mlktwins Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 I've called 2 trophy shops in the area. Neither take them and they said even Goodwill and Salvation Army got inundated and stopped taking them. I hate to just throw them away, but my boys don't really want them. These are participation trophies that everyone gets (many with their names spelled wrong -- not the one's they really earned. Any thoughts before they go in the trash? I do not want to store stuff they don't want and doesn't mean anything to them. I will be doing the same with my old piano/music trophies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Throw them out. If there is some nostalgia attached you can take a picture first. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 If the top portion is metal and the names are on a plaque glued to a bottom wooden/plastic base with the metal trophy being plain, I might call a boys and girls club to see if they want to reuse them. For example this one though I can’t tell what material it is made of https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07Q4161ZL/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlktwins Posted November 7, 2019 Author Share Posted November 7, 2019 8 minutes ago, Arcadia said: If the top portion is metal and the names are on a plaque glued to a bottom wooden/plastic base with the metal trophy being plain, I might call a boys and girls club to see if they want to reuse them. For example this one though I can’t tell what material it is made of https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07Q4161ZL/ They are all baseball, soccer, or swimming themed. Nothing generic unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 (edited) We finally "donated" about 40 trophies to the landfill after no one would take them. Ah, I take that back. There was a local place that would take them and turn them into new trophies to sell to others if I paid them $2 per trophy. Um... no. I did save a few of the more generic ones and pried off the name/event information; I hope to use them as gag awards sometime. Edited November 7, 2019 by klmama 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 (edited) Even the earned trophies become unwanted eventually. I had a shelf full of participation trophies for swimming when I was growing up -- and two trophies over the year for Most Improved and Most Valuable. I LOVED those trophies and proudly showed them off for many many years. Then I "thinned the herd" and kept only the Most Valuable trophy and a couple of outside trophies I had earned at various times. But I don't even have those anyway. The space became more valuable than the trophy. But I can't regret having the trophy then because they gave me many years of enjoyment before they went away. (much longer than most of the toys I got paid for with money instead of time and perspiration) Right now my daughter is highly motivated to not only read, but complete tests based on the books she read to get the 100 AR trophy at the end of the year (she's over 35 points already! Her teacher told me at the parent teacher conference he thought this was a very doable goal for her because she was over 10 pts at that point and 10 pts was where he hoped the kids would get by Christmas break... OTOH my son was also an avid reader and had a teacher who was hoping he'd be big on AR -- but my son didn't follow through and take the tests so never did). Anyways, the trophy is hugely motivating for my daughter NOW even if eventually it ends up becoming clutter. Edited November 7, 2019 by vonfirmath 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Trophy coat rack? Or for hanging keys etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlktwins Posted November 7, 2019 Author Share Posted November 7, 2019 2 hours ago, vonfirmath said: Even the earned trophies become unwanted eventually. I had a shelf full of participation trophies for swimming when I was growing up -- and two trophies over the year for Most Improved and Most Valuable. I LOVED those trophies and proudly showed them off for many many years. Then I "thinned the herd" and kept only the Most Valuable trophy and a couple of outside trophies I had earned at various times. But I don't even have those anyway. The space became more valuable than the trophy. But I can't regret having the trophy then because they gave me many years of enjoyment before they went away. (much longer than most of the toys I got paid for with money instead of time and perspiration) Right now my daughter is highly motivated to not only read, but complete tests based on the books she read to get the 100 AR trophy at the end of the year (she's over 35 points already! Her teacher told me at the parent teacher conference he thought this was a very doable goal for her because she was over 10 pts at that point and 10 pts was where he hoped the kids would get by Christmas break... OTOH my son was also an avid reader and had a teacher who was hoping he'd be big on AR -- but my son didn't follow through and take the tests so never did). Anyways, the trophy is hugely motivating for my daughter NOW even if eventually it ends up becoming clutter. Their swimming awards mean the most to them. Both boys have a coaches award medal and one has a most improved medal. They are in their swim albums. We also have their ribbons and heat ribbons in sleeves. Those make them happy to look at and they don't take up a lot of room. One of my boys has maybe 5 high point awards for his age groups. That award is his goal for every summer swim season and he likes that one because is it 100% earned. He will never get rid of those -- LOL. They have one 1st place baseball trophy and all the rest are participation trophies. When did they start those things anyway and why? And...they stopped giving out 1st place trophies because they didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings?!?!? My boys have been on winning and losing baseball teams. Not everyone is going to have a winning season and they survived! We do have all their game balls and they want to keep those. They feel they earned those too. The trophy companies are making out on this participation thing... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Seriously, I'm so glad all our things did medals. We eventually ditched the participation medals for soccer, but at least they weren't huge trophies. Unless you know an artist who is going to do something unique or unusual with them... I think you have to ditch them.http://www.jeanshin.com/everyday_monuments.htm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 If you don't mind paying for mailing, you can send them here to be recycled: https://www.lambawards.com/trophy-recycling/ You can also recycle them here for a fee: http://www.awardsmall.com/Trophy-Recycling_ep_46.