Do you keep old trophies?

[McKelly]

I was going through things in my basement, trying to clear out the mess and get ready for a garage sale and I put two large boxes of trophies/plaques in the garbage pile. My DH saw this and asked why I was throwing them out? One box was his and one was mine. I told him to save his if he wanted too, but I was throwing mine out.

Well, somehow the subject came up with my mother (who saved these for me and gave them to me when I bought a house several years ago), and she wondered why I was throwing them out too? Well, the obviously reason is to make room for the stuff my kids will be accumulating. My mom seemed geniunely miffed that I would be getting rid of them. She didn't "give" them to me, I won them. I told my DH I would take a picture of them and then toss them, but it seems like he thinks I am picking on him because he wants to save his, which I don't care either way.

I am just curious if anybody else threw them away? I just don't see a need for them in my future and am wondering if I am the odd one or if certain people (DH) are just trying to hang on to the "glory days"? (And no, I didn't say that to him.)

 

[grinningghost]

I threw mine out about 10 years ago. Just didn't have anymore room to store them (not that I had alot anyway ).

DD has a bunch of trophies and we still display them, but I wonder what she'll do with them when she goes to college?

 

[SC Minnie]

I still have several dance trophies from over 25 years ago. They are in a box put away but I can't make myself throw them away. DH thinks I am nuts.

 

[Cindyluwho]

Please don't throw them away. If you donate them to Goodwill, St Vincent's, etc they will be used! 4H clubs, sports clubs and such recycle them. They can put a new top on and a new reader plaque for a small fraction of what a new trophy will cost. So if you need to make room, donate them and you'll know they've gone to a good home! It's a win-win!!

 

[minniecarousel]

Hh, yes - the great dust collectors!!

Our 2 sons are grown and out of the house, yet we still have their rooms with some of their stuff. My DH just packed up our younger DS's trophies into a huge box (I'm pretty sure that there's another box with earlier trophies somewhere!) We won't bug him to take them just yet, but I look forward to the day that he does take them - I wish I knew what to do with them too. Some of his are "participation" trophies and a few are very special. I would hope that he would pick out a few to keep.

(Moms seem to remember the look on their kids' faces when they got those trophies - very special!)

 

[ktglads]

I had quite a few from growing up. Basically what I did was pry the name plates off the ones that we important to me (MVPs, special championship wins, other personal awards) and donated them to Goodwill. Some of them cannot be reused since they have the year as part of the trophy but they were really doing nothing but collecting dust to me. This way I can then use the plates in a scrapbook and look through them way more often than if they were in a box in the basement

 

[mom2riceboys]

I had a ton of old trophies for practically every sport you could imagine. I didn't throw mine away. I donated them to a local park who has programs for underprivileged children. All they had to do was replace the nameplates and they had nice trophies to award the children. They used them for MVP, most improved, most spirit, etc. Every child was able to receive a special trophy. The park director said the children were thrilled. I was glad my old trophies were put to good use.

 

[gris gris]

I had a bunch and when I moved out of my parents house I put them in the trash. My mom went into the trash and took them out. She wanted to keep them so their in a box in their new house somewhere. I no longer have them, but can guarantee you when the day comes that I have to clean my parents house out, they'll be going in the trash again!

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

With as little room as we have, DH's parents still have all his soccer trophies. There's a lot of them... and a lot of them are very special (All-American, etc). They will end up somewhere in our posession when we aren't renting any longer. DH has always been very humble about them and would never want them on prominent display. He was embarassed when we came home and found some of the beautiful bowls and crystal awards in the china cabinet. I think they ended up back in the top of his closet at home

My mom still has all my swimming and pageant trophies. I know she's unscrewed some of the pageant trophies to break them down for storage purposes. As she said, "At five feet, there's no way." Although I wouldn't want them on display either, I think we will keep them. I was always fascinated by my parent's awards, newspaper clippings, etc., and loved looking through those things.

So no, at this point, I don't think we'd get rid of them. I don't think we'll ever get rid of DH's soccer things. But, a lot of these things are far more recent for us... like in the past 3 years, which is probably an influence, too.

Edit: I think the ones you keep are really influenced by the type of award they are. If they were participation awards, then no, I probably wouldn't keep them. The more significant ones (state championships, national awards, etc) will probably always be somewhere for us!

 

[McKelly]

Thank you for the replies. I am glad I posted here, I didn't realize some other organizations could use them!! I will gladly give them to Goodwill or St. Vincent's!

To those of you have donated them, did you pry off the name plate first or let whoever you donated to do that? I am afraid I will scratch the wood, but I don't know if I should donate the trophies with my name on it? Although, it is my maiden name.......

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

Should just be wood glue holding the name plate the the trophy itself. Can you carefully take a screw driver to them and wiggle them loose? Could always run a google. I am sure there's information/suggestions out there on how to do it without ruining them.

 

[pixiemomma]

Thank you for the replies. I am glad I posted here, I didn't realize some other organizations could use them!! I will gladly give them to Goodwill or St. Vincent's!

To those of you have donated them, did you pry off the name plate first or let whoever you donated to do that? I am afraid I will scratch the wood, but I don't know if I should donate the trophies with my name on it? Although, it is my maiden name.......

I didn't know they could be donated and reused either. That is neat.

 

[Stitchfans]

If I had any I would.

DD, Allison has more awards, certificates, and ribbons at her age (11) then I do for my entire life. NO doubt some day she will have some trophys too.

DD, Debbie had some dance ones and some other awards. Not sure if she kept them or not.

 

[brerrabbit]

I carefully pryed the namepaltes off and then used brass nails to nail them to a piece of nice looking wood. I hung the wood with all the nameplates on the wall in my garage. My garage is sort of my "room" for stuff. It's a four car garage with a bathroom, a phone, a workbench, TV with cable and some chairs for hanging out. It has doors on the front and back so I open both turn on the ceiling fan and hang out out there on weekends.

 

[Hannathy]

Donating is a good idea but don't just throw them in the goodwill bag 'cause then the organizations would have to buy them from goodwill etc. Call the boys and girls club or sheltered workshop directly if you can then you know they will get them directly. I'm old enough that trophies weren't given out as frequently as they are now so I have kept the couple I did win. But my Mom donated a ton of bowling ones.
Luckily my kids have been getting a lot of nice ribbons lately-cheaper for the group and easier to keep for us.

 

[bsnyder]

Please don't throw them away. If you donate them to Goodwill, St Vincent's, etc they will be used! 4H clubs, sports clubs and such recycle them. They can put a new top on and a new reader plaque for a small fraction of what a new trophy will cost. So if you need to make room, donate them and you'll know they've gone to a good home! It's a win-win!!

THANKS! I didn't even think of this, and the timing is perfect. Just this morning I finally cleaned out my college-aged sons shared room, because we're having company this weekend. Between both of them, there's a huge box of trophies, and I was wondering what to do with them. They already said they didn't want to save them, so I was going to just throw them in the trash, but that seemed kind of "wrong' somehow.

About half of them were received from our local YMCA - over the years, they played just about every sport they offered. I'm going to check to see if they have a recycling program, and if not, suggest they start one.

 

[jimmalru80]

Mine are long gone.

 

[ashjohnson80]

I still have an old dance trophy of mine. I keep it around to prove to people that I actually used to be a dancer.

 

[Griggle]

Just have the one trophy husband that I'll hang on to, for now.

 

[sodaseller]

I display my law school foosball champion trophy prominently in my office