Holiday Gift Giving Guide for Your Members and Coaches

The holiday season is upon us and what better way to show appreciation to your staff, members and community than by gift-giving! There are many ways to show appreciation to trainers, members and your community.

Let’s start with gift-giving for your trainers. Your trainers are the heart and soul of your gym. It’s impossible for a box owner to know and connect with every single athlete, so you must lean on your trainers to bridge this gap. Sure, it’s their job to train, coach and program, but a little gift can go a long way in trainer retention, community-building and overall good vibes.

Here are some great gift ideas for your coaches.

Experience Gifts

Experience gifts are a great team-building tool that not only fosters community, but also allows your staff to relax and enjoy getting to know each other a little better. Resources like Groupon and Living Social are excellent for finding local experiences to share. Great experience gifts include:

• Solve an Escape Room together to reinforce communication, problem-solving and teamwork
• Dinner hosted at the owner’s home or at a restaurant
• Playing at a local gymnastics facility – just make sure everyone signs a waiver first!
• Explore the great outdoors together with a day at the beach, on the slopes or camping –whatever works best in your region

On a Budget

Not all business owners are able to invest a lot of money in gift no matter how awesome the trainers are. There are other ways to show appreciation and to give a sense of fulfillment to your trainers, including:

• Compile quotes from members highlighting compliments and create framed poster or journal to give them
• An extra vacation day(s) to use
• Designated locker area for each coach. This doesn’t need to be fancy and will allow for your staff to feel like they have their own space that members cannot access
• Card from you as the business owner highlighting how they have grown and how their contribution makes a difference

Physical Gifts

Gifts are a great way to show your appreciation for your coaches, and that you’re invested in them. Plus, it can double as advertising for you if you incorporate your logo in the gift. Consider giving your coaches:

• Custom gear such as BlenderBottles, water bottles, beer koozies or hoodies with your logo
• Metcon/Nano/NoBull shoes and be sure to keep an eye out for Black Friday and other holiday deals
• Custom WOD journals
• Gift cards to clothing retailers, coffee spots, breweries or meal delivery services
• Massages or chiropractic visits
• Good, old-fashioned money
• Certification stipend (I recently completed my USAW and it has helped me both as an athlete and a coach. Some that I am looking forward to participating in are CrossFit® Gymnastics and nutritional certifications)

Gifts for Your Members

Your box wouldn’t be what it is without your amazing athletes! Show them they’re appreciated with these simple gift ideas.

• Holiday card sent using your Zen Planner and MailChimp integration (call us if you’d like help setting this up!)
• Ornament with your logo
• Lacrosse balls
• Custom WOD journals
• Organize a Secret Santa for members to participate in
• Holiday party and WOD (don’t forget to program the 12 Days of Christmas)

Giving Back

• Giving back to your neighborhood is a great way to not only spread holiday cheer, but also build community and even market your gym in your area. Here are some ways our affiliate gyms give back locally:
• Canned food drive for local food bank. For each can, each coach will do one burpee at the holiday party as an added incentive.
• Adopt a family. There are many local organizations that will help match you with a family, or perhaps a member knows a family in need that could benefit from the generosity of your box.
• Hero WOD. Host a special day of programming for your members to complete a Hero WOD (a list of hero WODs can be found in your Workout Tracker). Have each member sign a card to show support and gratitude to the hero’s family.
• Local (or large!) competitions. Either host an in-house competition or a box vs. box competition to encourage camaraderie and raise money for a local cause.

Do you have great ideas for coach and member gifts? Or does your box give back to the community in a special way? Share your ideas below!

Get your copy of our Athlete Retention Guide for additional ways to keep your athletes happy and engaged all year round.