I have (insert color/style/size/special features) guards too...
It's amazing to realize how many skaters have the same/similar guards. Tip: Label them with your name so they aren't taken by accident. One of my DDs' guards was picked up by accident by the synchro team's sole boy skater. He didn't realize it because her guards were longer, so she was walking around with the bladed equivalent of "high water" pants. (Too short, blade tail hanging over.)
What were the odds? Same team/practice, color, same one-piece style. The one-piece is unusual in this area - most skaters have the two-piece versions.
I switched my kids from the two-piece guards because they frankly didn't wear them. They just carried them to appease me, which wasn't acceptable. They admitted that the clear, jewel-like 2 pc. guards were too hard for them to put on by themselves without sitting down.
I figured it was worth $10 to give the one-piece versions a shot and now they wear them most of the time. I still occasionally catch them rushing off to talk with friends instead of doing the right thing.
Our rink is having new lighting and a dropped, insulated ceiling installed. There are small screws and pieces of metal all over the place, so going without guards is just asking for trouble - I found a black metal allen wrench on the floor last month from the sound system installer. He had dropped it on the black rubber flooring and couldn't find it, so he was glad to get it back.
One of my DDs has become lazy, so she's using her beautiful soakers as guards, which is going to stop today. They're big, puffy chinese soakers that I paid retail for at Klingbeils because I knew she'd love them. Walking in soakers with wet blades, then putting the wet soakers back on after drying the blades ... :bash