Ideas and Tips for Selling Family Reunion T-Shirts

Games, picnics, family, and t-shirts; put it all together and what do you get? Family reunion season – and as an apparel decorator, that means printing custom family reunion shirts.

Have you started customizing family reunion apparel for your customers?

Every year when the weather starts to warm up and summer starts to show, families put aside time to be together for family reunions.

And this year will be no different.

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Tips for Selling Family Reunion T-Shirts

Family reunion t-shirts are one of the biggest sellers in the summer, and can be your biggest seller, too!

Most family reunion t-shirt orders range from about 50 to 150 t-shirts in various sizes that can be handled with one transfer order. They are often 1 or 2 colors, since the bigger order allows a second color in the budget.

The key to success is letting a customer know you can do their order in time for the big event.

Promote your fast turnaround. Because the family member organizing the family reunion also has a day job and it is difficult to organize a large group of people, family reunion t-shirt orders often are last minute.

Reunion organizers have to request t-shirt sizes from the entire family that can range from 50 to several hundred people. Especially for the last-minute planners, this task can be very time consuming and difficult.

We recommend setting your “last day to order t-shirts” date at least a week before the event, if your customer will be picking up their order, or add a few days more if you will need to ship the order to them.

Wait one day after the “last day to order” because you can count on someone turning the order in late.

Our one and two-color orders from our family reunion art layouts ship the next day when you order by 12 pm ET.

So, you can order Monday morning, your order will ship Tuesday, and they arrive to you by Thursday at the latest!

Our Goof Proof transfers are the best transfer type for family reunion t-shirts and apply in just 4 seconds. You will be able to print that 100-piece t-shirt order in an hour or two and have it ready for Friday evening pick-up.

This fast turnaround is what will help you win the sale!

[Related Content: Winning the Family Reunion T-Shirt Sale]

Use Spirit Sale for Selling Family Reunion Shirts

Stahls’ Spirit Sale makes selling shirts to groups super easy.

You don’t need to worry about paper ordering forms, collecting money from each family member, getting sizes for everyone, etc.

Spirit Sale is an ecommerce solution and you can create an online “store” for each family.

Then, each family member can go in and buy their own shirt, select their size, and pay for it on the spot.

This can help you as well, since you’re getting paid immediately, and you’ll have a pulse on how the ordering is going. You can even give updates to the family reunion organizer on who has placed their order.

Ideas for Custom Family Reunion T-Shirts

Keep these ideas and tips in mind when printing family reunion t-shirts.

There are so many different ideas and routes you could go with these types of shirts.

Bring up these ideas with your customers when you are helping them to create their reunion apparel.

First off, family reunion shirts commemorate the event. It’s a great way to remember the family gathering. If there’s a theme to the reunion, work it into the design for an even more memorable souvenir.

If the reunion is in a public place such as a park, zoo, beach, etc, having matching shirts is a fast and easy way to identify where everyone is. Use bright colored shirts to make them even more visible.

Add individual family members’ names using Express Names for added personalization. This helps with large extended families, people you may not have seen in a long time, or with families that gave grown with marriages and kids.

When having extended families at the reunion, you can give each branch of the family the same design on a different colored shirt (example: Smiths get red and Tylers get purple).

Or, divide the colors so that adults get one color and kids another (example: adults get red and kids get purple).

There are so many options.

Since a lot of family reunions are annual, you can even add custom shirt tags to the t-shirts as a reminder of where they got the t-shirts for future family reunion orders.

[Related Content: Brand Your T-Shirts with a Shirt Tag]

Creating Family Reunion T-Shirt Artwork

If you are creating custom family reunion designs, you can use the 7,000+ customizable layouts and more than 10,000 clip art options that are available for use with our custom transfers.

There are many layouts made specifically for family reunions. These layouts can be customized and personalized in the Easy View® online design center.

If you want to use a layout that is not for family reunions, you can customize it to turn it into a family reunion design by changing the words and clip art.

Popular design choices include a family tree with everyone’s name on it.

The names could be current family members or commemorate family members who have passed away, too.

It is also a popular design choice to add state clip art to show where the family reunion is being held or where the family members originate from.

If it is a themed reunion, such as a beach theme, you can incorporate the theme in the t-shirt design.

Create a Free Mock Up Proof

Once your customer decides which design is right for their family reunion order and all of the art is set, you can create a free mock-up “proof” from Easy View.

Have your customer choose an ink color and t-shirt color and create a custom mock-up in seconds.

This can act as a proof and can be printed out or emailed to your customer.

Then, they can use it to get orders from all their family members, too.

While in Easy View, just click the “Mock Up” button in the lower left hand corner.

Then you can choose the apparel item and color as well.

[Related Content: Wow Your Customer with a Free Art Proof in Just Seconds]

Handling Multiple Shirt Sizes for Family Reunions

A family reunion order may have t-shirt sizes ranging from toddler to 3XL. How do you handle all sizes?

Believe it or not, with just one transfer order. This will also help maximize your profits.

If there are toddler shirts, we recommend using a gang sheet with a standard adult and a smaller size that will fit on the sheet.

The standard adult print will handle all t-shirt sizes from Youth Medium to Adult 3XL. The small print can be used for toddler and youth small sizes.

This way you can place just one transfer order to print all shirts.

To figure out the quantity, add up your youth medium and larger shirts. That will be the number of transfer sheets you order, which should easily also cover all your infant and youth small size t-shirts.

[Related Content: How to Handle Multiple Shirt Sizes]

Upsell with Extra Prints

Since you will be needing more adult shirts than youth, our gang sheet set-up is going to leave you with a lot of extra small prints. These prints are free so use them to upsell.

You can use them on women’s tank tops, tote bags, shorts, mouse pads and golf shirts.

Add these items to your order form and upsell for additional profits.

Alternative Items to Family Reunion T-Shirts

Personalized t-shirts are the number one souvenir that is given out at family reunions.

However, here are some suggestions on other items you can personalize to compliment the party atmosphere, pay tribute to the family and use your heat press at the same time!

Give your customers more options so they have a reason to come back to you for their custom family reunion apparel needs each year.

Tote Bags

Skip the task of tracking down t-shirt sizes and heat print a family reunion design onto tote bags.

Tote bags can be decorated using your heat press and heat transfers.

They make great gifts and the family can store their personal items in them when they are at the reunion.

Choose inexpensive cotton canvas totes and apply Goof Proof® screen printed transfers to either or both sides.

Different colored bags using the same design can be decorated to differentiate the families or add a personalized family name using Express Names™ to one side of the bag, and the main design on the other side.

Can Coolers

If you have a family who enjoys cold beverages, you may want to suggest to the reunion organizer to give out Koozies, or can coolers, as a gift.

These foam can coolers keep beverages cold on hot summer days which the guests will love.

They are inexpensive and can easily be heat printed using a heat press and heat transfers. If you don’t have a Can Cooler Platen for your heat press, you can lay the Koozies flat on a shirt press and decorate several at once.

Caps, Bandanas, Visors and other Head Wear

Offering personalized head wear won’t be loved by the masses at a reunion, however, offering a cap, visor or bandana to some of the family members such as the men or children gives a different option instead of a t-shirt or tote bag.

Bandanas would be a great idea if family pets are welcome to the reunion.

The location of the event may also help sell the option of customizing head wear for your customer’s reunion.

Events outdoors such as the beach or amusement park are perfect places for family reunion caps.