Activity Awards

No matter the season, it's great to get active outside with recreational backyard games.  What is appealing about these games is that all ages can participate, they are relatively cheap to buy, and can be played on a lawn - no special court or field required.  Below are popular games to consider for your next barbecue, tailgate, or other outdoor social event.

Popular Backyard Games

Bocce Balls:   Originally created in Italy, bocce is a fun game for all ages that is easy to play and not too physically demanding.  A throwing game, bocce uses a small ball and larger balls to score.  Get rules here.

Cornhole: This game is easy to play for both young and old, with little skill required.  Toss the bean bag in the hole and you're a winner!   Find the rules here.  The bean bag toss boards are available for purchase at any sporting goods store or you can build your own.  Be sure to award a trophy to the winning team - we have many options.

Croquet:  This old fashioned game has many variations that span ages.  Extremely versatile, a court can be set up anywhere; get a croquet set and you're good to go!  Read rules here.

These Corn Hole Monster Trophies are for a corn hole tournament in Tennessee.

Horseshoes: Another classic game, many parks have horseshoe pits already built – you just supply the shoes. The only caution with this game is many horseshoes are heavy, so take care when throwing them. We make trophies for this game as well.

Ladder Ball: This fun game can be played by all ages.  Just throw the balls at the ladder, and hope they stick!   This game does require the equipment, which can be found at most sporting goods stores.

Outdoor Drinking Games

The games below are for the 21+ crowd only.  Play responsibly!

Beer Pong:  This popular drinking game can be played indoors or outdoors.  It does require equipment - a beer pong table, along with beer, ping pong balls and plastic cups.  The object of the game is to throw a ping pong ball into a plastic cup at the far end of the table.  If you make the shot, the other team has to drink the beer in the cup.  This game is great fun, especially at tailgates and other adult parties.  And trophies for the winners are always fun!

Flip Cup:  Having been out of college for close to 20 years, this game wasn't around when I was in school.  But it seems to be popular with college kids these days.  It involves teams drinking a beer and then flipping a cup right side up after.  See instructions here.  We have a number of flip cup trophies for your next party - check them out here.

No matter what game you choose, they will provide you with hours of entertainment and connection with the other players.  Get outside and play now!

Cheers!
Jessica

A few weeks ago, I published a post on preparing for dance competitions.  Now, in the season of recitals and end of the year parties, it's time to order awards for your dancer.

There are many different kinds of dance awards for different purposes.  The function of the awards should drive your decision for purchasing.

Recital Awards

The traditional award for dancers is flowers.

The traditional dancer award for a recital is flowers.  All dancers love to receive bouquets of flowers after a big performance.

As a parent, it's often fun to give your special dancer an award as well.  Many parents order ballet trophies for their ballerina's first recital.  A great choice is an inexpensive Simple Ballet Trophy for a young dancer.  For older more advanced dancers, they may appreciate a gift card to their favorite dance supply store instead of a traditional trophy.

Dance Team Participation Awards

Many times dance studios will give participation awards to their dance team members.  Resin dance trophies, medals, and dog tags are all great options for dancers at your studio. Our dance studio gave out bling gem dog tags to the dance team engraved with the girls’ first names, and the dancers LOVED them. They were a huge hit!

Competition Awards

If you are planning a dance competitions, here are some ideas for the awards to offer.

Trophies: If you organize a dance competition, consider getting higher quality awards from a reputable supplier.  Trophy choices include ballet, jazz, modern dance, tap, ballroom, square dance and highland dance, to name a few. Also, more generic star-shaped trophies make great choices for dance.

Our line of dance competition trophies feature a set of 3 cascading stars instead of a dancer. This way all different types of dance can be recognized in a more modern, classy way. With many sizes available, these tall post trophies make impressive awards for the competition winners.

Participation ribbons are also something many competitions award. In my experience, my daughter didn’t care about the ribbon as much as winning the trophy. I would suggest skipping the participation awards and putting that allocated money into nicer trophies for the winners.

A cute display of awards for a Scottish Highland Dance competition.

Dog tags and medals are a great choice for dancers, as they can wear them at the competition, and then hang them from a curtain rod in their room to display, use as a key ring, or clip onto a backpack or purse after the event is over. Dance metals and dog tags are smaller awards so they don’t take up as much space. Many competitions will design their own custom medals; if you would like more information about custom design, feel free to give us a call at 1-877-926-4700.

