WAG Christmas Gifts for Gymnasts - From Coaches

[CoachMeg]

Just wondering if other coaches give Christmas gifts to their gymnasts and any good ideas that you've used in the past.

We had our annual Lock-In this past weekend and each of us 4 team coaches were given very generous Visa gift-cards. Last year I ordered the girls different colored aluminum water bottles with their names written on them in different colors from an online boutique shop...it was a huge hit, but unfortunately the other coaches didn't like it since they then felt obligated to get the gymnasts' gifts as well. [It was a lot of unnecessary drama but it basically ended in me having to 'okay' my future purchases to the athletes with the rest of the coaches or include them in on it...whatever].

ANYWAY, this year I brought up gymnast gifts to the other coaches so they would feel included and they put me in charge of putting it together.

Some ideas that I've thought of but ruled out are personalized grip bags/wristbands...but I had to cross those ideas off because not every team girl in the gym wears grips. Another idea I've thought of are lime green stud earrings (one of our team colors) and designating them as their "meet earrings". The other coaches really liked that idea but 4/45 girls don't have their ears pierced...but I'm not sure if that's such a big deal, they can always get them pierced later and save them. I also suggested a certificate for a free 3o minute semi-private (2 gymnasts) with the coach and event of their choice. [Not individual privates because like I said earlier, we do have over 4o kids on the team].

We only have a couple days to put something together and our price range is about $5-$7 per gymnast since there are so many, or just donating our time like with the semi-privates. I was thinking of including these things in a goody bag with some candy and maybe a personalized note about how proud we are of them and how excited we are for the rest of the competition season.

Any advice would help since, of course, we're trying to put this together last minute! Thanks!

 

[wsg13]

We have got gymnastic lip balm, socks, cups, trampoline park pass, half tops, tops with all names, lollies, Christmas decorations

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

This was my first year as "head coach" of a group of 20+girls. I opted for very simple as I'm totally strapped (like everyone else!) this time of year.
One of my DDs is a gymmie and she has never received gifts from her coaches.
Anyways.... I went with candy canes tied to handwritten cards with personal messages. Nothing fancy at all, these are very young girls (oldest is 8) but I wanted to give them *something* without breaking the bank. I wrote my favorite things about the gymnast/their progress this year. It wasn't much but I hope it made each of them feel a little bit special!

 

[COz]

The card with candy cane sounds lovely. That would be a bit hit with my kid.

Re: Earrings. I don't have my ears pierced and neither does my child (yet...)

In this situation, I would not have minded receiving earrings without pierced ears. I wouldn't phrase comments to them as if they will get their ears pierced later though, they may not wish to.

If you speak individually to each of the 4 without pierced ears and explain that you did know that they wouldn't currently be able to put them in their ears then they will appreciate that you had noticed.
I would then tell them that you'll sort out some way of attaching them to a hair clip or similar so they can still wear them competition like the other girls, just not on their ears.

If you go with earrings, put them through a card and write in it as suggested by @SurpriseGymMom

 

[Aussie_coach]

I can understand the way the other coaches feel. Not everyone has the money or the imagination to come up with good gift ideas each year and it doesn't work well for one coach to hand out gifts and not others. We have a rule at our gym that coaches are not permitted to give gifts to the gymnasts as it comes off as favouritism. But we usually have a gym gift that we give to every gymnast in the gym the last week before Christmas.

Often something Christmassy like a Christmas eraser, Christmas pencil, Christmas tree decoration.

Grip bags and wristbands are good even if they don't have grips. They can bring a few needed things to gym in it like spare hair elastics, deodorant and so on. Earring could work too just get a clip on pair or perhaps a bracelet or something for those without pierced ears. I also would not agree with saying keep them for when you have per red ears as some may never get them done and some parents may not allow their child to have them done until they are adults.

 

[Ex member]

The Candy Cane with a personal message is a great idea, this year my oldest dd got a chocolate lolly from her coach and my youngest got a Candy Cane, also my youngest took part in a Secret Santa with her group that included the coach so everybody got something.

 

[Mom2Chickadee]

My DD recieved an "Olaf" making kit (marshmellows, pretzels, candy) from her coaches, which she absolutely loved. All the girls also recieved a beautiful picture of her name surrounded by inspirational and gymnastics words (i.e. strong, beautiful, silly, wonderful, tumbler, etc) in a "blinged" out picture frame. I'm sure it did not cost a lot, which I would not expect it to, but it was personal and a wonderful keep sake for my DD.

 

[3gymgirlsmom]

My kids all recieved gifts from the coaches, they had ponies, lip gloss, roll of athletic tape and a couple of other small things. I think our gym does give the coaches each an "allowance " to be able to afford to do Dairy Queen( summer) or a Christmas gift so they can afford something nice back to the girls.

 

[coachmolly]

I made grip bags for my girls, though I love to sew and it was a fun project for me. I put a few candies in them as well. But it was pretty time consuming, and I only have 9 kids in that group. For my pre-teamers I gave gymnast stickers as they love getting stickers at the end of practice. I got the stickers for $.75 on sale at Hobby Lobby and the kids were thrilled they got to take a WHOLE pack of stickers home with them!
For the group of 16 older team girls I don't plan on doing anything and feel a bit bad about that. I gave them headbands last year, and HC plans on giving new wristbands, but there is just such a wide variety of ages and likes and I'm pretty broke. Though in writing this I did think of maybe getting some no-slip headbands as theirs are always flying off their heads.
In the past I have done headbands (bought pretty fold over elastics and made them myself) and little stuffed fish with a tag that said "You are o-fish-ally the best team."
The earrings are a good idea, I don't have pierced ears and get earrings as gifts quite frequently and don't mind. Maybe something small to go with it for the girls without pierced ears? Some hairclips in team colors or a scrunchie? I also think grip bags would be fine as gymmies always seem to need someplace to hold all their gym stuff.
Some other ideas I've had are practical gym stuff- hair ties, headbands, hair clips, tape, wristbands, bag tags. Or fun stuff like socks, teddy bears, keychains, glitter hair spray (if allowed by your gym). Sometimes you can hit the jackpot just by browsing the dollar store, that's where I found my cute little Webkinz fish for the one gift mentioned above.
The notes are a great idea too!

 

[Jen H.]

Our girls were given headbands with our teams logo on them- a huge hit!!

 

[wallinbl]

Fuzzy socks or a team t-shirt are simple, safe, and inexpensive.

 

[emilykatherine]

In the past I've gotten shirts,socks, makeup bags and a hate all had the gyms name on it

 

[GymnastMomX2]

I would just do the grip bags! The booster club did that as team gifts for everyone a couple years ago and my DD was t wearing grips yet but she still loved the bag. Another idea would be a practice Leo for all the girls, or a tshirt

 

[skschlag]

Our hc one year gave the boys a coupon book... It was a fun thing for the boys. Some of it was serious ,some goofy:

Free semiprivate
"get out of pushups" card
Give pushups to another gymnast
give pushups to the coach
10 extra minutes of game time
Be the coach for 30 minutes

The boys loved it! They used those for a year and it was free and easy!

 

[ErinEclectic]

DD just got a little gift from her coach, a dollar store stocking with a couple mini candy canes, granola bar, Gatorade, and inexpensive Christmas socks inside. Coach had even drawn her initial on the stocking with a sharpie. DD loves it.