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10 Unique Ways to Use College Giveaways

Oct 20th 2022

10 Unique Ways to Use College Giveaways

Whether you’re appealing to alumni, incoming freshmen or current students, there are so many ways college departments can use buttons to increase involvement. Custom buttons not only make cool giveaways for college students but they also have a wide variety of uses on campus.Check out the ten ways promotional giveaways for college students are the most cost-effective way to promote school spirit and help boost involvement on campus and beyond.

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1. Start at the Open House

Before your new students have been accepted, it's very common that they will make their first visit to campus during an Open House Event.

DePaul University wanted to ease the stress of these potential students’ first trip to their school by designing buttons for their current students. Sally Baker, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at DePaul University explains, "we used the 'Ask Me About DePaul' buttons when he would come to our house for visiting prospective students so it was easy for our guests to see which students were working as staff at the event.

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2. Orientation Giveaways

College giveaways are often handed out at significant milestones, such as orientation, a campus tour, school wide activities, and of course, game day. Buttons are not just affordable to be used as giveaways for college students, but they are practical too. Students can easily hang onto them as memories for their college years but in the meantime they are easy to wear. Buttons made to promote college events bring a sense of community and excitement to campus.

Including buttons as part of New Student Orientation materials is a great way to give new students a chance to show their school pride before the academic year begins. Beyond using logos on the buttons, creative designs can illustrate the values that drew students to your institution in the first place. Minneapolis School of Art and Design's Fall 2014 "Sweet Team"-themed orientation was the perfect opportunity to create some delicious button designs, and show off a silly sense of humor.

Bret Smith of the MCAD Student Activities office explained that in addition to designs that aligned with the college's creative vibe, the buttons served a dual purpose. The small takeaway was the perfect size to fidget with, helping to "calm the nerves of both students and parents."

Student involvement makes for a rich college experience, and creating that sense of community begins with the Freshmen Seminar. Celebrate your dynamic student body with buttons that connect, engage and promote the qualities that make your institution special!

3. Identify Resources

It can be difficult for students to identify who they can reach out to ask questions during those early days on campus. Figuring out who can help them locate their classes or point the way back to their residence hall goes a long way to making new students feel comfortable and supported. Identifying buttons worn by student leaders on campus like Resident Assistants, Orientation Leaders, Tour Guides or Welcome Center employees ensure that students feel comfortable asking questions and seeking additional resources from those around them.

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4. Faculty Meet and Greet

Making connections with faculty can be a key component to the orientation program for new students to lead to their success in higher education. Identifying the right professors early on can help students get on the right track as soon as possible. Identifier buttons help make faculty visible among the sea of new faces at meet and greets, orientation and department events.

This design was created by Savannah College of Art and Design to promote their graphic design program.

Buttons for faculty, adjunct and visiting professors are a great opportunity to represent different colleges within the university. They can also give university freshman a chance to network with teachers they may not meet or interact with until later in their program. And a great promotional button will spread the word about specific departments or special programs on campus, like this design created by Savannah College of Art and Design to promote their graphic design program.

5. Building Community

One of the most unique experiences of college life is the diverse and engaging living environment that your university can provide. And custom buttons are one of the most popular giveaways for college students when it comes to creating a sense of community. By encouraging your school or the RA's to make buttons for the students living on certain floors or dorm buildings, it creates a sense of unity and belonging amongst members.

6. Show Off Your Campus

With the addition of the new Saieh Hall for Economics that opened on the University of Chicago campus, Renee Foster the Communications and Events Director wanted to draw more attention to the Hall's reopening. Her challenge was, how to make the opening event and an "economics party" seems like a fun way to spend your evening. The button pins, which featured some class-A economics jokes, were a part of the night's button scavenger hunt, which in addition to the free food and other cool giveaways for college students, brought nearly 500 people for the open house celebration.

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7. Make New Friends

Buttons can be an amazing tool for connecting students and help form communities on campus. International students, first-generation students, commuters, or transfer students can easily identify each other through particular designs. Making friends and finding folks with shared experiences are important to the college experience and buttons can make starting those first conversation-starting moments a bit less scary.

8. Proud Parents

College buttons are not just for the students either. Even with the plethora of mugs and car decals proclaiming "Proud (Insert Institution Name) Dad," buttons can be a neat souvenir for parents who have survived what may be their first university orientation. Sending a child off to school can be just as stressful on mom and dad as it is on the student, and once their child has settled in, sporting the button gives the empty nesters an opportunity to share their child's (and the parents' own!) success.

Parents and family, surprise your outgoing senior by showing up to the ceremony with custom graduation buttons. Did you know that Busy Beaver Button Company can add photos to the button? The best size to choose for buttons with photos is either our 2.25” Round Button or our 3” Round Button. These sizes really stand out so that everyone can see how proud you are of your graduate’s achievements. Busy Beaver also offers Design Service so if you want to add your student’s name and the graduation date to the photo we can make that happen! Work together with our talented design team to get wonderfully laid out buttons that you will never want to part with. Pro tip! These buttons are not just great accessories to wear to a graduation ceremony, they also make cost effective goodies to hand out at a graduation party.

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9. School Spirit

College promotional products inspire school spirit, especially when it comes to sports. Custom game day buttons are a must have for every student who wants to show off their school colors! Wear them decked out head to toe in gear at the game and every day after to show your undying support for the team.

Coming off of their fifth year in a row win, it's hard not to attribute North Dakota State University's victories to their prideful pins worn every year! NDSU students, staff, and alumni have every reason to be proud of their Bison team, and they’re not afraid to show it. The buttons sporting their team colors, mascot, and name are handed out during events or before games to help fans show support. Looks like it's working!

10. Greek Life

Custom Greek buttons are one way for fraternity and sorority members to show off their pride for their house. Buttons are easy to wear on a backpack so members of Greek life can sport their letters everyday. Custom sorority buttons are cute, fun and cost effective keepsakes to mark chapter events. Make a special button just for your big or little for them to hold on to forever. You can also use custom buttons as giveaways for philanthropy events!

Busy Beaver Button Company offers a wide variety of button shapes, sizes, and exclusive special finishes to truly serve any purpose your school may need. Big buttons for school spirit and small buttons for on campus organizations to pass out as freebies, we have whatever you need. Make sure to take advantage of our oval button shape during football season! The oval shape is perfect for a football design.

Order  college promotional items today or discover more ways to button up your university for the new semester!

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