It’s important to acknowledge the time, energy, and commitment put into learning a dance and the guts it takes to perform it on stage.   Every dancer gains confidence, skill and grace through the experience of performance!

Cheers,
Jessica

Another school year is coming to a close, with the anticipation of lazy summer days ahead.  Now is the time to recognize learning and leadership excellence at your school for the past year.  What awards will you be giving to your students?  How much can you spend on the awards?  Here are some tips and ideas for school academic awards;  we have seen many come through our doors for the past 20+ years.

I split academic awards into two categories:  Contests and Achievement.

School Contests

Tiger resin trophies for this school's "Paws Reading Club"- one for each grade level winner. The engraving says "Top Tiger Readers" - so cute!

Common contests we see include Spelling Bees, Science Fairs, Reflections, Eager Reader, and Field Day.  Below are ideas for awards.

Certificates:  These work for any contest and any budget.  Just design and print on your computer.  Easy and inexpensive!

Ribbons:  Relatively inexpensive and fun.  You can customize these to your school colors and print them with your event info.  Ribbons make great participation awards for your Reflections Art Contest, Science Fair and Field Day. However, ribbons do require additional time to produce; order at least 3 weeks before your event for customization; stock ribbon orders need less time.

Trophies: Theme trophies exist for many events, such as spelling bees and science fairs.  Also, mascot resin trophies are a popular choice for Eager Reader winners and Field Day.

Medals:  A variation on trophies, scholastic medals are inexpensive and easy to store at home.  They are great for events where you have a first, second or third place winner.  We have many medals with inserts for science fair, spelling bee, and school mascots, or design your own!

Achievement Awards

Many schools have awards for Graduation, Students of the Month, Students of the Quarter, outstanding attendance, scholarship winners, etc.  What do you give these students to honor them for their achievement?  Depending on the age of the student, I would recommend different awards.  Below are our most popular.

Awards

For Preschool, Kindergarten and Elementary Schools:  The most popular type of academic award for younger students is a Lamp of Learning.  These come in many different shapes and styles, depending on your need and budget.  Resin mascot trophies, especially bobble heads, are also popular with younger kids.

An example of a school themed plaque, popular for middle and high school scholastic achievement (and sports).

For Middle and High Schools: The most popular academic awards for older students are school plaques.  Using metal in school colors, these plaques usually have the school mascot engraved on top with the winner's name, achievement and date below.  These are popular for Students of the Month, Citizen of the Year, Class Officers, and other larger scholastic and leadership achievements.

School Assemblies

In addition to awards, many schools host an assembly to honor students.  This peer recognition is just as, if not more, important than the tangible award.

School Newsletter

Many schools publish the names of their award winners in the school or district publication.  This can be online, in an Eblast, or in a hard copy newsletter. For larger community awards, such as scholarships or national recognition, students may be published in the local community newspaper as well.

I hope this gives you some ideas of how to award academic achievement.  Here's to another great school year! Wishing you a relaxing summer, full of fun!

Cheers,
Jessica

For the past couple of years, I've the honor of being a “Dance Mom”.  My daughter Audrey was on a competitive dance team for two years and my daughter Brenna competed in Highland Games and Scottish Dance Competitions.  I'm sharing what I learned hoping that new dance moms and their kiddos have a positive experience, no matter what kind of dance they do.  Here are my tips for preparing for a Dance Competition or really any dance performance, such as a dance recital or dance convention.

Getting Organized

The first step in preparing for the competition happens BEFORE the event.  It requires getting organized to figure out what you need, and then packing it all up so you can find it in backstage chaos.

A List of What to Bring:  This is the first step to getting organized.  Dance teachers or other leaders put together the list of what to bring to the event and then pass it out at the practice before the competition.

Costume:  Each costume gets labeled with my daughter’s name and all pieces of the costume are placed together.  For smaller items, such as hair accessories, jewelry, or gloves, I put them together in a plastic Ziploc bag with the dance name written on the outside.  I use a hole punch to make a hole in the bag, and then slip it over the hanger of the costume.  I label everything with white fabric tape and a sharpie in case stuff gets mixed up with other girls.

Tights and Shoes:  We had an extra set of each kind of tights, in case of a run.  Shoes were labeled and placed with costumes.

Makeup:  For Audrey, her studio required very specific stage makeup, including training of how, where, and what colors to apply.  I practiced applying makeup on her, especially false eyelashes, before the first event.  I made sure we had everything we needed in a makeup case, including the instructions of how to apply.

