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Trophies and Awards

Trophies2Go Blog

Employee Recognition Blog & Award Ceremony Ideas

  1. Planning a Team Party

    Parties at the end of a sports season are a fun way to celebrate a team’s accomplishments. The common denominator for most team parties is food and awards, with a presentation by the coach. This can be as simple as handing out a cupcake and trophy after the last game or a more involved party at a home, restaurant, school or other facility.

    Ensure a Fun Time for the Team

    baseball team A baseball team with their hard-earned trophies and medals!

    When planning your team party, a few things need to be decided first.

    Date and time:  Most parties are held at the end of the season to celebrate your team’s accomplishments. Many teams will celebrate immediately after their final game; ask your coach his or her preference. Then once the date and time are set, communicate that to the other parents as soon as possible.

    Venue:  A park, teammate or coach's house, pizza parlor, frozen yogurt shop or other local restaurant are all great locations for a party.  If you choose a popular location, plan ahead to reserve a spot, as many can get booked by other teams.

    Food:  The food can be as simple or as fancy as you like. Many teams will hold a potluck at the park or coach's house after their last game.  Pizza is another popular option.  Or maybe its a more low-key affair, and a parent brings cupcakes to the last game.

    Awards:  A great way to memorialize the season is to recognize each team member with a personalized trophy, medal, or award.  If your team doesn't want to give participation trophies, consider giving each player a small gift instead, such as a team picture, water bottle, autograph book, or some other memento to remember the season.

    If you decide to order awards, choose age appropriate trophies depending on the skill level of your players. For suggestions of awards by age, read Choosing the Right Sports Trophy.

    Coaches Gift:   Don’t forget a special acknowledgement for the coaches and team parents as well!  Many of them are volunteers, and it's great for the team to thank them for their time and energy.  Read Coach Recognition for ideas on how to make your coach feel special.

    Budget:  If you are planning awards for the team or a gift for the coach,  you may need to collect money from the parents to share the costs.  I suggest pricing out how much everything will cost, then letting the parents know their share.

    Presentation:Every player contributes something to the team.  To make your party meaningful, ask your coach to say a few words about each player, whether you give awards or not.  Find one positive contribution from each player and recognize them for it. For ideas how to present a trophy in a meaningful way, read Making Sports Trophies Meaningful.

    Avoiding Common Party Problems

    Reserve your venue early. Many popular party spots, such as the neighborhood pizza parlor, get booked quickly with team parties. Check the calendar and call ahead to reserve your team’s space.

    Provide plenty of time to order and receive the awards. A little planning will help you stay within your budget and minimize stress. You’ll also save on shipping and rush order fees. Allow at least a week for your order to be completed, more if it needs to be shipped to you.

    Confirm the spelling of each player’s name. You don’t want to order an award for “John Smith” when his name is “Jon Smith.” Double check the roster, and if you have questions, check with the player or their parents.

    A team party is a great way to celebrate the team and its accomplishments. Here's to another great season!

    Cheers!
    Jessica

  2. Coach Appreciation Sayings

    Do you want to get your child's coach a special gift to recognize an outstanding season?  You decide on an engraved plaque or trophy.  You want to add a meaningful message, but what should you say?  Today's blog post gives some ideas of popular coach appreciation sayings to add onto a wall plaque or other coach trophy for an outstanding mentor.

    Coach Appreciation Sayings

    Coach Plaque A special plaque for an awesome coach!

    1. Start with "Thanks Coach (Name)" and be sure to spell the name correctly.

    2. For the middle, keep it short with one to two sentences personally thanking the coach.

    3.  Have the last line be your team name and year.

    Example:

    Coach Tom

    Thanks for the great season!

    2019 Huskies

    Other ideas for the meaningful middle:

    Thank you for believing in us!

    We wouldn't be the team we are today without your hard work and dedication.

    Thank you for the time you put into coaching us this year

    Thank you for your patience and persistence and never giving up on us.

    You have taught us sportsmanship, fair play, hard work and commitment.

    It takes a big heart to shape little minds.

    Thank you for using your free time to help our kids develop and grow.

    - - -

    If you decide to create an award for your coach, make it meaningful!  For other coach recognition ideas, check out my past blog post "Top Gifts for Coaches". Have a great season!

    Cheers!
    Jessica

  3. Top Five Golf Awards

    Time for golf!With the Masters Tournament in the record books after Tiger's epic win, the golf season has officially kicked off!  The weather is turning and it’s time to dust off the sticks and get out on the course.

    Golf trophies and golf awards are some of the most popular items our customers purchase.

    Below are our top golf sellers with ideas for how you can use them for your next event.

    Top 5 Golf Trophies

    #5 – Best Steal –  Our Basic Swinging Golfer Trophy  is a popular option for any golf accomplishment!  Affordable and can be customized for both men and women.

