To make sure they all have the correct shoe, I order them from the vendor and pay for them out of activity, then have the kids pay back the activity account (eliminates sales tax and saves parents' $$). I put the students' names on the heel of each of their shoe soles with an electric engraver. When I started engraving the names, the shoe "thief" quickly went out of business! And, the shoes never go home--they stay in each kid's instrument cubby or in their uniform bag.