Parents Storing Medals/Ribbons?

[3LittleGymmies]

How do you store your daughter's ribbons and medals? I have a friend who used an award keeper book that she found on eBay that allows you to insert medals, ribbons, and write information. Before I purchase one, I just wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas. Right now, we just have a box full of ziplock bags, one from each meet. It seems kind of silly but I didn't know what else to do! I would love to do something where she can actually take it out and look through it and have everything organized. We did make her a shelf with a rod on it that is above her bed to hang her current season medals on, but we don't want to put every single medal, ribbon, and trophy that she has ever received on the walls of her bedroom because she shares it with three other sisters.

 

[skschlag]

Boys don't get a lot of ribbons so we don't hve to deal with that. We have a curtain rod hanging below his window that he can just put medals on. It is my avatar

 

[3LittleGymmies]

This is what I made my daughter for above her bed . But I am wondering if she will want to know when/how/why she got certain medals/ribbons/etc. later on.. so I was trying to think of a way to organize them as her collection grows! lol

 

[skschlag]

I do write on each medal/ribbon/trophy with a sharpie..meet, event, level, age range, place and score. He loves that!

 

[LIGYMMOM]

Boys don't get a lot of ribbons so we don't hve to deal with that. We have a curtain rod hanging below his window that he can just put medals on. It is my avatar

Oh that's what that is! Now it makes more sense. I hang them on her curtain rod and put white circle stickers on the back with score and place.

 

[MaryA]

Maybe I'm just lazy, but as her collection grows, I care less and less. She knows which ones her "special" ones are. She has two hanging things that she puts them on, and I think she may have her special ones in a separate place. The "big deal" meets tend to give custom medals, so she can tell what came from where, and I do try to put the info on the back of those, if it isn't already there. She has been competing for 6 years now (heading into her 7th competition season) and I just can't imagine how many albums it would take to hold them all (she's a good gymnast, but not a superstar... except to us ). But 6 years with let's say 8 meets per year and an average of 2-3 medals per meet... we're talking 100-ish medals, and who knows how many more years of gym she has ahead of her... potentially another 6 years if she stays in it till she graduates. How many binders would it take to hold 200 medals? On the other hand, only about the first 3 pages of either of my kids' baby books are filled in (same 3 pages for each, since they're twins), and I have never made a single scrapbook, so maybe I'm not the one to give advice on this...

 

[thefellowsmom]

We have one of these. Really pretty and complements her room decor, which she just spent months planning and implementing.

http://www.mymedalholder.com/

I am with Mary on the organization front. That sounds really hard. I too am not the scrapbooking type but I am envious of those who have the time, energy, and creativity to do this.

I figure as the pile of medals grows the really special ones will stay and the others will go in a box.

 

[htimcj]

I hang hers in white frames with the score card above it. Then when the year ends we switch out the old medals and put the new ones in. She has been successful so far so we do tend to have 4-5 medals per meet. The old ones go into a decorated box with the other momentos from the year.

 

[MaryA]

I hang hers in white frames with the score card above it. Then when the year ends we switch out the old medals and put the new ones in. She has been successful so far so we do tend to have 4-5 medals per meet. The old ones go into a decorated box with the other momentos from the year.

Ah, and I bet you scrapbook too. It's mothers like you that make the rest of us look bad...

 

[htimcj]

Ah, and I bet you scrapbook too. It's mothers like you that make the rest of us look bad...

I used to scrapbook, then I went back to work Last years medals are still waiting to be hung on the walls and our first comp is in Dec.

 

[MaryA]

Ok, now I feel better. Thanks.

 

[htimcj]

Of DD is Mom, mom. mom, can you do my medals, mom. mom... Hopefully maybe before Judge's cup

 

[Gym Beam]

DD's career is only 4 meets old so all her ribbons and medals are hanging from a French board. I like that medal holder from K&S. That would look nice in her room.

Just an FYI: all her ribbons and medals have a printed label stuck on the back that has her name, place, score, apparatus, number, age group, level, name of meet, her gym and date of competition. I thought all meets did that. Sounds like that's not the case.

 

[seoulmama]

I am a scrapbooker so I have a scrapbook for her with a picture of her & her team at the meet, sometimes event pics (I usually only buy those 1 or 2 times a year), her envelope of ribbons, her meet score card and the roster-it tends to be a 2 page spread unless there are a lot of pics. I also include pics that I have of team events that they host, like the holiday party they had last year. It's the only scrapbooking I keep up with! I did it because one of her coaches brought in her gymnastics scrapbook which inspired dd to ask for one-so far, I've never seen her look at it! Her medals and tropies are in her room-eventually, we'll have to box some of them up or get rid of stuffed animals/flotsam of tweenie girls-my hoarder has NO room for anything else in her room!

 

[gymboymom]

We are trying the curtain rod idea this year. 3rd year competing. He has a few other hooks around his room he has put his "special" ones I think we will move to baggies in a box soon. The award keeper book sounds interesting though

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

So, this post prompts the question of "what to do with all the old medals and ribbons from non-competitive meets"? It's a bit overwhelming, but every meet we have been to the last 3 years gave ribbons and/or medals or trophies to every participant. It was not unusual to get 5 medals at each event...or 4 ribbons and a trophy. Now that we have moved into the USAG world, I assume medals will come less frequently, and will doubtless become more treasured than the huge stash we have so far. (easily 40+ medals, 50+ ribbons, and a shelf full of trophies.) My mother made her a framed bulletin board for display, but it is WAY past full already. So, do we box up some the old stuff and start anew?

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

8th year competing. The curtain rod is pulling out of the wall...time to figure out something new or hang a new rod, lol.

Older DD had them on hooks, but she only competed 7 years and seems like she has a bigger collection of ribbons than medals. All her medals are now in a drawer. The ribbons hang around the neck of the same teddy bear since she was 8 years old!

 

[flippingtogether]

This was a great project - all item from Hobby Lobby. Wall shelf for trophies, and decorative drawer pulls (drilled in) for medals. DD rotates old ones off and new ones on as it start to fill.

I have a decorative large box for older awards stored in a closet. I also have a small notebook where I record each scores and results from each meet so there is a nice record. For as we all know, mymeetscores isn't always accurate....

 

[GymBeeMom]

My DD wanted them ALL displayed. Too many for the cork board on the wall so I bought a metal coat rack, painted it to match her room, and put it in the corner. They are hanging on it and she can easily add as many as she wants without it getting too full.

 

[cbifoja]

My DD is a collector and if I brought up putting some medals away......ooooooohhh doggie! I have a great picture of her before she could walk: she had a pacifier in her mouth, one in each hand, and then three lined up in front of her. So yeah...she collects.

We have something similar to what flippingtogether has. The level number is part of the decoration and we include her USAG card, newspaper announcements of all 1st place AAs, and then all her medals on the hooks.

This will be her 3rd year of competition and hanger #3 is already up. I buy a hanger so that the number of hooks somehow relates to the number of meets.

DD loves having all of her hardware displayed but has never asked to have those participation ribbons that she got her first year displayed. She KNOWS the difference between participation and winning.