Backpack

Green Ghost, Blue Ghost

/ funflector® designs / , , , ,

Our popular ghost safety reflectors have got a new sibling! We’ve added a blue one and restocked the best-sellers white and bright green. The green is even brighter than before! Check them out at the glimling webshop and if you don’t want ghosts on your coat or bag, there are many, many more designs to choose from.

Ghost safety reflectors on a backpack
Backpack with ghost safety reflectors. Backpack from Target.


We are also excited to support American workers by manufacturing them in the USA!

Equinox is behind us and evenings are rapidly getting darker. Whether you are out on Halloween or on any other night, pedestrian safety reflectors are a great way to increase your visibility! Kids, tweens, teens and adults without reflectors are all equally difficult for drivers to see. By wearing reflectors you give drivers several extra seconds to notice you, which will help them to slow down or stop if needed.

The funflector team
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Walk to School

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Kids benefit so much from walking to school, but fewer and fewer do it on a daily basis. A local walk to school program is a great way to get kids into the habit. Parents at Vienna Elementary (VA) organize “Walking Wednesdays” and here they share their story:

Vienna Elementary, a school with just under 400 students, has been participating in the October International Walk to School Day and a local spring Walk/Bike to School Challenge for several years. Almost all of our students live within 1/2 mile of the school, but about 3/4 are bussed because of  two heavily traveled roads near the school. Bussed students are allowed to walk if accompanied by their parents. Our turnouts for these walk and bike to school days was as high as 120 walkers during nice weather.

Safety reflectors for kids walking to school
The bright orange hand was one of the pedestrian reflectors that Vienna Elementary students could get in their walk-to-school program.

This year we received a grant from Prevention Connections to implement a “Walking Wednesdays” program that was launched on this year’s International Walk to School Day (October 9th). Every Wednesday that a student walks, they are given a small foot charm to put on a chain. A local coffee shop, Cafe Amouri, has donated free coffee for the parents. The program has been an overwhelming success. We are regularly seeing over 150 students from all over town walking on Wednesdays and the charm and coffee table has become a small social scene.
As part of the grant, we purchased several hundred funflector reflective charms to give away on a few special days each year. We gave them out this year on December 7th and 14th and let the kids know there would be a special surprise for walking. Now that it is getting dark early, we wanted to help keep the children be safe when they walk in the dawn and dusk hours or on rainy or overcast days. Turnout was high and the children were very excited to see the reflectors which were in the Paw and Peace Hand designs. Now, almost all of our walkers have one on their backpacks to help make them more visible. Kids like the designs and proudly display them on their backpacks. Because it is not obvious that the funflector tags are highly reflective, we are sending out followup information to the parents about the pedestrian reflectors. Close to St Patrick’s day, we’ll have another funflector day with the shamrock design so that students will have one for their front (typically jacket zipper pull) and one for their backpack if they choose.

Sean McCall, a father of two Vienna Elementary students, is engaged in the PTO walk to school committee and contributed this post. Thanks for sharing your project and experience with our readers!

Elisabeth

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Backpack Confusion – No Thanks!

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As always in August, I’m in the back-to-school aisles of the big stores wondering what backpacks to get my kids for this school year. Since my third grader uses his backpack as something between a discus and a curling stone, it is pointless paying for “quality.” No matter what, it will look dirty and worn in a couple of weeks, so I end up buying him a generic gray and blue one.

At pickup at day camp this summer, my son discovered that he didn’t have his own backpack, but an identical one. My son’s had been grabbed by another kid, so we ended up going to his house to exchange them. The night before we had removed the reflectors that are normally on my son’s backpack for a much-needed wash. In the morning rush, we of course forgot to put them back.

Back to school with safety reflectors on backpacks

Had I only followed my own advice that the reflectors are not only for safety, but also a great way for the kids to personalize their bags and jackets… Tomorrow morning it’s time to head for the school bus and my kids have not only picked their school supplies but also some funflector® safety reflectors to make sure they will come home with their own backpacks. They even decorated their lunch bags with safety reflectors!

Elisabeth

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