Are you looking to commemorate an event but don’t know what to do?
Custom challenge coins make for great gifts to acknowledge everything from retirement to great sporting achievements. If you’re not familiar with challenge coins, then you may be confused about what they mean or when to use them.
In this post, we’re going to do a deep dive on custom challenge coins. What are they? What do they mean? When is the best time to use them for commemorating an event?
We’ll answer all of these questions and more. Challenge coins are among the most meaningful ways to tell someone that they’re appreciated, as it gives them something to look at and be proud of for years to come. Let’s learn more.
What Are Custom Challenge Coins?
To understand what challenge coins represent, you need to take a look at the history of them. In reality, we don’t really know for sure where exactly challenge coins originated, but there are a couple of compelling stories that people usually cite.
The most popular one is a story from WWI about an American pilot, downed and captured in Germany. Prior to being shot down, his entire squadron was given medallions with their flying insignia on them from a wealthy commander. When he was captured, the Germans took everything from him, but he’d had his medallion around his neck.
When the pilot escaped into France, the French thought he was a German spy until one soldier recognized his medallion with the special insignia on it and returned him to his squadron. Since then, these challenge coins have been issued to soldiers as a memento of good fortune.
You can find stories dating back to Roman times or closer to us in the Vietnam war era. You can click for more about these interesting histories. Regardless of their origin story, we can be sure that military challenge coins served as a great commemorative gift for those that received them. But, what are they good for now?
What Kind of Events Are Challenge Coins Good For?
Nowadays, challenge coins are given to commemorate anything from military service to a job well done by your employer. If you need some inspiration for how to memorialize your event, check out these interesting examples.
Military or Public Service
Since the history of challenge coins is steeped in military service, this makes all too much sense. If you’ve got a friend or relative entering or coming out of military service, a custom challenge coin celebrating their personal achievements in the service is a perfect gift.
Make sure to incorporate their branch of the military, as well as their specific rank and squadron. You can also add a more personal message that you share with the person as well.
Club Membership
Making custom challenge coins is a great way to honor new club members, whether it’s for a chess club or a gun club. It’s a great way for members to have something to show for being in a club and it’ll give them something to look back on fondly in the years to come.
Because you can design a custom challenge coin in whatever way you see fit, you can tailor it to your specific niche. There are no limits when it comes to customization.
Career Achievements or Retirement
A one really special way to issue a custom challenge coin is for special career achievements. If your loved one gets a new job, or if a valued employee has a 5 or 10-year milestone at your company, why not give them a challenge coin as a commemorative gift?
As a retirement gift, challenge coins can be really amazing. It’s an undeniably heartfelt way to congratulate someone on the completion of an incredible, varied, and successful career. You can even hold a small ceremony at a retirement party to give it to them.
What makes challenge coins so special is that they act as reminders, as time passes, of a very important accomplishment within one’s life. They might not look at it every day, but once in a while, they’ll pull it out of the cupboard and take a trip down memory lane.
Getting Through Difficulties
Challenge coins are also useful for those that have struggled with addiction. They’ve been used in rehab programs and AA because they’re great for commemorating sobriety, whether it’s for a month, a year, or 10 years.
At the end of the day, custom challenge coins are there for you to behold in times of need. They remind you of the great things you’ve done in your life. This doesn’t always have to be career-based, it can be a reminder of how you got through a really difficult period.
Graduation
Graduating from high school or college is always a cause for celebration. If you’ve got a child or other loved one coming out of school, then gifting them a challenge coin is a nice way to send them off into the working world.
Personalize it by adding some imagery that has to do with their major and you could even put their college’s logo on it as well.
Sporting Achievements
Achievement in sport at any level, whether it’s peewee football or university rowing, is cause for celebration. If you’re a coach or a teammate, you can use a challenge coin to solidify your team bond for many years.
Military challenge coins are given out to build comradery within a squadron. Sports teams take a very similar mindset into the competition, so why not create a lasting memory with your teammates?
Commemorating Great Achievements With a Custom Challenge Coin
As you can see, you can use custom challenge coins for just about every occasion. If you’ve got a family member, protege, or friend that has made a monumental life achievement, then issuing them a personal challenge coin will go a long way. Many custom challenge coin sites will allow you to make whatever design you want, so start thinking about your special person and get them the gift they’ll never forget.
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