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlktwins Posted November 7, 2019 Author Share Posted November 7, 2019 1 minute ago, MercyA said: If you don't mind paying for mailing, you can send them here to be recycled: https://www.lambawards.com/trophy-recycling/ You can also recycle them here for a fee: http://www.awardsmall.com/Trophy-Recycling_ep_46.html They are very heavy and would likely be quite expensive to ship. I have 2 plastic bins for each boy so far and I can barely lift each bin. I wish we didn't get the participation ones in the first place -- LOL. Our last season of baseball they gave out nice t-shirts instead of participation trophies. At least those can be used :-). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 DH was an athlete as a student and had a ton of trophies. I think we finally threw them out, but they may be hiding in a box in the basement. DD17 has some from dance competitions, and we've talked about her disposing of them before she goes to college. We did use one as a white elephant gift years ago. It was a "last place" bowling trophy. Who gives a trophy for last place? LOL. The person who got it in the gift exchange loved it, because she said she had never earned a trophy and had always wanted one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, mlktwins said: Their swimming awards mean the most to them. Both boys have a coaches award medal and one has a most improved medal. They are in their swim albums. We also have their ribbons and heat ribbons in sleeves. Those make them happy to look at and they don't take up a lot of room. One of my boys has maybe 5 high point awards for his age groups. That award is his goal for every summer swim season and he likes that one because is it 100% earned. He will never get rid of those -- LOL. They have one 1st place baseball trophy and all the rest are participation trophies. When did they start those things anyway and why? And...they stopped giving out 1st place trophies because they didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings?!?!? My boys have been on winning and losing baseball teams. Not everyone is going to have a winning season and they survived! We do have all their game balls and they want to keep those. They feel they earned those too. The trophy companies are making out on this participation thing... My daughter was on a soccer team that didn't make a single goal this season. She cherishes the medal she got anyway. The kids who won got an award already -- they know they won. The kids who didn't win worked just as hard, practiced, etc. I'm glad they give medals to all. There is lots of life to learn that life isn't fair. This is encouragement to keep going even when you don't win. As I said. I cherish the many years of participation trophies I got. They are valuable for that -- for the reminder of the time and sweat I put into it even though I was rarely #1. Insert other media Edited November 8, 2019 by vonfirmath 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 8 minutes ago, vonfirmath said: The kids who won got an award already -- they know they won. The kids who didn't win worked just as hard, practiced, etc. I'm glad they give medals to all. There is lots of life to learn that life isn't fair. This is encouragement to keep going even when you don't win. I agree. Alfie Kohn also addresses this in his book, "The Myth of the Spoiled Child." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Does the original league still give out the same style? They might take them back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 4 hours ago, happi duck said: Does the original league still give out the same style? They might take them back. My girls do horseback riding. The rosettes they get are not as bulky as trophees, but still added up to a large storage container full each. Last year they went through their own container and they kept only the highest achievements. We then donated the ones they didn't want back to where they came from. Even though the schools league now uses different colours, they were happy to have them and gave out the old ones. We found it really fun to win back 'one of our own'. The club they ride for did the same. Where there was advertising, or the year, on the ribbon, we just cut it off - without spoiling the appearance. Or in the case of the club, they put on fresh center stickers. Easier to do than prying off a name, though. Thankfully most events do floating trophees, so we get to give them back after a year! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Sell them on ebay. Baseball trophies You won't get a lot, but they'll go to someone who wants them. Otherwise, I'd take them to a recycling center. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 I threw them in the landfill. I hate to do that but it was the only option left that i knew of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 7 hours ago, MissLemon said: Sell them on ebay. Baseball trophies You won't get a lot, but they'll go to someone who wants them. Otherwise, I'd take them to a recycling center. Who in the world buys these? I cannot imagine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 11 hours ago, Quill said: Who in the world buys these? I cannot imagine! No clue! People buy all sorts of weird things. But they do sell if you lot them up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 41 minutes ago, MissLemon said: People buy all sorts of weird things. I found out yesterday that people sell plastic grocery bags on ebay! I thought it was a joke - I saw a lot of Walmart plastic grocery bags. I guess people buy them for crafts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 35 minutes ago, Kassia said: I found out yesterday that people sell plastic grocery bags on ebay! I thought it was a joke - I saw a lot of Walmart plastic grocery bags. I guess people buy them for crafts? Im betting some people are motivated by spite because they are banned where they live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Kassia said: I found out yesterday that people sell plastic grocery bags on ebay! I thought it was a joke - I saw a lot of Walmart plastic grocery bags. I guess people buy them for crafts? I'm not surprised. People buy a lot of things we throw away: paper towel and tp tubes, empty egg cartons, plastic soda bottle caps, plastic lids from pringles cans, used coffee cans... During one night of insomnia, I pondered how much of my garbage I could sell on ebay and to the recycler. It would be a funny experiment to do. Edited November 9, 2019 by MissLemon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 The curbside metal recycling guy took the participation trophies which looked at least part-metal. I have all the other plastic ones still. I too have Rubbermaid tubs full of trophies that my son forgot what he got them for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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