Custom labeled bottled water for gym?

[MaryA]

My DD goes to a brand-new gym and I'm the fundraising chair for the booster committee. We're looking into getting bottled water to sell in the gym that would have the team logo on the label. Has anyone done this before and, if so, is there a company that you recommend working with? There is a local company that we've been trying to work with, but the communication has not been great, so we're exploring our options.

 

[bogwoppit]

What about custom refillable water bottles, they are very common and very popular. Parents will buy them and the mark up is higher.

In this throwaway age bottled water makes me cringe.

 

[MaryA]

What about custom refillable water bottles, they are very common and very popular. Parents will buy them and the mark up is higher.

In this throwaway age bottled water makes me cringe.

Yes, I have to agree with you, Bog. This is something the HC wants to do. We don't have any vending machines in the gym so she would like to be able to offer cold bottles of water at open gym, zumba classes, fundraising stands, etc. But I think also having at least the option of refillable bottles is a great idea. My DD always brings a refillable bottle to the gym.

 

[Gymdad2]

I disagree with this idea for a fundraiser for the following reasons:

1. Water bottles very often are part of a goodie bag and I can't imagine paying for one. I have many many of them from past meets that are not longer used.

2. You will be selling them to the parents of your team members - in other words you are raising money from yourselves. A good funraiser brings in money from outside the gym. If not, you might as well just pay an assement and save a lot of time and effort.

But I do wish you good luck with your fundraising - it is not an easy job.

 

[shelovestoflip]

You might find out about a vending machine for your gym lobby. Perhaps the booster club could get profits from the machine. Our gym has a machine (water and gatorade) though I have no idea where the profits go.

While our team girls bring their own water bottles, there is indeed a huge rec population and they would be a good source of 'revenue' ie: buying the refillable water bottles, using the vending machine or buying your labelled water bottles (depending on the route you go) So, I do think that the money will come from sources other than team.

I actually think the rec kids (parents) like to buy 'logo' stuff. Does your gym have tshirts? This might be another source of revenue for you that rec kids would buy.

Personally, I think a great fundraiser would be Saturday morning coffee! Our gym is packed with parents in the viewing room and those that didn't make their Dunkin Donuts coffee stop in the morning always look as though they wish they did!

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Yes, I have to agree with you, Bog. This is something the HC wants to do. We don't have any vending machines in the gym so she would like to be able to offer cold bottles of water at open gym, zumba classes, fundraising stands, etc. But I think also having at least the option of refillable bottles is a great idea. My DD always brings a refillable bottle to the gym.

My DD's either bring bottled water from home (cringe away) or a refillable bottle, depends on the mood. Currently Little Monkey prefers the gym water fountain (GROSS!!!!) it must be b/c ALL the team kids drink from it, seriously, and it is quicker than going into the locker room and getting your own bottle!

As for bottled water - private labeled or not, thirsty kids are gonna want water, they won't care what it says on the label. If you're looking purely from a fundraising point of view, buy a case of water from the grocery store at 3.99 for 24 and you have an instant $20 profit! Our school does this at dances and bake sales. $1/bottle is not unusual to pay either from a vending machine or out of a small fridge or cooler.

At our old gym, we also sold snacks. Everyday before practice, we'd have 1 or 2 team kids come an hour early to "man" the snack box during the afterschool rec classes. We'd buy in bulk-chips, pretzels, granola bars, lollipops. Parents waiting around with young siblings were our best customers.

Good luck!

 

[coachmolly]

I agree that these probably would be bringing in more money from rec., open gym, and fitness class members than team kids, so it could be way to bring in money. Experienced gym parents wouldn't go for these things, but rec. parents eat this kind of stuff up. And I also agree that it doesn't need to be any special kind of label, just a store bought bottle would work and up your revenue. And bulk snacks to have on/behind the counter for class kids and younger siblings could be a good idea. It takes away the mechanical issues of a vending machine but still brings in money.
Reusable bottles are a great idea, especially the good quality bottles in fun colors. For reusable bottles, or other items with the gym name/logo, parents eat that up. The cheer gym I'm at one night a week sells shirts, shorts, socks, hair bows, bracelets, tons of silly little things with the gym name on it in the gym colors and they sell like crazy. Almost all of the class kids have at least one club t-shirt or tank top. You can easily mark these things up 50% (more if you find a good vendor).

 

[MaryA]

This isn't really a "booster" fundraiser. It's something that the HC/Owner wants to offer, in part for profit, and in part because she thinks it would be cool for the gym to have its OWN water. Heck, she's probably dreamed of having her own gym since she was my daughter's age, and as of about two months ago, she finally has it. If she gets a kick out of the idea of seeing her logo on a bottle of water, I'm not going to judge. Even though this isn't really a "booster" thing, I am helping out because a) I think she's awesome and she is crazy-busy, and b) Booster club may end up buying some of the water from her when we do things like bake sales or other events where selling water seems appropriate. We have lots of fundraisers planned (though we don't have our tax-free status number yet, or whatever it's called, so we are in limbo right now), including team clothing, etc. I was just wondering if anyone had worked with a company who provided custom-labeled water since there are a lot on the internet and it's hard to sort out which has good prices and customer service.

 

[coachmolly]

Sounds like she's too busy to put too much man-power into it, but if there were other team parents interested in helping out, you could probably design/print your own label on adhesive paper. It would just require someone good with a computer graphics programs (you could probably even do it in Word), a printer, and a paper cutter to cut the adhesive sheets down to size. There are probably easier ways, but it could be an option for just getting started- I can imagine you wouldn't want to keep that up too long- but maybe a few weeks as you work to sort things out with the local company.

 

[cher062]

I wouldn't pay extra for a water just because it has the gym lable on it but I would pay for a water bottle that can be refilled with the gym name on it. I have also paid for the car window stickers. We did this at last gym and they made enough money on that for the whole team (over 30 girls) to go to local amusement park for end of year "banquet" (basicly included a cookout provided by the park). Rec kids and team kids bought them for all their cars and most families have 2 - 3 cars which they bought them for. They were able to pick the gym pose (boy or girl) have the gym name on top and what ever they wanted on the bottom most went for first name of kids.