The first rosette your cat ever wins is pretty special :-). You bring it home... hang it on the wall... maybe even put it under glass. As you start winning more and more, you may find that the rosettes start to pile up a bit... maybe they even become dust-collectors.
Maybe you even wonder if there is a better use for some of the rosettes you don't treasure...
Recycling Rosettes to Other Cat Clubs
There are often clubs who wish to re-use rosettes. When you are at the cat show, ask a club member if they wish to have their rosettes donated back to them for the next show. It is a great way to help support the club. You can also collect all your old rosettes and donate them to another club.
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Donate rosettes to a New Club
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Donate rosettes to a club that is struggling financially
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Collect rosettes for International CFA clubs
How to Recycle a Rosette
Recycling a rosette is relatively easy depending on the style. Most rosettes have printing on the middle streamer - club name, date, award. This streamer will need to be removed and replaced. You just need to order a center steamer. Sometimes the button on the center of the rosette will also need to be replaced. This usually has a CFA or club logo on it.
Donating Rosettes to Other Types of Clubs
You can also donate the rosettes to non-cat clubs:
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Donate to a local school for use as awards
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Donate to 4-H
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Boys Club
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Girls Club
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Seniors Homes
Re-purposing of Rosettes
Just because a rosette is a rosette, that doesn't mean it has to be used as an award.
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Use as bow on a present
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Create a Christmas ornament out of it
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Use it in in a craft project
During The Show
Now I will tell you about my absolute favorite re-use of rosettes... at the show!
When I know I am not going to keep rosettes, I wait until a child stops at my benching cage and admires my cat. Of course the child want to touch the cat - something I don't usually allow for the cat's sake. But if the child actually asks permission (as opposed to just grabbing), I always hand them a teaser to play with the cat in place of touching it. Then when they are finished, I tell them to pick one of the rosettes off my cage as a reward for being so thoughtful to ask and just not grabbing.
Without fail, the child is thrilled - and so am I. I get at least as much enjoyment from giving the rosette to a child as I do having my cat win it (maybe even more!)
Try it next time your cat is winning.