Sixty personalised pieces is not sixty times harder than one. It is one job with sixty names in it, and it goes wrong in predictable places. Almost all of them are about information rather than production.

Here is the timeline that works, counting backwards from the day you need the boxes in your hands.

Three weeks out: pick one product

Decide on a single product for the whole club, or at most one per age group. Every additional product is another production setup, and setups are where the days go. Sixty of the same bottle in three colours is straightforward. Sixty assorted items is six separate jobs.

Two weeks out: collect the names properly

Send one form, not a WhatsApp thread. Ask for the name exactly as it should appear, the number if there is one, and nothing else. Set a hard closing date and tell people that late entries go into a second batch. They will not believe you until the second batch actually happens, and then they will believe you forever.

The order does not start when you pay. It starts when the last name comes in.

Ten days out: send the list once

One spreadsheet, one message, one version. Flag anything unusual: double-barrelled surnames, accents, a nickname that looks like a typo but is not. We will come back with a proof sheet showing every piece laid out.

Nine days out: approve, or fix and approve

Get one other person to check the proof sheet against the register. Parents spot their own child’s name faster than you will. Approve in one round if you can, because each round of changes moves the whole batch back a day.

Five to seven working days: production and delivery

Once the proof is approved, the batch runs and is checked before it ships. Build in a couple of buffer days at your end, especially if the handover is tied to a fixture that could move. If you are collecting from a club night rather than a home address, tell us early so the boxes are packed by group rather than alphabetically.

The one thing to get right

Close the name list before you order, not after. Every other step on this timeline is recoverable. That one is not.