Talk to me about laminating

[LaurainMD]

I keep running into the need to laminate things, and I'm looking into getting a home laminating machine, but I literally know nothing about these things. My understanding is that I can get one of these cheapy $30 machines and then I need the pouches? I see them in 3mm and 5mm but I don't really know what that means. Any guidance? This is for laminating progress charts, word cards, etc. Thanks in advance for helping a newbie! :)

[danybug]

I am no help, but will be :bigear: I wanted to get one a couple of weeks ago, but worried it would end up being just one more thing around here that is not totally useful and a waste of money. But gosh, maybe it would be nice!

[Peela]

I picked up a cheap A4 laminator and some pouches and for quite a while I was obsessed with laminating everything! It's really fun and very satisfying! The cheapy hasnt been a problem- I recommend just buying a cheap one, whatever pouches the store clerk recommends, and laminate to your heart's content! If one day you become a laminator extraordinaire, you can upgrade your laminator.

[momof3sofar]

We have a cheapy one too. I use the thicker laminating sheets and make write on wipe off charts and even have one with each day of the week listed and a velcrow "button" on it and little pictures of weather, like sunshine, wind, rain drops, snow flakes, and we check the weather channel in the morning, add the picture that matches and write the high and low temps for the day. Each week we wipe it off and start over.

 

Laminators are FUN!!

 

Dawn

[DarlaS]

The 3mm and 5mm refers to the thickness of the laminate. I'd use 5mm for anything that gets handled a lot and 3mm for anything you're just going to hang up.