Trophies2Go Blog

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

In honor of Teacher Appreciation this week, today's blog discusses ways to honor educators. Next to parents, teachers and other school staff spend the most time with our children each day and have a major impact on our child’s development and intellectual growth.

Making an Impact

In 6th grade, I spent a week at Camp Waskowitz, pictured here. My teacher, Mr. Greer, sparked my love of the outdoors. Photo by Jana Kleitsch.

Most of us can think of a teacher who made a tangible difference in our lives. My story is about my 6th grade teacher, Mr. Greer, who introduced me to the outdoors. My parents were not outdoorsy; their idea of roughing it was a hotel without room service! Mr. Greer exposed me to the amazing flora and fauna of Washington State and through him I discovered my love of the enviroment, specifically Marine Biology. This interest blossomed and eventually led me to major in Fisheries at the University of Washington, resulting in my career in environmental work before the birth of my oldest daugther. This dear teacher had a profound impact on the course of my life!

As adults, we trust teachers to provide guidance, teaching, and care to our most precious resource - our children. Yet how do we show how much we appreciate the time and energy they put forth?

5 Ideas for Appreciating Teachers and School Staff

One of our family's favorite teachers and customers Mrs. Montgomery with the best principal in the world, Mr. Hamasaki!

There are many, many ways to show teachers, principals, librarians, aids, and other school staff how much you appreciate what they do. Below are a few ideas I have discovered, but I know this is just the tip of the iceburg. Get creative!

Idea #1: Make something personal. Have your child create a card, a picture, something to put on the teacher's desk or hang on the classroom wall. Bake goodies for the teacher to share in the staff lounge. Giving the teacher something thoughtfully handmade will make their day!

Idea #2: Small gifts at holiday time and at the end of school.Many parents and students like to give small gifts to their teachers as appreciation, especially at Christmastime and again at the end of the school year. I know that teachers really look forward to and appreciate these gifts.

When I am the Room Mom, at the end of the year, I ask the parents in my child's class to pool our money together for a gift certificate to our local mall. That way the teacher can buy a larger ticket item for their home or classroom, or maybe have a date night with their spouse! This gift is always appreciated, as the teacher can use in whatever way they want.

Idea #3: Volunteer at school.Many teachers stay after hours planning lessons, grading papers, and attending meetings in order to keep up with changing student assessments and standards. By volunteering in the classroom, your time spent and tasks accomplished means less work for the teacher. For middle and high schools, consider helping with concessions at games, locker clean-outs, donating school supplies, or chaperoning events.

Macaroni Kid 'Teacher of the Month' for March, Mrs. VonCappeln.

Idea #4: Nominate your teacher for an award. Consider nominating your favorite or your child's favorite teacher for an award. Many schools have an Outstanding Educator award that they give out each spring. Many local community groups also recognize exceptional teachers. We sponsor two local teacher awards - the Teacher of the Week by Star 101.5 radio station; and Macaroni Kids' Teacher of the Month. If the teacher wins, I guarantee this public recognition will make them feel appreciated!

Idea #5: Participate in National Teacher Appreciation Week. Every year during the first week in May, we honor our teachers. Most schools take this time to shower their teachers and staff with flowers, goodies, notes, meals, and other gifts. As a parent, I always try to participate in helping with this week. If you are organizing your school's Teacher Appreciation Week activities, the National Education Association has some great ideas. Yes, it’s all crammed into one short week, but the teachers really love it!

I hope these ideas inspire you to reach out to that special teacher or educator in your life and thank them for the positive impact they make! It really does make a difference!

Cheers!
Jessica

At Trophies2Go, our goal is to create the perfect award for you to give to someone special.  We take great pride in expertly etching a unique, personalized message on each award we create.  We want the award you purchase to stand the test of time and be a cherished for years to come.

One obstacle we often see in creating a memorable award is engraving errors, especially MISSPELLED WORDS.  We try our hardest to catch these offenders when they come through our website, but sometimes they get missed.  Customers accidentally type the wrong information, or sometimes it’s our mistake – you call your order in, and there’s a typo, for example.

With this blog post, I hope to point out common errors we see in the hopes that everyone, both our staff and customers, double and triple checks the engraving so that it’s error free when engraved onto the award.

3 Most Common Engraving Errors

How many engraving errors can you find on this phony plaque? It was fabricated specifically for today's blog.

Here are the top 3 errors we regularly see:

1. Commonly Misspelled Words.  According to our engravers and our customer service team, here are the worst offenders that they see misspelled over and over again:

Achievement

Congratulations

Commitment

Fantasy

If you have any of these words in the text of your award, use your spell check to make sure they are correct before submitting the engraving.

2. The Wrong Date.  An order gets repeated from the previous year, yet last year’s date doesn’t get updated.  When you get your order confirmation email, be sure to double and triple check the dates, especially the YEAR, to be sure the date on the award is correct.

3. Misspelled Names. Often we have to re-make awards because names are misspelled.  To remedy this problem, it’s a good idea to confirm spelling before entering engraving information. For participation awards, double check your team roster with parents before submitting the engraving for your trophies.  For corporate awards, double check the spelling of the winner’s name before placing your order.

Our goal is to create a fun and hassle free ordering experience for our customers.  But unfortunately mistakes do occasionally happen.  When an award is incorrectly engraved, give our customer service team a call at 877-926-4700 to find a solution.  To prevent errors, double and triple check the engraving text when placing your order.  We strive to create accurate and beautiful awards to be enjoyed for years to come!

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

At Trophies2Go, a common question we get  from new team parents and coaches is what engraving to put on their kids’ participation trophies.  Here are some general pointers on what’s commonly engraved on sports trophies.

The Basics

Three different engraving layouts on our 3 common metal plate colors - gold with gold letters, black with gold letters, and black with silver letters.

1. Engraving is free.  First and most important, engraving is included in the price of your trophy.  You can put as few or as many characters of text as you want and it’s still free.  Some teams even add a logo.

2. Max of 3 lines of text. Most  plates for basic trophies are around 1” tall by 2.5” wide.  Our engraver Paul can fit three lines of text in that space.

3. Fonts.  Depending on the amount of text, Paul uses the best looking font to fill the space.  Customers do not choose the fonts.  However, if you would like to see how the engraving looks before going to production, request a Proof.  It’s free for orders over $50.  Paul will email you the engraving layout so you can see how it looks and approve it before the etching begins.

What Should I Put On My Awards?

Here are the most common pieces of information that are engraved on sports trophies:

Line 1: Team Name (and Year if you are only using 2 lines of engraving)

Line 2: Player’s Name - This can be first and last name, or first name with last initial.

Line 3: League Name, Award (such as MVP), or Year (this line of text is optional)

What Layout Choices Do I Have?

We commonly see 3 different types of layouts for engraving on trophies.

Layout #1:  2 Lines of Engraving  - Team Name and Year on line 1, Player's Name on line 2

Layout #2:  2 Lines of Engraving with Curve - same as above, except the top line is curved

Layout #3:  3 Lines of Engraving - This has more variety.  One line usually has the player's name, another line the team name, and the third line the year or league name, for example.

I hope these examples help you determine the best engraving for your sports trophy.  With so many choices, you're sure to find the perfect award with a special message for your favorite player!

Cheers!

Jessica