Since I teach in a high poverty area, getting kids to buy recorders was always a challenge. Therefore, I had the school buy a set of enough recorders to outfit all my 4th graders, plus some extra. We got the colored ones, and each student in a class receives the same color recorder. The recorders are engraved with a number, and I write the student's name on it with a permanent marker (which washes off in the sanitizer at the end of the year). If a recorder appears, it is easy to track it down.

If a student loses their school issued recorder, I'll issue a replacement, but only in white, and they love the colored ones so much more that I've had much loss this past year than ever before. They really love showing them off, especially with the brightly colored belts attached!