| FFA Nation

Do your holiday shopping and support FFA, all at the same time

Jessica Mozo | 10/29/2010 |

The biggest shopping season of the year is here again. But while you’re out doing your holiday shopping, don’t forget to shop FFA.

Not only does FFA offer great gift items, but when you buy FFA merchandise, the money goes back to support FFA programs and activities.

The Shop FFA Official Online Store (www.ffa.org/shop) is brimming with gift ideas. It is a one-stop shopping destination with items from all three FFA catalogs, including Blue (apparel and gifts), Gold (chapter supplies and awards) and Core (educational resources).

“Members can and do shop all three; however, Shop FFA Blue is the e-destination for FFA members seeking official FFA merchandise,” says Mickie Miller, senior marketing and licensing specialist for the National FFA Organization.

The Blue online store carries everything from Official FFA Dress to the latest fashion for members, along with favorite brands such as Carhartt and JanSport. There are FFA logo clothing and accessories, from toys and picture frames to water bottles, ties and more. You can also sign up for weekly Shop FFA e-mails with specials and deals.

Another fun part of the Blue Catalog is the annual Chapter Tee Design Contest. Now in its ninth year, the contest gives FFA chapters the chance to enter up to five clever, original T-shirt designs. National FFA then selects 12 of the best designs from hundreds of entries, and members vote for their six favorites through Facebook and ffa.org.

“The winning designs are sold in the Blue Catalog, and the winning chapters receive 50 percent of the first year’s profits from the sale of the winning design,” Miller says.

Chapters can enter their design ideas until the end of February 2011.

Need a gift for your advisor or anyone who loves agriculture? In the FFA online store, you can buy museum-quality reproductions of agricultural art that graced the pages of FFA calendars from the 1950s through the 1980s. Choose from six different vintage prints that are reproduced using giclee (pronounced zhee-clay) printing, a process used by museums that lasts for generations. They range in price from $19 to $149.