Trophy Overload- What to Do with These Things?

If they are for participation only. I would keep them for about a year and then toss them.

The only trophies I have are the ones that my son earned for playing football in high school not just showing up. The whole team got reamed once for how they lost a game and had to stay home over a holiday weekend and practice. I could not get my son out of the practice and had to forfeit a ticket to Paris because of it. We went he stayed and practiced.

I find it a bit much to give kids a trophy just because you came to the team. Now if you really worked and were a player that is different.

My next trip to my son's house, I will give him a small tub of his trophies so that they are out of my house along with some other things that he will appreciate now that he is older and possibly his old toy box with the toys. Yes, I am downsizing and need these to go after 40 some years.

the other S.

the participation trophies aren't even donatable.

it's sad that this is still going on. i've kept my kids' trophies that they won for actually winning things, but the participation ones are long gone. even goodwill doesn't want them.

let them display 'em for a while (pick a time frame..... a year? a month?) and then toss 'em.

ETA i've still got my horse show ribbons from when i was a kid. stupid, i don't have them on display or anything. but can't bring myself to toss them. but i WON them all, didn't just get them for climbing aboard a pony.
khairete
S.

I have never dealt with this because when I was raising my daughter (35 years ago) children only got legit trophies. There was none of this trophy for participation or not keeping score or any of that junk. To me, that is why kids feel so entitled and are much less respectful and put out way less effort and still expect big returns than kids in my day. We actually had to EARN trophies (and we learned how to be gracious losers, deal appropriately with disappointment and to move on.)

We don't keep participation trophies more than 1 season. They sit on the kids dresser until the next season, then they get pitched to make space for the next one. Real trophies, for winning a tournament, we keep.

I wish I knew of a place to donate them for some purpose. If anyone has an idea, please put it in your response.

Clean them out on a 3 year rotation (unless it's for something very special).
Every time a trophy hits 3 yrs old, pitch it to make room for newer more recent achievements.

if its a participation trophy let it be pplayed with till its junk then trash it. if its legit and WON by doing a good job shelf it or store it in the closet or attic.

They are just decor, especially if the child didn't earn them. It they no longer fit in the space, I would take a photo and donate/toss.

Box in the attic. When they are older they can figure it out. They'll know which ones actually mean something to them.

My kids were in TKD and actually did earn a ton of trophies in honest to goodness 1st 2nd or 3rd places for events. And AGGGGGGGGHHH the trophies. They
are such hideous, cluttery dust-collectors. Mine are in the basement after sitting in their rooms for over a year, and I took some broken ones to a recycling place that dismantled the plastic parts (ick, plastic). I told them in the future if we start them in it again or anything else that gives lots of trophies: We're not bringing them home. I'll snap a photo of them with it, and leave it there. Now for special ones with their names engraved or something...we'll take it home and display it before it hits the moldy basement....

When we moved from Iowa to Texas, I had a BUNCH of trophies from bowling leagues..... I kept one or two that had my name on them and gave the rest to the local bowling alley... they were going to re-use them for their youth bowling leagues.

See if you can contact the local "special" sports leagues and ask if they could use any trophies... they may be thrilled to get them!

Let each kid who plays sports choose a photo album at the craft store (Michael's, or Hobby Lobby, etc). For every "thanks for coming" trophy that are just generic, take a photo of your child in his or her uniform, holding the trophy. Print out the photos and put them in the album. Put those kinds of trophies on a shelf or prominent place for one week, then move them to a box. At the end of the season or year, donate them or discard them.

Save the trophies that are the championship trophies, the MVP trophies, the ones earned by achievement, and set aside a shelf for those.

You can donate the old unwanted trophies to places like Goodwill. They're used for props in community theater or high school plays, or used for parts by crafters.

http://www.lambawards.com/recycle.html

Lamb Awards apparently accepts used trophies for recycling. I haven't checked it out, but it came up on a search.

Here's a site with some pretty amazing used trophy crafts:

http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2013/03/04/designer-macgyver-...

Here's a place that accepts donations of medals (not trophies) for cancer patients.

http://www.medals4mettle.org/index.php

I let the kids choose. To them they may mean a lot more than you think. And they might think you love them a lot and won't let them get rid of them.

I googled what to do with them and there are a ton of sites with craft ideas and DIY ideas to use them or parts of them. Here are a couple of Pinterest pages.

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/old-trophies/

https://www.pinterest.com/breauxcarrie/old-trophies-medals/

I struggled with what to do with trophies that I had won during my teenage years from baton twirling competitions. I had worked very hard for many years, so they did mean something to me. But let's face it, it looks pretty stupid to have baton trophies on your mantel when you're an adult. They'd been in a box in the attic for ages. Finally, when moving, I couldn't find any organization that wanted any of them. So, I kept a state champion one (which I now wish that I'd tossed), and two small ones that make good bookends, but don't really look like trophies. After taking a few photos, sadly, the rest went out with the trash.

Consider keeping any trophies that really mean something to your son, and as some other mothers have suggested, each time there's a new "participation" trophy, toss the last one and put the new one in its place. I wish they'd quit giving out that sort of thing. All but the very youngest kids know that everyone gets one just for signing up for the team, and it means nothing.

Later, when more meaningful trophies have collected, after your kids strike out on their own in their first apartments, hand them a box full of these trophies. When I did that with my 20-something kids, they each pulled out a couple of them and got rid of the rest. Their choice! No guilt for me!