Work, Home and Family: Homemade Gifts Part 4: Name badge or Key Lanyards

Lanyard on Left: The original.  All the rest: What we ended up with!

So, I've been trying to come up with homemade gifts for our children's myriad of teachers that don't involve food.  Since I don't know what teachers have allergies or likes/dislikes food-wise, I need to come up with something else.

A vendor came in to my workplace a few months before Christmas and left a re-useable tote bag with about 40 of these blue lanyards (in the picture on the left) for us to hand out as propaganda to whoever.  They were nice and sturdy and the key clip was nice.  The key clips can separate from the rest of the lanyard fairly simply so they are easy to use.  The problem?  The company logo was in BOLD letters on the other side of the lanyard (ideally, the front side of the lanyard so everyone knows what company they are from).  

My co-workers were just going to throw them away so I brought several home, sure I could do something with them.  I have a whole collection of ribbon bought on sales many years ago, so I dug out the ribbons and proceeded to take apart one of the lanyards so I could see how it worked.

I then cut the ribbon to the appropriate lengths and sewed them back together using a whole lanyard as a model.

Ta da!  Lanyards for the children's myriad of teachers! 

My Cost: $0 since the lanyards were free and I already had the ribbon.

Your Cost:  Ribbon can be found for as little as 50-cents a spool depending on sales, which ribbon you're buying and where you buy it (check out thrift stores many have craft supply sections and great deals on things like ribbons and fabric).   The clips and ring for making lanyards can be found at many craft stores and online (Etsy particularly) for around $6 and up.