Why Every Family Esky Needs a Sticker

The "That's My Chair" Problem

Picture a 6am Saturday departure. One parent is playing gear Tetris in the boot: two camping chairs, a tent bag the size of a small child, sleeping bags, and an esky full of snags. One kid is on the front lawn holding a torch they've claimed as theirs. The other is inside, upset because their sibling has taken "their" camping chair.

The chairs are identical. Same brand, same colour, same everything. But one of them is apparently theirs.

If that sounds like your family, personalised stickers on camping gear are an easy fix.

The Sticker Solution

Before the next trip, upload a photo of each kid and make a sticker sheet for each of them in a scene like Camping Buddies. One kid's stickers go on their chair, water bottle and torch. The other's go on their chair, bottle and sleeping bag stuff sack.

The rule is simple: the stickered item belongs to the kid on the sticker.

Kids may well lean into it, too. A sticker on the esky lid can make one of them the official "esky manager". One on the tent can mark base camp. Basic camping gear becomes their territory.

Why Laminated Stickers Suit the Outdoors

Paper stickers won't last long outdoors. Rain, UV, red dust, sticky fingers covered in melted marshmallow: camping with kids in Australia is not gentle on anything.

Every sheet is laminated and waterproof, and the laminate handles water, scuffing and sunlight. Our sticker materials and sizing guide has the details.

Setting Up Camp, Sticker by Sticker

There's a moment on most camping trips when you arrive at the site and the kids just stand there while you unpack. They want to help but they don't know what's theirs to carry.

Stickers help here too. "Grab everything with your face on it." Each kid knows which chair, bottle and torch to carry to the tent.

The Campfire Sticker Moment

Keep a spare sheet in the car. A kid who's been drawing birds and lizards all weekend in a nature journal can stick one inside the cover to remember the trip.

You take hundreds of photos on your phone and rarely print any of them. A sticker of your kid as a little campfire character, stuck inside a journal or on a piece of gear they carried, is a physical memento. It's there every time they open that journal or grab that water bottle.

Gear That Tells a Story

Over a few trips, the stickers add up. The esky might carry a Camping Buddies sticker from the first trip and a new one from the next. A water bottle might pick up a holiday travel sticker from a road trip up the coast.

Each sticker marks a trip. Kids don't always remember trips the way we do. They remember moments, and a sticker on a familiar object can bring one back.

Not Just for Families

The same idea could work for a Scout or Guide group, a youth group, or a school camp: a personalised sticker as an end-of-camp award or a marker for finishing an outdoor challenge. If you're collecting photos of other people's kids, get each family's permission first.

If your family has multiple kids, identical gear, and a boot that looks like a camping store exploded, stickers are a cheap fix for the "that's mine" problem. They also become little records of the weekends you spent outside together.

Planning the next trip? Stickers work on a lunchbox or a pair of binoculars too. Make your camping sheet here.