goody bags for nationals

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Hello all! My DD's team is finally going to Nationals :yahoo: She has been on teams in the past that have qualified but did not take their shots to go for whatever reasons We are super excited to be on a team with a ton of parental support & enthusiasm. I have volunteered to look into the goody bag exchange for the 1st game. Any thoughts, ideas, warnings from the more experienced parents/girls out there would be much appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

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What age group?

 

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I was in charge of this last year & I emailed different businesses & tourist attractions in Ohio & was overwhelmed by the response. Got lots of cool stuff from "rock & roll hall of fame"..."football hall of fame"...restaurants, Cleveland clinic...etc. Nationals were in Akron, so many local places gave stuff away. Then parents added things also.

I think it is nice to put in things the represent your area.

 

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At 10u, dd's team each picked out there favorite song and then the team mom made CD's with 12 songs on them (one from each girl) and had a team pic burned onto the CD and made this a part of the goodie bag.

 

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Keep it fun! Along with trinkets that are personalized to your state/local area, adding "girly stuff" like hair-ties, lip gloss, finger nail polish, etc. seemed to be popular with the older girls (16U). Can't go wrong adding in some candy, gum, sunflower seeds, etc. either.

 

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Congrats on making it to Nationals, by the way!

We've been fortunate to have participated in them, and I will tell you it's a great experience...wonderful memories you and the girls will treasure for a lifetime. Enjoy it!

 

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Sunflower seeds, water bottles, those rubber bracelets, hairbands, ponytail holders. Little Hand Sanitizers. Everyone around here knows someone who works for Gojo.

Last year we looked for donations from local companies and got a lot of stuff. Anything from "Ohio" is fun. The girls like the drawstring backpacks the best.

 

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Everyone around here knows someone who works for Gojo.

Or, around here, P&G.

 

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Thanks for all of the responses! She plays 14U. I'm excited to get started!

 

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we have done this and tried to load up with some stuff from our area that were unique to our area. We put a bag of Mike Sells Chips in since they are Dayton based, some Esther Price candy, Dayton dragons visors, and then just gum and stuff like that. They ended up being pretty popular as a gift exchange with the team we exchanged with.

 

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Grippo's chips for the Cincy based teams!

 

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Buckeye Playing cards... hand held battery operated hand fan. CD mix of age appropriate songs... buckeye necklaces... Itune cards ($5)

Ask your players what they would like to see in a gift bag... good ideas there.

 

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Does anyone know if they trade pins at the 16u level or just do the goody bags?

 

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We had some awesome bags last year thanks to some great donations. The Cincinnati zoo donated lots of items (cups, cards, stuffed animals), Dayton Dragons gave visors, a local imprinting company donated water bottles, the Reds gave bobbleheads, Coney Island gave postcards & pens and then parents added other items like the cd with the girls favorite songs, disposable cameras and more. Another mom and I tye died the bags. They were great. What our girls got in return...not memorable. Just don't be too surprised or disappointed.

 

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The goody bags are for the first game and the pins are for the rest, correct?

 

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Make sure there is an exchange at the nationals you are going to. There is no grab bag exchange this year at the 14u Eastern Nationals based upon their website.

 

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14u ... bubbles,silly string,jelly beans,nail polish,kool bands (that you put around your neck) ribbons,ribbons,ribbons,bandana's....usually Pat Catans or any craft sore you can find great ideas cheap.....

 

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The goody bags are for the first game and the pins are for the rest, correct?

Yep

 

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@Klump:

Generally, most of the pins are gone after opening ceremonies (where all the teams convene), unless the player brings an inordinate amount of pins to the tournament.