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Sports team--what is a good gift for a graduating senior?


plansrme
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I know, I'm many months ahead of the game here, but I am the president of the booster club and need to plan something.  Our gymnastics gym will be graduating its first senior in May.  Our girls are really close, from the itty-bitties all the way up to the big girls, and we want to give the graduate something meaningful from the girls.  We are setting a precedent here, and my own daughter will be up the following year, so I do have a extra-personal interest in having it be something good.  So if you have been part of something like this, do you mind sharing what has gone over well and not?  I considered something like this for her dorm room, with a couple of pics of her as a baby gymnast on up to current pics with the team.  Easy-peasy, I thought, especially if we put the word out now, well in advance of meet season, and ask parents to focus on getting good pictures of their girls with the senior.  Her mom, however, mentioned that a previous gym did a quilt, with all of the girls writing on blocks, and then someone made the blocks into a quilt.  The quilt seems so, so complicated to me--getting the blocks back, sending them home with appropriate pens, having someone sew them into a decent quilt.  With everything else going on at the end of the year?  I don't know--I don't see it happening.  As the mom who nearly single-handedly threw the end-of-year banquet last year because everyone else checked out, I guess I REALLY don't see it happening.  But maybe if we started in January?  

 

Another previous gym had the girls do scrapbook pages for each graduate.  Again, that seems like a lot of chasing after the girls to get them to do pages.  

 

I am meeting with the committees soon and want to present some ideas for discussion, but so far, the only ideas I have are these, one of which I like and the other of which I loathe (but please feel free to convince me my fears are unjustified).

 

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Those do sound like a lot of work...maybe you could do a photo, or a collage, framed with a very wide mat that everyone has signed?  Or one of those bound scrapbooks (I think they are called photo books) where you just submit photos and add some text (like on shutterfly.com).   People could sign the photo book too.

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Unless you LOVE quilting, I would not take something on like that unless someone else volunteered to lead it.  SO much work.  It seems obvious to me a quilter vounteered to head that effort up.  

 

 

I think the photo idea is really cute.  And then you could have all the girls sign the matting, like I've seen at some weddings.  That would make it even more personal and they could sign it on sight as you see them wherever and you wouldn't have to do all the leg work of having them do something at home and trying to collect it by a due date.  Here's an example of the signed matting.

 

http://www.ourcornermarket.com/product.asp?itemid=1825&gclid=CJOpmrzR88ACFZKHaQodUWoA9Q

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I wish all of you were on my committee--it would be an easy decision.  :)  My daughter reminded me that whatever we do, we have to do three times next year, for her and two others.  Ack!

 

I am admittedly a little bit in love with the heart photo collage.  Glad that seems to be a popular opinion.

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We did a quilt for a retiring swim coach. I made a regular quilt and used muslin as the back. At the final party, the kids signed the back of the quilt with fabric markers I provided. That way I didn't have to chase anyone down. Also, I am a quilter, so that was no big deal. Said quilt has been to college and rehab.

 

Another quilt I did was just a regular quilt, but I got all the kids to trace their hands and then I quilted everyone's hands on the quilt and had them sign by their hands. (Again, I'm a quilter so...)

 

When my son graduated the soccer team gave him a fleece blanket embroidered with the team name and logo, a folding chair with his name and the team logo printed on it, and a poster of him playing soccer signed by the team. The chair and blanket are at school with him. Poster is framed and hanging in our basement.

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We did a quilt for a retiring swim coach. I made a regular quilt and used muslin as the back. At the final party, the kids signed the back of the quilt with fabric markers I provided. That way I didn't have to chase anyone down. Also, I am a quilter, so that was no big deal. Said quilt has been to college and rehab.

 

Another quilt I did was just a regular quilt, but I got all the kids to trace their hands and then I quilted everyone's hands on the quilt and had them sign by their hands. (Again, I'm a quilter so...)

 

When my son graduated the soccer team gave him a fleece blanket embroidered with the team name and logo, a folding chair with his name and the team logo printed on it, and a poster of him playing soccer signed by the team. The chair and blanket are at school with him. Poster is framed and hanging in our basement.

 

You're local to me--looking for a gig??? 

 

I had thought about the fleece blanket as well.  The mom says the gymnast likes things that are cuddly.   Maybe the photo collage and a fleece blanket?  That would be right on the money budgetarily.  And our gym's colors are very distinctive--it would always be a reminder of our gym that will never match anything in her dorm room or future home.  

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You're local to me--looking for a gig??? 

 

I had thought about the fleece blanket as well.  The mom says the gymnast likes things that are cuddly.   Maybe the photo collage and a fleece blanket?  That would be right on the money budgetarily.  And our gym's colors are very distinctive--it would always be a reminder of our gym that will never match anything in her dorm room or future home.  

