OK, you clever people...what do I do with old trophies?

[DDD]

I've got three boxes of easy child/difficult child trophies that have his name &/or team imprinted. Almost all of them are made of heavy plastic I assume. A couple of the upper level ones are heavier so must be part metal. Do you suppose they are recycleable? There's only one that I assume he will want to keep. DDD

 

[Hopeless]

We have a local trophy store near us that we buy them from for our pee wee football and cheer squads. Maybe some place like that would have suggestions for you.

 

[tiredmommy]

Doesn't easy child/difficult child have a new house? They sound like a wonderful house warming gift to me, lol!

 

[Hound dog]

I gave them to the kids and let them decide. Thankfully, mine didn't have very many. lol

 

[witzend]

Give them to Goodwill or Salvation Army. They will sell them to someone who will remove the engraving plate and put a new one on. They're really good for poorer teams.

 

[DDD]

Good ideas. I will call the trophy stores first. Because it is a small community I would not be comfortable giving them away with his name on them but if it can be easily removed "maybe" the Boys and Girls Clubs could recycle them. I hope so! Thanks. DDD

 

[witzend]

Good ideas. I will call the trophy stores first. Because it is a small community I would not be comfortable giving them away with his name on them but if it can be easily removed "maybe" the Boys and Girls Clubs could recycle them. I hope so! Thanks. DDD

The plate is probably just on with a little glue. They peel right off. You could do it before you turn it in if you're concerned about someone's nose getting out of joint.

 

[SuZir]

I have recycled most of my sons' trophies to all kinds of dog match shows (=unofficial dog shows) most wagiest tail awards or dog obedience competitions similar side awards etc. Their have usually been metal and have marble base with glued or screwed metal plaques for gravings that have been easy to remove.

If the name can be removed, I think many organizations would be happy to take them and reuse them. They tend to be quite pricey considering they are actually to no use, take lots of space and are pain to dust.

(I of course asked my sons first, if they wanted to keep them and dust them themselves or recycle. Most have been recycled, both have kept only the most important ones. And when difficult child left home, he actually, over the year later, took total one trophy with him. I doubt he will ever take more of them.)

 

[AnnieO]

Onyxx put hers in the recycling bin... Jett has his on his dresser... I don't remember ever getting any!

 

[trinityroyal]

The only trophies I kept were the medals I won in dance competitions. Even took off the ribbons, and the medallions fit nicely in the bottom of my jewellery box. The other trophies all went to Goodwill, except one that I used as a door stop for years. That eventually went to Goodwill also.

I think donating them to poorer sports teams or unofficial doggie competitions would be great. Also, they might be great prizes at a charity event or theme party, for winner of the Egg-and-Spoon race, or best outlandish costume, or best carved pumpkin, or something like that.

 

[witzend]

I think that they give out more trophies now than they did an age ago when I was young. I don't think I knew anyone who ever had a trophy.

 

[SuZir]

They certainly do give more trophies and medals nowadays. And I think your kids have them even more than ours (you seem to be more concerned about self esteem and such and also give all kinds of awards to adults too. I remember when McDonalds came here and we wondered like heck why on earth they were giving out some employee of the month awards and wasn't it extremely embarrassing to have your name and picture there for all to see because of that. Now even one of our own fast food chain does that.) And at least here they now give those even to adults. I mean, every ****** half marathon or marathon gives out a medal to every participant. Like we would have any use to all those (if someone can come up with something, I would have a few...) I understand the medals for adults if it is actual competition and you are in top three, for example I kind of liked it when I got a silver medal for 15k in our county championships in women over 40. But just for jogging a route through?

Though my kids were actually quite good in sports and most of their awards are those they would have gotten even 50 years ago. Much of it is luckily glassware so there is actual use for that. Though of course we do have more glass plates and different kinds of bowls and glasses than we will ever need, but still you can use them. Actual trophies: not so much. difficult child's and easy child's track and field club always gave smaller kiddies prizes kiddies could actually use in their own competitions. Loved those and so did my boys. I mean, medal was very cool for first few times when they competed their first 40 meters sprints or long jumps when they were two or three but after that colouring books, cool children's scissors or small toys were much more appreciated.

 

[DDD]

You're right. The "trophy syndrome" is a bit excessive, lol. on the other hand if you play soccer starting at four, add baseball at five, do golf at seven and move on to basketball at nine or ten........sigh. easy child/difficult child was often the "top dog" at many of these seasonal competitions BUT every member of "the team" received a trophy at the "season end banquets". That adds up to a mess of trophies. I do think that the only one that he will actually want to keep are the State and National ones.........perhaps only the World Series one. Anyway...it was about ten years of activity and alot of fun.

Now ??? we are pleased that he is more or less functioning as an adult. It's not what we anticipated but it sure is better than addiction, jail and the other wretched experiences we have been through to say nothing of our grateful hearts that he did survive the brain surgery etc. Life has been more challenging that we expected! LOL DDD

 

[trinityroyal]

I hate the Trophy-itis that has taken over children's activities. I remember receiving a few of those "thanks-for-breathing-in-and-out" trophies when my hockey team didn't place in the top standings, or i came 4th in a tennis tournament, or whatever. I always found them to be embarrassing. Why would I want a trophy to commemmorate a bad season? I already knew that I needed to improve my performance, and didn't really want a trophy sitting on a shelf to let everyone else know that I'd done badly.

I also found the winning trophies excessive, with all of the sparkly brass action figures on top, but at least they commemorated an achievement rather than a failure or a non-achievement.

 

[AnnieO]

I like certificates. They EXPLAIN. So I don't have to.

 

[witzend]

My kids never participated in any organized activities, so they never got any trophies or awards. M did have about 150 finger paintings from Kindergarten, though...

 

[1905]

Did anyone find anything good to do with them? My kids have around 60 for chess competitions they won, they are big with giant chess pieces on top, who would want them? They put anything that not 1st place under the beds and really they're dusty, they wouldn't know if I threw them away. I don't know if I can do that though, I worked hard for them!!!! I spent many weekends driving them all over the state for those things!!!! I'm putting them in boxes and into the garage, it'll be my weekend project.

 

[trinityroyal]

UAN, maybe you could turn those chess trophies into an art project. Take the figurines off the tops, lay them out on a chess board and use scrap book matting to commemorate each event? Build a small set of steps and have the figurines arranged like spectators? The riser for each step can identify what the trophy was for, or not...

Just tossing out a few ideas.

*Trinity

 

[tiredmommy]

I remember when Duckie's fottball team (she was a cheerleader) had an awful season. I mean... i don't think they won a game. The boys still got these huge trophies at the banquet. They were like... Huh? The girls coaches were far smarter, I think. They each received certificates thanking them for their participation and spirit despite a tough season and a pin with the org's name and year on it. It was in the shape of a bullhorn. The girls loved them. Duckie still has her pin.

 

[TerryJ2]

Spraypaint them hot pink, lime green, neon blue, and used them for storage items.
I save small, flat boards and pieces of wood to go under computer monitors and such. You never know when they'll come in handy.