Hey gang,
I know lots of you do youth sports t&i. I have to give approx 150 coaches gifts. Any low cost ideas you've found to be successful? Smaller plaque w small team photo...is what I'm thinking, just not finding one. Links anyone??
Thanks for the assist!
BB
Brad... Richmond Pro Lab does them for us at a cost of $8.95 each... that's an 8 x 10 mounted on a 9 x 11.5 wood base... not dye sub, but plexi covered. If looking to nail the plexi in yourself, they have sold us the kits for like $3.00 each.
I have used several different plaques over the last few years. Bottom line is I want quality at a good price, since this comes out of my pocket. Last year I used http://economyplaques.com and got 7x9 plaques which hold a 5x7 photo and name plate for around 4.00 each, they came with engraved plates "Thank you to our coaches" etc, not specific per team. But there is a lot of work involved. The slip in plexi, and engraved plates has to be assembled manually, adhesive, getting it centered, and then each photo had to be inserted. It was more work than I want to put in again.
I now use H&H color labs for my youth T&I and absolutely love it. Ease of package ordering is phenomenal. I recently saw a sample of their dye sub plaques and will be ordering these from now on. No photos to insert, I can put whatever text I want on the photo, its ready to go when I receive them. A 5x7 is 6.50 and an 8x10 9.85. http://www.hhcolorlab.com/create/sports/specialty Well worth the money not to have to put all that time and effort into doing it yourself.
Second vote for Richmond Pro Labs. Can't say enough about their quality, selection and more than anything else -- their world-class customer service. Don't know your time-line but I can tell you that they have been very helpful (and quite reasonable) for rush orders. Give them a try.
The only knock I have on dye sub, is that it does come off looking a bit cheap looking in my opinion. I much prefer the three piece... wood, photo, plexi cover.
P Alesse wrote:
The only knock I have on dye sub, is that it does come off looking a bit cheap looking in my opinion. I much prefer the three piece... wood, photo, plexi cover.
I will admit that the dye sub plaques definitely don't have the same sharpness as a print. The ones I use are printed on MDF, and not a nice hardwood. But for a coach, or sponsor, they get pretty good reviews. I think part of me likes them because they are different. I go into some of the stores that have sponsored for years, and see the same plaques over and over, just a different photo. This is what the template dye sub from HH looks like (on the left).
