary as well. I still do. I love stationary and can't wait till the kids start having to get their own supplies and not having them school supplied which means they have to stay at school.
Yep, back in 1975 when I started school it was brown paper and if I was lucky I could stick on a picture cut off a greeting card.
By about 1979 I was getting wrapping paper with clear plastic, sticky tape at the corners like Astrolady described.
It wasn't until the 1980's that contact came into use. Back then it was more often used to cover furniture!!! So it was thick and came in colours and patterns that reflected the decor of the time. People might have used it to line the insides of cupboards. I don't think it came in clear until about the mid 80's (well not common in the rural towns where I lived).
By 1986 I was covering my own books... and yep, recall the clear stuff being available. It was more common to want the pattern stuff though.
My mum still has her cupboards lined with contact. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to be exact LOL. Must have been cheap at the time of re-doing it.
Kmart & the newsagents both have patterned/printed contact
As above.. clear or coloured contact.. I used to when I was going to school but I don't bother now. I don't see the point.. I do for the text books but not the kids regular books
You can still get the Contact to line drawers with, I've seen it in BigW, but not in the same section as the book covering Contact. It still has horrible patterns!
Bathsheba's timeline is pretty accurate. I first had Contact covered books in 1983, and clear Contact was around then...but that was also the first year we were given a book list to buy ourselves so don't know if it was any earlier. I remember Mum making a big fuss of the Smurf Contact she bought for my exercise books so maybe it was really new!
This is a nice trip down Memory Lane...!
about the text books - only cover them if you purchase them - often the school covers the "hired" or borrowed textbooks. (speaking as a teacher librarian)
Ack, I laughed, sorry gorgeous :rofl:
What everyone else said...I love covering books, so much fun. I'm probably a ned for saying that, I think it must have something to do with not having any as a kid. Xx
Ah, YES. When I was a kid, I used to love the name labels that came free with womens magazines.:
I remember doing the wrapping paper thing too, with the name labels, then contact over the top.
Gee, I am sorry I never saw the smurf one when i was a kind - I would have loved it!
If it was a subject I liked, like music, sometimes Id do a collage of pictures on the book cover (the exercise book) and then cover that in the clear contact. Hmm.. i must have been bored.
To avoid the bubbles I used a ruler and/or a clean damp sponge and gradually apply the adhesive cover.
... if a bubble was particularly stubborn/big I would get a pin and pr!ck it to let the air out... it often worked a treat. Hole not usually that noticible.
Oh wow there's so much more to this than I realised! So, I could get some wrapping paper and cover them with that and then put contact over the top?
Amber hon, I think i'll take you up on that offer! I want to get Supernatural season 3 so we can get together and cover whilst drooling over Sam and Dean :) And i'll have a glass of wine ;)
Sounds good Rach! I have season 3 and 4 :) I will bring them...and i will have sparkling apple juice hahaha
I always covered mine with cutout pics of celebs and bands...plus I am pretty sure when I was little we used the new idea name tags lol! Or posters and then clear contact..I must say the contact now id pretty cool..I saw nija turtles the other day! Very cool :)
Ok done, just let me know when you're free!
So these name tags from New Idea...just in the magazine?? In any one so if I buy this weeks will they be in there?
:redface: I have been know to cover all of the DD's books before school started.
Some I would cover with brown paper, label then cover with clear plastic.
Others were covered in all sorts of patterns using contact, only used clear for novels. We had all sorts of patterns, shapes, and pictures including holograms.
I must admit I loved covering them and covered all my own novels for many years. :rolleyes:
Rach it wil say on the front if they have them???? I saw some the other day and cant remember where? Check all the mags, they may have some? x
I don't actually know if they still do them. They would be advertised on the front cover if they do...it was a selling feature...you know "kids back to school, here's our free handy book labels" or something like that. It would only be a once a year thing. Given the kids go back next week I would have thought they would already have been done...if they were done.:
You might just have to buy boring old labels from the newsagent or Officeworks or whatever - they would have
Name: _______
Class:________
Subject:_______
something like that, anyway.
The contact fun wears out pretty fast...go the ready-made plastic covers if you can.
we used to cover our books as a family event! we did the brown paper, picture collage and contact thang! loved it as a kid getting to cut out my favourite animals and sticking them all over the place!
we would also just buy bunches of stickers and put them on the brown paper and cover with contact...obviously when mum got sick of it all lol!
Rach I got some name tags today from Kmart and Big W, Cars, Transformers and Ben10 to be exact.
I also got hologram contact for the 3 boys all different colours for each of them. I don't know what your chances are of getting coloured or pretty contact as it's getting pretty scarce as I found out today.
When i first started teaching I would cover all my class' books for them!! The novelty has since worn off and now i usually send them home to be done.
I am hopeless with contact so last year Erin's got done at work in the staffroom by the other teachers LOL
I used to do brown paper, then funky pictures from magazines then contact over top when I was older. PS I too was a nerd and loved covering books!
I'll help too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:
I used to cut pics out of magazines (or postcards from travelling) and put them on brown paper & then contact my books
........ OMG that bought back memories when my Mum covered my books with her left over contact that she lined her kitchen shelves with ... yep big bold orange & brown pattern, what can i say it was the late 70's ... and my folks were pretty broke (poor Mum, ahhh poor me :doh:) ... Can only laugh about it now :ROFL:
(Hey, Bath thought you'd like that story, harrr ;))
I also used to mainly do the collage of celebrity pictures & photos of myself with my friends. I LOVED doing it & I also loved doing my "title page" (Did everyone else do these?) I'd have so much fun writing the subject & decorating it, still brings a smile to my face thinking of how much I loved doing it (& looking at it all once finished! LOL)
I got DD's decorated contact from Big W, she got one with just flowers & one dora roll. I also saw them in target ;)
Have fun! I cant wait to get all DD's books so I can cover them LOL
mum used to do ours in clear boring i know i used to always ask for the patterns and she said sorry its too expensive and then my sister went to school an lo and behold who gets fairy contact grrrr lol
in high school we had to do our own :o i had a few bubbles in my time lol
ooh this does bring back memories :D I also had the New Idea labels, they would have pictures of Princess Diana or the cast of a Country Practice. We tended to stick to clear contact and I remember have a clear blue roll one year.
Me too untill you saw someone elses which was way better and you thought yours was bad hahaha...maybe that was just me :):
I also loved doing my "title page"