One of the easiest and least expensive ways to organize people, events and ideas is through the use of wrist bands. Simply defined, a wristband is an encircling strip worn on your wrist, usually made of such materials as rubber, paper, and various plastics. Non intrusive, colorful and easily identified, the potential uses of wrist bands are nearly as unlimited as the human imagination. The uses that come quickly to mind as the most common and pragmatic are:

Wristbands as Jewelry

Although usually inexpensive, wristbands have become increasingly popular simply as fashion accessories. Sometimes people will wear several wristbands on the same wrist to create a colorful, exotic effect. Often which wristbands to wear are chosen based on the desire to color co-ordinate the wristbands with the clothing one is wearing.

Wristbands for a Cause

Sometimes people wear wristbands as a way of promoting particular causes. These causes could be charitable, political or designed to serve as a souvenir of a certain event associated with a cause, like a rally or concert. Often the wristbands are sold with the profits going to whatever cause they promote. Therefore wristbands can be used not just to raise awareness of a particular cause, but to raise money for the cause as well.

Wristbands in Medical Use

In hospitals and other medical settings wristbands are often used to identify patients, the condition they are being treated for or the section of the medical facility in which they are staying. Such wristbands help to avoid medical mistakes by ensuring that staff know who they are dealing with, for what purpose and where the patient belongs.

Wristbands for Security

Wristbands make it easy in both public and private settings to identify the level of security clearance of each person present. Usually different colors are used to designate which areas a person is authorized to enter and to quickly identify those persons who are not where they are authorized to be.

Event Co-ordination with Wristbands

One of the most common and effective uses of wristbands is at large public gatherings such as concerts or sporting events. Wristbands can be used to identify such things as who has paid, who is old enough to drink and who has access to certain areas such as backstage. Wristbands are a very effective means of enforcing security and creating order in situations that would otherwise be hard to control. It is also a friendly way of handling these issues since people seldom mind wearing wrist bands and often keep them as keepsakes of the event.

In other words, wristbands are a proven means of conveying information and organizing gatherings that would otherwise be more difficult and expensive to achieve without them.