All the important issues.

So now I am all growed up I think it might be time to cull the stickers I have on my viola case. Part of me quite likes them, they add a bit of character to a plain black case (Hiscox) but part of me thinks they are oh so childish, and that perhaps I shouldn't be displaying youth orchestra stickers any more! I can't decide if I should replace them with some more grown-up stuff (like what?) if I should keep them as they are, just taking off the damaged ones, clean up the whole case and leave it black, or just get a case cover so I can have my cake and eat it.

So, do you have stickers, and if so what are they? Oh, and if it's not too rude a question, how old are you - ish?

I am thirty-*ahem* years old and my case has:
Birmingham Schools Symphony Orchestra
Children in Need Pudsey bear and footprints (which go all the way round into the case like he's trapped inside)
Midland Youth Orchestra
Duke of Edinburgh Award
D car nationality plate from Germany tour
Something else that I can't remember from down here, totally irrelevant like a Dog is for Life type of sticker

You’re never too old for stickers if you like them.

I brought a new fabric case for my daughter’s violin and made my own iron on transfers of hello kitty, Emily strange, Goth Tinkerbelle and a few other fun things she loved it and all of her teachers and friends thought it was great.
I know you can’t do quite the same thing on a Hiscox case but you could use some of the fun car stickers.

I would have a case decorated any day and im old enough to have a teenage daughter.

If you like them, keep them on I'm sure they look cool anddd they make it more personal to you too. Lots of memories
I'm 18 and i have kiddy stickers over my case... i'll take a pic and upload it

Sorry, but I think stickers on instrument cases look a bit naff these days.

These stickers are you and where you have come from and have been and visited with your trusty viola case. I honestly think you'll regret taking them off, as there are some quite special stickers on there.

And one day the case will either fall apart or get sold with the instrument and they'll be gone for good. Better to stick (unusual/special) stickers to something that is unlikely to require a replacement.

I have festival etc stickers on my clarinet case from twenty-ah-hermmm years ago and I wouldn't remove them for the world! They're part of my experiences and unique! My violin case sports a huge flower luggage label and some birdy badges, and I haven't really had my viola case long enough to do anything to it but it has a little ladybird badge in the corner.

Who cares what your case looks like - it's the other stuff that people are listening to/looking at.

(I don't believe in anonymity )

But some of these are likely to be irreplaceable and new ones don't mean the same as the ones you had for the original experience, and Rose is unlikely to be able to get them off in one, reuseable piece, and it doesn't sound like she'll be getting rid of her case any time soon.

Rose - leave them on, with pride

On my clarinet case, I stuck my entry sticker for the Beckenham Festival on it, and somehow, it stayed there....

When I have my 'cello case, it will remain sticker free...

I'm amazed your BSSO sticker stayed on so long.

My BSWO one stayed on for about 1 month before coming unstuck. I think it is still inside my plastic clarinet's case covered in sticky tape from my final effort to attach it.

you answered your own question here: KEEP THEM!

I never cared for what others think about 'image', it doesn't hurt anyone if you look 'child-ish' or 'old' or whatever if they don't like it they can 'hang around with the dudes/dudettes without stickers'
I personally used to have a 'duck umbrella' (why don't I have it anymore? it broke!), in bright yellow of course with a red beak and BIG black eyes!

Well I am 40-odd and I still like stickers - haven't ever had any on a cello case as all my cases have been fabric (I'm saving up for the hard case, but daughter will have first priority, as she will be off to high school next year and cello will need protection on the bus/while she is in school - it lives in the principal's office in relative safety while at school at the moment ) - but I do have one on my stethoscope from many years ago when I was doing my paeds term...... If they have special memories for you, and if you are not planning on selling your viola/viola case, I reckon wear them with pride. If I remember rightly, you said somewhere on another thread that you were going to be teaching children? Kids would be most intrigued by the stickers and would think they were pretty cool - it could even inspire them to try out for youth orchestras and the like themselves!! And you could compromise and have a cover for the case for "serious adult" events with a secretly wicked and frivolous sticker-enhanced inside.........

Wolfnotes (who is not too old to have an inner child)

Keep them!! I have hotel stickers all over mine plus airline luggage tags (i never check it, but just in case I forgot it and left it on the plane!!), and this younger girl in my orchestra made me a sticker with my name and music notation (it's kinda childish, but I felt bad not putting it on)... all over my fiberglass case!

Oh, forgot, i have butterfly stickers on my case too

Having just forgotten a music stand at an orchestral meeting: I was able to identify it by the stickers I'd stuck on it decades ago as a teenager. So - since the stickers will at least identify the case as yours, take that into account when you make your decision about whether or not to cull them .

Ah you see, I was an anorak, I covered all mine in sticky-backed plastic and then reinforced the adhesive with some spray glue. They had run out of stickers for the MYO and I was so annoyed I copied the whole design with a pencil and felt tipped pens, and you would never know.

So anyway, it appears I have compromised. I took off the Duke of Edinburgh because it was damaged, just didn't like the GB sticker any more, I fixed the edge of the D and culled the Musicians' Union very, very old campaign sticker, bit political. So I am keeping the others, and will be on the lookout for more to fill the spaces. I don't put stickers on any of my other cases, so will probably wind up with some very irrelevant recorder ones on there too. But yes, I might get a second case for going to grown-up places. I might be getting a violin/viola case, the Jakob Winter combination case is only 400g heavier than my Hiscox for viola only!