Best way to display kids medals

[journalmom]

If you are a parent of a competitive fencer, you must have these well deserved and hard earned but somewhat of annoying medals everywhere in the house. Some lost in the fencing bag, some in a box, and some lucky ones that end up on the wall. How do you display these medals without using them as wall paper but not storing them in a shoe box?

[achilles_heal]

if you have one or more very special ones, and an old (read "dead" or unusable" lame/jacket with the name, and a picture - pref an action picture from the tournament or contemporary to it - you can mount them in a shadow box. cut out the name portion of the lame and arrange them however it pleases you. in general, a 16 x 16 or so shadowbox with a nice matte is an elegant choice for medals.

[Peach]

Hang them on the end of the bed. Drape them over a curtain rod. Staple them to a bulletin board. Hang them around the neck of a teddy bear. Put a sturdy rod on the wall and hang them on that. Coat hooks.

I started my daughter's medals with a shadow box, but they get full really really really fast.

[D'Art]

I use an old drawer for mine, but then, we did have a lot of kids competitions and not very many talented fencers when I was a wee sprog....

Trpohies and such like will go back on a shelf once I can be bothered clearing one and fishing out the things to be displayed, though.

[Katman]

Hang them on the kid. The Mr. T look is in, and that will motivate him to win more so he can outbling everyone at school.

[erooMynohtnA]

I used to put a couple trophies on a shelf in my old club and hang the medals in different places on them when I was a kid. The coach seemed to like it, but my stuff got mixed up with other stuff. Also, make sure you grab your trophies and medals on the way to the door if you have a falling out.

I think a cool idea for just medals would be to put a small hook in the ceiling in a corner of one room and hang the medals from that. Although, you could only fit about 20 medals on that.

[Phrogger]

If you live anywhere near a military base (or possibly if you don't) you should be able to find a framing shop that can do a nice shadowbox for you. I would suggest grouping medals by competition season if your fencer has a lot of them, or you could group a special medal (like nationals or an NAC) with a program and memorabilia from that event.

Note that it won't be cheap if you get quality framing done. Somewhere in the range of $200 comes to mind, depending on the size of the frame.
A less pricey idea might be to just put up a simple coat rack with pegs on it and hang them from the coat rack. Unfortunately, all of my medals are hanging on a coathanger in my closet right now. Maybe one day I'll get around to mounting them...

[journalmom]

if you have one or more very special ones, and an old (read "dead" or unusable" lame/jacket with the name, and a picture - pref an action picture from the tournament or contemporary to it - you can mount them in a shadow box. cut out the name portion of the lame and arrange them however it pleases you. in general, a 16 x 16 or so shadowbox with a nice matte is an elegant choice for medals.

I always wondered what to do with the dead lame too. What an ingenious idea! Thanks

[journalmom]

If you live anywhere near a military base (or possibly if you don't) you should be able to find a framing shop that can do a nice shadowbox for you. I would suggest grouping medals by competition season if your fencer has a lot of them, or you could group a special medal (like nationals or an NAC) with a program and memorabilia from that event.

Note that it won't be cheap if you get quality framing done. Somewhere in the range of $200 comes to mind, depending on the size of the frame.
A less pricey idea might be to just put up a simple coat rack with pegs on it and hang them from the coat rack. Unfortunately, all of my medals are hanging on a coathanger in my closet right now. Maybe one day I'll get around to mounting them...

I like the coat rack idea too. I guess I can put the medals by season on each hook.

[fencerwallet]

We board mounted the blade my son won with at Nationals and then hung all of the medals for the year on it.

[lauralitz]

My daughter has a loft bed and hangs the medals from the slats. She just pushes the rows back when she needs more room. I have asked her if she wants her national medals put somewhere special for display, but she likes her solutions and so that is where they are. She does put her medals up in the order that she earns them.

She refuses to get rid of the loft bed because of her display . Her trophies are on her bookcase.

I like the idea of the shadow boxes, but I am out voted.

LL

[restlesscheese]

Sigh... I wish I was good enough to have even one medal...

[Soberin]

Looking at someone else's medal display is boring and in poor taste. It is worse than watching someone else's home videos. The true champions (eg Pete Sampras, Chris Evert) have stated many times that their childhood medals are in a box or simply have been lost.

If you feel that your kid will get satisfaction and motivation by looking at the medals as a measure of achievement, I would submit that this is even worse than exhibiting them for others to see. Kids should fence for the beauty of the sport and the satisfaction of trying their best, win or lose. If they get good at fencing, the local medals will become meaningless to them, and they will only be interested in national or international wins. They will also become fixated on the point standings and their classification. Displays of medals will only encourage this type of behavior, akin to a child fencing to please a parent or coach.

Stop before it's too late.

[sleepyweasle]

My daughter has a loft bed and hangs the medals from the slats. She just pushes the rows back when she needs more room. I have asked her if she wants her national medals put somewhere special for display, but she likes her solutions and so that is where they are. She does put her medals up in the order that she earns them.

She refuses to get rid of the loft bed because of her display . Her trophies are on her bookcase.

I like the idea of the shadow boxes, but I am out voted.

LL

My daughter's solution exactly! Her newest international and national medals are on the far right and the old ones just get pushed farther left - an ingenious solution I think. Of course now she is too large to actually get into her loft bed and frequently sleeps on a futon in her room (or on the couch in the living room) but at least her medals are comfortable.

[Hollywood Troy]

Looking at someone else's medal display is boring and in poor taste. It is worse than watching someone else's home videos. The true champions (eg Pete Sampras, Chris Evert) have stated many times that their childhood medals are in a box or simply have been lost.

If you feel that your kid will get satisfaction and motivation by looking at the medals as a measure of achievement, I would submit that this is even worse than exhibiting them for others to see. Kids should fence for the beauty of the sport and the satisfaction of trying their best, win or lose. If they get good at fencing, the local medals will become meaningless to them, and they will only be interested in national or international wins. They will also become fixated on the point standings and their classification. Displays of medals will only encourage this type of behavior, akin to a child fencing to please a parent or coach.

Stop before it's too late.

Tossing a few medals on a wall is a far cry from forcing someone to watch home movies. They give medals out for a reason and I'd say display them proudly. I would let their future performance determine whether those medals are meaningless or not. What if they never get better than local wins? Should they not have a sense of accomplishment for that?

[Peach]

Stop before it's too late.

But medals are shiiiiiiny!! And I don't care if anyone else sees them, ever. I don't brag about my daughter, I don't run about waving the medals, I don't tell everyone about how she did, I just put 'em where I can see 'em and be reminded that she did well at some things. Especially when you have a teenager, you need to be reminded

[achilles_heal]

but thirty years from now, as memories of the experiences fade, having the medals and the lame somewhere private in the home would be nice. all of mine are still in a box, but someday ill mount the important ones, if only for my grandkids.

[Warrior Princess]

I have a weapons' rack in my room, and it has some pegs on it for wearable equipment. One of the pegs has all of my meddals on it, and although it is secure, I'm starting to worry about the peg falling off...

[RebelFencer]

If you are a parent of a competitive fencer, you must have these well deserved and hard earned but somewhat of annoying medals everywhere in the house. Some lost in the fencing bag, some in a box, and some lucky ones that end up on the wall. How do you display these medals without using them as wall paper but not storing them in a shoe box?

Melt the medals down and make them a grill...yo.

[whtouche]

I like the coat rack idea too. I guess I can put the medals by season on each hook.

Last year I started doing something that makes sense for the future. When I'm at school I keep all my medals just hanging on a hook in my room here, and when I go home for the summer I put them all on a carabiner and hang it on the wall.