The best club anniversary ideas combine three things: a festive moment for the club's history, activities for today's members and something that lasts until the next big birthday. Rather than packing everything into one gala evening, it pays to spread the anniversary over a whole year. These ideas work for sports clubs just as well as for the volunteer fire brigade, a music society or a shooting club, and for a 25th anniversary just as much as for a centenary.
Plan first: committee, budget and calendar
The board can't carry an anniversary on its own. Set up an anniversary committee with people from every section, from the youth teams and from the older members, and start early. Decide which dates belong in the celebration year, who is responsible for which project and how it will be paid for: from reserves, through sponsors, entry fees at events, or grants you ask your local council and umbrella organisation about. How to win supporters is covered in our guide Sports club sponsorship. An anniversary logo of your own ties everything together, from the poster to the shirt.
12 club anniversary ideas
1. The ceremony with honours
An evening for guests, speeches and honours: founding members, long-standing members and the volunteers who have kept everything running for years. Keep the speeches short, add music in between, then celebrate.
2. An anniversary match or tournament
The veterans against the under-19s, the first team against a selection of former players, a tournament with neighbouring clubs. Clubs without a league can put on a concert, a competition or a show by every group.
3. An open day
An anniversary is a good opportunity to win new members. Every section shows what it does, and children can try everything out.
4. An exhibition from the club archive
Old photos, shirts, trophies, certificates and newspaper cuttings in the clubhouse. Ask members to search their cellars and attics. Whatever turns up is material for the club history too.
5. A photo of all the members
A big group picture of everyone who can make it, in club colours or uniform. At the next anniversary, it's the photo everyone will look for.
6. An anniversary shirt or patch
A special shirt for the season, a patch for the uniform, the anniversary logo on every poster. Ask your sponsors whether they will help pay for it.
7. A time capsule
Each section puts something in: a photo, the membership list, letters to the members of the future. It's opened at the next big anniversary.
8. A storytelling evening with the oldest members
Older members tell how things used to be, younger ones ask questions. Record the conversations with permission: they are the most valuable source for the club history.
9. A tree for the club grounds
Planted in the anniversary year, with a small plaque next to it. It grows along with the club.
10. A weekend of celebrations
Marquee, music, a children's programme and food for all generations. Plan enough helpers and hand out the shifts early.
11. A book of today's members
The club history tells where the club comes from; the Flashbook shows who it is today. Each team or group gets its own book, and every person in it a double-page spread with two photos and their answers, for example “How long have you been in the club?” or “What do you wish the club for its next anniversary?”. Up to 4 sponsor pages are included in the price, so there is room for your anniversary sponsors. More about the sports club yearbook (what Germans call a Freundebuch).
12. An anniversary trip
An outing for all sections with one shared destination. People who otherwise only meet in the clubhouse sit on the same coach for once.
What is different about a centenary
At a club's centenary, hardly anyone who saw the early years is still alive. That makes the stories of the oldest members, old minute books and photos from family albums all the more important. A hundred years is a good reason for a printed club history and a ceremony with guests from the local council and the association. A lovely touch: the oldest and the youngest members do something together, a photo, a game, a tree.
Gifts for a club anniversary: what guests bring
If you're invited by a friendly club, a gift that helps the club or honours it goes down well: a donation for the youth section, balls or equipment by arrangement, a framed certificate of congratulations, a flag ribbon if the club has a banner. Members who want to give their club something choose something everyone sees: a bench in front of the clubhouse, a picture for the wall.
Commemorative booklet (Festschrift) for a club anniversary: what goes in?
The commemorative booklet is the booklet or book for the anniversary that goes to members and guests. Typical contents are:
- speeches of welcome from the board, the mayor and the association
- the club's history in brief, often as a timeline
- all of today's sections and teams with a photo
- a roll of honour for founding members and members who have made a special contribution
- the programme for the celebration year
- adverts from local businesses that cover part of the printing costs
Form a small editorial team, collect texts and photos by a fixed deadline and get quotes from printers. How to put together and pay for a booklet with adverts is covered in our guide How to make a match programme.
Writing a club history: how to go about it
A club history is made from lots of small sources. These five steps help:
- Collect sources. Minute books, membership lists, old club newsletters, local newspaper reports, photos from family albums. Ask at the municipal or town archive too.
- Ask eyewitnesses. Talk to the oldest members while you still can, and write down names, years and stories.
- Sort and check. Divide the history into sections, for example by decade, and check dates against a second source.
- Clear the rights. Old photos and people's names raise questions of copyright and personal rights. If in doubt, ask your association or a legal adviser; this is not legal advice.
- Publish. As part of the commemorative booklet, as a book of its own or online on the club's website.
Commemorative booklet, club history or Flashbook?
The three are different things. The club history tells the story of the club, the commemorative booklet accompanies the anniversary with history, speeches and adverts; for both, a printer is the right partner. The Flashbook is not a club history but the book of today's members: one team or group of 8 to 42 people, each with their own double-page spread. One book costs €24.90 including design, printing and shipping, €22.90 if 3 teams from your club order together and €19.90 with 5 or more teams.