 

I would, but I just took on a t-shirt quilt for a water polo playing recent grad of a certain magnet school you might know... Well, he wasn't in the magnet part, but he did graduate from the school. That on top of the new job, well, I am pretty swamped. If you do want to do a quilt, visit Tiny Stitches or Red Hen Fabrics. They might could give you a name.

 

I do love the photo collage. I think it is a great idea. 

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For swim team we get nice beach towels with the team logo and embroidered name. That's something anyone, not just a swimmer, could use. And it's not hard to replicate during the years the graduating class is larger. I wouldn't take one a quilt because there will be a year there will be five leaving and you will either change to something simple and have hurt feelings or go crazy trying to get it done.

You could add a team photo that has been matted with a large border that all the girls sign.

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I don't know what company made it, but a friend had a big banner photo college type thing printed in similar size to a gymnastics meet banner, it even had large grommets on top for hanging. It was a very reasonable price, too. You could do the pics plus have them sign a piece of paper or two and scan or take a picture of that and have those be part of the collage.

 

The print quality was pretty good, it was huge and fun, and it really matched the gym banners, so that would be fun. The material was faintly plasticy, but the photos turned out well.

 

I looked at a few popular online photo sites but didn't see it, it might be from a banner company or somewhere else. If you like the idea, I would ask here about it, someone is sure to know where to get this type of thing for a good price.

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Those do sound like a lot of work...maybe you could do a photo, or a collage, framed with a very wide mat that everyone has signed?  Or one of those bound scrapbooks (I think they are called photo books) where you just submit photos and add some text (like on shutterfly.com).   People could sign the photo book too.

 

Sometimes these books are cheaper than printing individual photos and putting in a frame or in a photo album.  Also, you can have people write hand-written notes and scan them to a file so that the page can be included in the photo book just as a photo would.

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Best of both worlds- fleece blanket, photo collage. http://www.walmart.com/ip/50-x-60-Photo-Collage-Fleece-Blanket-Buy-One-Get-One-Free/10899495 You can use up to 30 photos, and add a title.

That looks neat! One or two of the "photos" could be a scanned file or a picture of signatures and well wishes from the team. If they could write in the team colors or the background color of the blanket, or rainbow colors, it would look even cooler, I bet, but plain black would also work.

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What about doing the heart photo idea but printed onto a pillow instead.  If you use a bed sized pillow, they can use it to sleep on when they need a bit of comfort when away from home.  If they want to protect it they can put a pillow case over it, but still keep the sentiment close at heart.  

 

You could use the idea of baby to adult pictures. Or a picture of each team member with her. Or just some great moments pix.  You can make a dedication option for some people instead of or along with a picture if they want. Or a combination of them all.   You could even do the heart of pictures on one side....maybe baby to adult style.  And then on the back side do a quilt like style with pictures of the team members and dedications. 

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Whatever you choose, remember it will be stuck in some drawer in a few years. Our dance team always does a large picture frame with everyone's signature. Personally, I hate it only because I would not want that stuck on my wall after marriage, kids, etc. changes my priorities. It is too large to fit in a drawer.

 

A smaller signed frame, collage, or photobook will be more appreciated in the future, in my opinion.

 

If you have someone really creative, a digital scrapbook using photos of the graduate with different girls from her team would be awesome. I saw one recently and thought it was the most fabulous graduation gift ever. It looked like it took a lot of work.

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I would, but I just took on a t-shirt quilt for a water polo playing recent grad of a certain magnet school you might know... Well, he wasn't in the magnet part, but he did graduate from the school. That on top of the new job, well, I am pretty swamped. If you do want to do a quilt, visit Tiny Stitches or Red Hen Fabrics. They might could give you a name.

 

I do love the photo collage. I think it is a great idea. 

 

 

Haven't lived in the area for more than 20 years but reading Tiny Stitches and Red Hen Fabrics brought it all back to me. Home! Where I grew up!  But boy have I been gone a long time...water polo? Had no idea that was even a thing there. 

 

Also, Little Quilts might know a quilter to suggest. But dear daughter says the current owners/staff aren't friendly like the original owners were. 

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For swim team we get nice beach towels with the team logo and embroidered name. That's something anyone, not just a swimmer, could use. And it's not hard to replicate during the years the graduating class is larger. I wouldn't take one a quilt because there will be a year there will be five leaving and you will either change to something simple and have hurt feelings or go crazy trying to get it done.

You could add a team photo that has been matted with a large border that all the girls sign.

 

We did embroidered beach towels for regional qualifiers, of which she was one.  It was my idea, so of course I think it was awesome!

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