Your cards have shipped, the box is on the porch, and the end-of-season party is next week. Now what? This post covers the options parents and coaches have for finishing and packaging their cards, from doing nothing at all to sealed packs with custom labels. Everything here is something we've done ourselves or heard back from customers about.
First, Stacks Are Fine
Cards arrive from our printer in a neat stack, on premium, glossy cardstock, collated into sets. You can hand those stacks straight to the kids, and most of our customers do exactly that. There is no packaging step that makes the moment better than it already is.
The joy in seeing a kid get their own trading cards - and trading with teammates - is what inspired us to start Pennant Cards. That experience is what makes the work of building and printing these cards worthwhile - for us and for the coach who organized it.
So if you read no further: hand them out and enjoy. Everything below is optional!
Two Ways to Hand Them Out
Before the packaging question, decide what each player is getting. There are two common approaches.
- One set per player. Each kid gets one of every card on the team, plus the team and coach cards if you made them. Cards arrive collated into sets by default, so there's nothing to sort.
- Every copy of their own card. Each kid gets the full stack of their own card, and the way to complete a team set is to trade with teammates. This is what we've always done personally. It makes the trading the main event, and players end the day with a set they assembled themselves.
Option 1: Loose Stacks, No Packaging
Hand each kid a stack. The only real downside is that loose cards in a dugout bag can get bent, and stacks are easy to mix up if you're carrying them to the field in one box. So at a bare minimum, rubber band each set, or wrap a piece of paper around each set, tape it tight.
Option 2: Glassine Bags
Glassine is a semi-transparent, waxy paper, the same material old-school wax packs and stamp envelopes are made from. A 3 by 5 inch bag fits a stack of 15 to 25 standard 2.5 by 3.5 inch cards snugly, and you can see the top card through the paper. They're paper, so they go in the recycling or compost when the kids are done with them.
We use these 3 by 5 inch glassine bags, which come 100 to a pack. They're open-top, so you'll want something to close them. That's where a label comes in, which we cover below. A folded-over flap with a piece of tape also works.
Good for: keeping stacks together, a bit of a "pack" feel when the kid opens it, low cost, biodegradable.
Not good for: rain. Glassine is water resistant, not waterproof, and the bags tear if they're treated roughly. They also offer no protection against bending. So if rain is in the forecast and your event is outdoors, do your best to keep the packs dry.
Option 3: Hard Plastic Cases
If you want a more premium, more durable container, you could use these hard plastic card cases. We've used Ultra Pro 25-count two-piece plastic boxes, which come 12 to a pack. The lid slides over the base, and the 25-card capacity fits a full team set with room to spare, or a 25-card stack of a player's own card on our 16pt cardstock. They're clear, so the kid's own card can go on top where it shows through the lid.
A case like this makes the set feel like something to keep rather than something to lose in the car. Cases also stack neatly in a box for transport, and a custom label on the lid turns them into a finished product.
Good for: durability, display, gift-level presentation, larger teams where a paper bag would be overstuffed.
Not good for: budget-conscious orders and anyone trying to avoid plastic. Per player, cases cost several times what a glassine bag does, and they take up more room in the box you carry to the field.
Custom Labels
Whichever packaging you pick, a custom label is the single thing that most changes how finished the result looks. It seals the glassine bag, or sits on the lid of the case, and it's the first thing the kid sees.
We recommend a baseball card size label: 2.5 by 3.5 inches. It's the same footprint as the card, so it covers the front of a 3 by 5 bag with a neat margin and fits the lid of a 25-count case. Any custom sticker or label service will print that size as a rectangle label, and if you want the cheapest route, sheet labels from an office supply store and a home printer get you most of the way there.
What to put on it:
- Team name and the season or year.
- The team logo, or the colors from your card design so the pack matches the cards inside.
- Card count, like "16 trading cards" or "25 trading cards." Kids like knowing.
- Optionally, the player's name. This is easiest if you're printing labels at home, since you can merge the roster into the label template. For ordered labels, leave the name off and add a small name sticker or write it on the back. Reach out to us - we may just be able to provide a template for labels for you with your roster already added to it.
Order or print a few more labels than you have players. Some will go on crooked, and a couple of spare labeled packs are nice to have for a coach or a sponsor.
Other Options We've Seen
- Penny sleeves and top loaders. Rather than packaging the whole set, some parents put each kid's own card in a top loader on top of the stack. It singles out their card and protects the one they care most about. Both are sold at any card shop or big-box store in the trading card aisle.
- Zip-top and mylar bags. Fully waterproof, which matters if your awards day is at a wet field. The tradeoff is plastic waste, and they look less like a card pack than glassine does.
- Tuck boxes. The folded cardboard boxes playing cards come in. They're sized for a full deck, so a team set rattles around inside them. We tried these and went back to bags.
- Binder pages. Not for handing out, but a 9-pocket page with the full team set is a nice thing to have at the league table or the team party. Every card is visible and nothing gets lost.
If You'd Rather We Did the Packaging
For leagues, organizations, and anyone selling packs rather than handing them out, we offer sealed packs as part of our custom projects service. Cards are sorted to your spec, anywhere from 1 to 25 per pack, and sealed in-house in either foil heat-sealed packs or glassine packs, with UV gloss labels in your branding on the front or both sides.
Foil packs feel like the real thing, and the heat seal means the packs arrive ready to sell or hand out with no sorting or stuffing on your end. We've produced these for collegiate summer league teams, health systems, school events, and municipalities. If you have a project like that in mind, tell us about it and we'll put together a quote.