Hair Supplies:  As with makeup, I had all hair supplies in a case.  Everything we could possibly need was in there!

Food:  All that dancing makes a kid hungry, so I tried to bring non-messy snacks for the waiting time.  Also, I brought a water bottle for keeping hydrated, and some cash for lunch at the event.  If the competition was hosted at a school or some other place without food, we stopped for sandwiches at Subway on the way.

Dance Bag:  Many of the other dance moms purchased these awesome duffle-style bags for all of the dance gear.  The bags had wheels like luggage for easy transport, and when you arrived at the competition, the bag had a built in garment rack for hanging costumes. Not only is this great for competitions, but recitals and other performances as well.

Miscellaneous items:  A sewing kit for mending emergencies, camera for pictures of the performers, and activities to keep girls busy between dances are all things I included in my bag.  Also, emergency safety pins are a must for costume malfunctions!

Day Before the Event

Finish your organization. Whatever last minute tasks need to be done, I tried to do the night before.  Packing the costumes, shopping for the snacks, filling the gas tank, all of these tasks I completed the day before so that I didn’t stress the day of the event.

Eat well and stay hydrated.  Just like any other sport, dancing is an athletic endeavor that requires good fuel for the body.  A healthy meal and lots of water the day before keep the dancer in top shape.

Early to bed.  Sleep helps the dancer be rested for the long day ahead.  We tried not to plan any evening events the night before a dance competition or convention.

Day of Event

Arrive early.  Our dance studio required the dancers to arrive a full two hours before their scheduled performance time.  I think this was a wise idea because of unforeseen events.  For example, bad traffic, a change in dance line-up and other schedule changes can happen and you don’t want your dancer to miss her opportunity to perform!

Stay Calm. This is a hard one for me.  I get so keyed up getting there, getting my daughter ready, and all the commotion and excitement of the other dancers.  I’m excited for my daughter, and nervous for her performance.  Sometimes as the mom you just have to take a deep breath and let go!

Enjoy the Dance.  Once on stage, all of the work and commitment of your child pays off.  It’s great to see the confidence that dance gives.  Plus it is just beautiful artistry!  The performance goes by so quickly, but seeing your child onstage makes it all worthwhile.

While not all dancers compete, most will perform at some point in their dance career.  Even though I wrote this article from the perspective of a dance competition, these tips also work for dance recitals and other performances.  The important thing is to have fun and embrace the joy of dancing!

Cheers!
Jessica

Your grown child has moved out of the house, and you’re reclaiming his/her room as your own. What do you do with that collection of old, dusty trophies? Here are some ideas of how to give those old trophies a new life.

Trophy Recycling

Our engraver Mike's box of brass scraps bound for recycling.

Unfortunately, the awards and recognition industry does not produce many recyclable trophy components. Most of the trophies we create cannot be recycled and must be either reused or disposed. Hopefully our industry will soon change its ways and reduce waste by offering recyclable products or products made from recycled materials. Until then, we have some suggestions for more utility from your old awards.

What Can Be Recycled?

Most metal plates that are attached to plaques and trophies can be recycled. Usually these plates are made from aluminum or brass and can be taken to a local recycling center. We recycle all of our scrap metal from plates.

Many solid wood plaques are biodegradable. Our Eco-Plaques and Bamboo Plaques are harvested from environmentally-friendly sustainable forests. These are a great product choice for eco conscious buyers.

Donation, Donation, Donation

This eco-plaque is made of sustainably harvested cherry and the engraved metal plate can be recycled.

Many larger chain thrift stores, such as Goodwill or Value Village, accept donations of gently used awards in good condition. They clean and sell the old trophies to their customers. It’s surprising what creative things people can make out of old awards!

Unfortunately, many smaller thrift stores do not accept trophies. If you have a question, call your local second-hand store before making your donation.

Reuse Your Old Trophies

If you decide to reuse trophies for another season, the old engraved metal can be removed and recycled. New metal plates can be ordered and easily attached to existing trophies using double sided tape.

Make Your Own Trophies

If your team is concerned about purchasing products that cannot be recycled, consider making your own awards out of wood or another biodegradable material. At Trophies2Go, engraved plates are available for you to attach to your awards. All of our engraved metal is recyclable.

We appreciate and share your commitment to our environment. At Trophies2Go.com, we strive to create meaningful recognition in an earth-friendly way!

Cheers!
Jessica