    #4 – Best Joke Trophy: Golden Throne Golfing Resin Award  Give this funny golf award to your highest scoring teams, who’s game is really in the toilet! This popular golf gag trophy is sure to get a laugh, whether your event is a large tournament, country club mixer, or guy’s weekend!

    Cameo Cup Trophy Our Cameo Cup Trophy is our #1 best-selling golf award!

    #3 – Best Tournament Awards:  We ship many of these three awards around the country, as they are the perfect size and cost for many of our customers.
    - Longest Drive: Golf Driver Resin Trophy 
    - Closest to the Pin: Resin Golf Iron Award
    - Longest Putt: Golf Putter Resin Award

    #2 – Hole in OneHole in One Plaque is the perfect way to commemorate a once-in-a-lifetime shot!  Even has a place to hold the lucky ball! This golf plaque was also awarded our 2017 Product of the Year.

    #1 – Top Golf TrophyCameo Cup is by far our best-selling golf award, the cameo cup trophy will impress your players.  In three sizes, and even a perpetual version that can be passed around year to year, this golf trophy is a great way to acknowledge a grand champion.  My favorite order was for a tournament at Pebble Beach, what a fun place to send our trophies!

    You can't go wrong with any of these customer favorites!  To get more ideas for presenting awards at your next golf tournament, read my post here.

    Here’s to a great day on the course!
    Cheers
    Jessica

    Editor's Note: This post was originally published April 2018,  It has been updated for content.

  4. What is the difference between a cup and a trophy?

    We sometimes get asked the question "What is the difference between a cup and a trophy?".  The short answer is a cup is a KIND of trophy, just like an apple is a kind of fruit, but read more to get the full scoop.

    Loving Cup Trophy This traditional Loving Cup Trophy contains a figure top, the golden cup, and then a walnut base with a black brass engraved plate.

    The definition of a trophy is: "A cup or other decorative object awarded as a prize for a victory or success".

    Trophies are made of two pieces - a top (called a trophy "figure") and a bottom (called a "base").  All trophies have a figure top, which can be a variety of shapes, colors and styles including a cup, a star, a person (such as an Oscar trophy) a sports figure, etc.  To answer the question, a chalice cup can definitely be a figure top, but it doesn't have to be.

    The base of the trophy contains the engraved text, including the name of the award, event name, winners name, for example.

    There are many different types of trophies, the only limit is imagination!  But Cup Trophies are a classic style that never goes out of fashion and endures the test of time.  Discover our many trophies at our website, including Chalice Cup Trophies!

    Cheers!

    Jessica

  5. Crystal Cube Awards for Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP)

    We create many awards for our customers, but often we don't know the impact of our work. Then we hear a story like this, we know that our work makes a difference in people's lives and it's so rewarding!  Read customer Laurie's story from CliimateWorks Foundation:

    Hi, Jessica – I’m happy to have the opportunity to tell you what a great experience it was working with Mike and Laurie to create the award cubes for our Kigali Cooking Efficienc

    K-CEP awards ceremony in Africa.

    y Program (K-CEP) annual meeting. We do climate work around the world and the group that met in Africa in January focuses on cooling issues. The cubes were a take on “ice cubes” and we thought we were pretty clever to find something so perfect!

    From the minute I called your company, Mike was in contact with me from start to finish. He sent me samples so that we could pick the right size cube. He put me in touch with Laurie for the engraving and made some great suggestions about how best to position the copy. He made sure the awards were completed within my deadline and sent to San Francisco. The cost to create and ship them fit our budget. It was just a flawless transaction.

    K-CEP photo 2 This image features the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.

    Our meeting was to be held in Nairobi on January 28 but due to a terrorist attack in the city a week before we were to depart, at the advice of our CEO and security consultants we moved everything to Kigali in Rwanda. I had spent 3 months planning the event for 70 people in Nairobi and we had to turn it all around in 5 days to go to a different country. Mike made sure the awards arrived in San Francisco on time and we were thrilled to have them before we left. Each of our team members packed a few in their suitcases and the awards arrived without a scratch.

    I called Mike when I returned to let him know what a hit the awards were, and that our team unanimously agreed, if the cubes were still available, that we would continue to order them for our future annual meetings.

    K-CEP photo 3 Customer Laurie holding one of the crystal cubes at her awards ceremony.

    I thought you might enjoy seeing some photos of our awards dinner – the second picture includes the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame (2nd from left), accepting an award for his work on cooling initiatives in his country. The third is my hand with one of the cubes – in the evening lights at the dinner they looked like jewels!

    Please know how much we appreciate the outstanding partnership Mike provided in creating a memorable gift for K-CEP. Best regards, Laurie

    Thank you ClimateWorks for trusting our company to make such memorable awards, we are truly honored!  We appreciate the work you do to help our planet.

    Cheers!

    Jessica

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