How to Order Wooden Name Badges — Materials, Sizes, Fastenings and a New Feature for Bulk Orders

Ordering wooden name badges for the first time — or placing a large bulk order for a new team — raises a lot of questions. Oak or bamboo? Pin or magnetic? How do I get all those different names to you without typing them one by one? This guide covers everything, including a new feature that makes large orders significantly easier to place.

Oak or bamboo — which material should you choose?

Both materials are made to order in our North Wales workshop and produce clean, sharp engraving. The difference comes down to environment and aesthetic.

Oak veneered MDF is our most popular material. It engraves with consistent, high-contrast results — dark lines on a warm honey-coloured background. Every badge in a batch looks virtually identical, which matters when you're kitting out a whole team. It's the right choice for most office, retail, events and corporate environments.

FSC-certified bamboo (certificate RINA-COC-001256) engraves with more variation — the natural grain means lighter and darker patches across the surface, giving each badge a slightly different character. It's also slightly more moisture-resistant than oak veneer, which makes it a better choice for hospitality environments, hotel housekeeping, kitchen staff, outdoor markets, and anywhere badges are exposed to humidity. Some organisations choose bamboo specifically because FSC certification supports their sustainability reporting.

If you need every badge to look identical, choose oak. If you're in hospitality or have eco credentials to support, bamboo is worth considering. See our full bamboo name badge range and oak name badge range.

Pin, magnetic, or lanyard — choosing the right fastening

Fastening choice matters more than most people expect. Get it wrong and badges rotate, fall off, or damage uniforms.

Magnetic is the most popular choice for staff badges. It attaches from the front with a small magnetic plate that sits behind the fabric — no holes in clothing, easy to put on and take off. Well suited to retail, hospitality, care homes, hotels, and any environment where smart appearance matters. One note: magnetic fastenings are not suitable for anyone with a pacemaker.

Pin only is the most secure option for heavy fabrics such as thick knit jumpers or blazers. It does leave a small hole, but it won't rotate or slip. Often preferred for outdoor events and school settings where badges need to stay put.

Pin and clip gives the stability of a pin with an extra horizontal clip that stops the badge rotating. A good middle ground for lapels and lightweight fabrics where a standard pin tends to spin.

Lanyard is the right choice for environments where badges need to be temporary, transferable, or visible at distance — conferences, exhibitions, schools, visitor passes and events. All our lanyard badges come with eco recycled black lanyards with a safety breakaway clip. Also useful where uniform policies make pinning impractical.

Size guide — what fits what

Badge size determines how much information you can engrave clearly. As a general rule: the more information you need (name, job title, logo, QR code), the larger the badge needs to be.

• 75×30mm or 65×15mm — name only. Clean and discreet. Common in hospitality where a first name is all that's required.
• 75×35–40mm or similar medium formats — name, job title and small logo. The most popular size for general staff badges.
• 70×40mm oval — works especially well for crests, circular logos and designs that need a wider frame.
• 85×55mm (business card size) — name, job title, logo and QR code, or double-sided engraving. Standard for lanyard badges and the minimum size for QR code badges.
• 50×50mm square — distinctive shape, suits square or circular logos, popular for events and design-conscious environments.
• Custom shapes — we make bread loaf-shaped badges for bakeries and can discuss other custom shapes for specialist requirements. Get in touch if standard shapes don't suit your brief.

Standard badges, QR code badges, or reusable blackboard — which type?

Standard engraved badges are for organisations with a stable team where names don't change often. The engraving is permanent — clear, professional, and long-lasting. Most of our range falls into this category.

QR code badges add a scannable code alongside the staff identification. Popular for conferences and exhibitions where delegates want to share LinkedIn profiles or contact details digitally, and for retail and hospitality environments where you want to link to a review page, website, or social media. We generate the QR code — you just provide the URL. Available in single-sided (name, logo and QR on one face) and double-sided (name and logo on the front, QR on the reverse for a cleaner look).

Reusable blackboard badges are the right choice for events, conferences and delegate days where names change between sessions. A wipeable blackboard surface lets names be written in chalk pen and erased between uses. Delegates write their own name on arrival rather than waiting for a pre-engraved badge.

NFC badges go one step further than QR codes — a tap from a smartphone triggers a link to any URL, no camera needed. Suited to tech-forward environments and networking events where the interaction needs to feel instant.

Placing a bulk order — the new spreadsheet upload feature

Ordering badges for a team of 10, 50 or 100 people used to mean typing every name into a personalisation box. We've now made that significantly easier.

On all our staff name badge product pages, you'll see a Names Spreadsheet upload button alongside the standard personalisation box. For orders of 10 or more badges, you can download our template, fill in names and job titles — one row per person — and upload the completed file at checkout. We use it to mail merge directly into our production process, which reduces errors and speeds up your order.

Download the names template here. It has three columns: Name (required), Job Title (optional), and Notes (optional, not engraved — for your reference only).

Using the spreadsheet is completely optional. For small orders or single badges, just type the details in the personalisation box as usual. But for any order of 10 or more, the spreadsheet saves time and reduces the chance of a typo slipping through.

Logos — what works and what doesn't

Laser engraving burns the surface of the wood rather than printing onto it. This means it responds to contrast, not colour. A few things to know before you upload:

• Black and white artwork engraves best. Clean lines, solid fills, no gradients.
• Colour logos usually work. We convert them to a format suitable for engraving — we'll let you know if anything needs simplifying.
• Very fine detail may not survive at small sizes. A logo that looks great at A4 can lose thin lines when engraved at 20mm wide. Simple, bold logos engrave most clearly.
• PNG or JPG. These are the preferred formats. Vector files (SVG, AI, EPS) are also fine.
• We don't charge for the design service. Upload your logo and we handle the layout.

Bulk discounts

Discounts apply automatically at checkout — no code needed:

• 20+ items: 10% off
• 50+ items: 15% off
• 100+ items: 20% off
• 250+ items: 25% off
• 500+ items: 30% off
• 1,000+ items: 35% off

Most team badge orders fall into the 20–100 range where you're looking at 10–20% off the per-unit price. For very large orders or ongoing supply, get in touch to discuss terms.

Use cases — who orders what

Hotels and hospitality — typically order bamboo or oak badges in 75×30mm or 77×45mm with magnetic fastening and a property logo. Front-of-house and housekeeping teams. Often paired with room key tags, door hangers and QR code signs.

Retail — usually oak, magnetic, name and job title. Sometimes "Please Be Kind to Our Team" format for customer-facing staff in high-pressure environments.

Schools — staff badges with lanyard and school logo. Often 85×55mm with a safeguarding slogan. We also make school leavers keyrings and achievement badges for pupils.

Conferences and events — QR code badges or standard engraved badges with lanyard, often with attendee name and company. Large orders frequently use the spreadsheet upload feature.

Charities and care homes — usually oak, magnetic, often including a visible slogan or the charity name prominently to help service users identify staff.

Bakeries, cafés and specialist businesses — sometimes choose a shaped badge (bread loaf, chef hat) rather than a standard rectangle to reflect the brand character.