I am wondering if anyone has some good ideas for prizes, for top swimmers in the club...I am looking for something other than T-shirts & trophies...everyone is very tired of those.
They must be under $20., at least most of them.
Is anyone buying some innovative products? Share your ideas...
I'm more runner than swimmer, so take this fwiw...
Prizes I've enjoyed: gift certificates (they don't have to be for large amounts...I got a $20 gift certificate for a restaurant in a run once, and on another occasion, a $10 gift certificate to a sporting goods store--both age group awards); also those string backpack type bags, coffee cups, beer glasses, a tech fabric running shirt, and the chance to pick from a table full of freebie merchandise prizes--again, all a.g. awards.
An award story I'm fond of: Browning Ross (who passed away several years ago) directed a lot of southern NJ area races. A former Olympic steeple chaser, he owned a sporting goods store, and after a race would set up a table full of goodies from that store. Then he'd call names from first place to last so that everyone got prizes. Soimetimes he'd run low and would race off to a grocery store for bags of cookies and the like. Or dive into his trunk for whatever he might find there... a stray magazine, shoelaces.... It was a lot of fun, because you never knew what you might get... and it didn't even need to cost much... even just a buck or two... everyone had something to take home even if it was a package of Oreos. I think that was the cool thing about Browning Ross's races--that element of fun and surprise...
I'm more runner than swimmer, so take this fwiw...
Prizes I've enjoyed: gift certificates (they don't have to be for large amounts...I got a $20 gift certificate for a restaurant in a run once, and on another occasion, a $10 gift certificate to a sporting goods store--both age group awards); also those string backpack type bags, coffee cups, beer glasses, a tech fabric running shirt, and the chance to pick from a table full of freebie merchandise prizes--again, all a.g. awards.
An award story I'm fond of: Browning Ross (who passed away several years ago) directed a lot of southern NJ area races. A former Olympic steeple chaser, he owned a sporting goods store, and after a race would set up a table full of goodies from that store. Then he'd call names from first place to last so that everyone got prizes. Soimetimes he'd run low and would race off to a grocery store for bags of cookies and the like. Or dive into his trunk for whatever he might find there... a stray magazine, shoelaces.... It was a lot of fun, because you never knew what you might get... and it didn't even need to cost much... even just a buck or two... everyone had something to take home even if it was a package of Oreos. I think that was the cool thing about Browning Ross's races--that element of fun and surprise...
