Here are 25 very effective tip jar ideas to help increase your income because, in the service industry, tips are the bread and butter that pave the way to more money in your pocket (tip cup) and this easy gratuity tip jar update can easily be recreated by you, by copying the phrases for your tip jar design or you can do a simply DIY that I’ll step you through to create a fabulously designed cup for tips (gratuity jar) in about 2 steps and minimal products!
Tips, as you know, are the reward for your stellar customer service to all your patrons and if you use a few creative ideas for tip jars you just might increase your inbound tips!
Convert the return change to tips, make us empty our pockets, after all, great service is what brings us back, so tipping says, “Thank You” without the awkward hug!
Plain and simple, we want that tip cup to jingle with change and get stuffed with dollars and you can’t do that if it’s a flat design, so while your customer is waiting at the service window of your coffee counter, drive-through, ice cream shop, bakery, car wash, or wherever you work, give them something to read (a simply designed tip cup)and remind them to tip and they just might tip better if they read a little about where that tip is going!
You, the person behind the excellent service, attempt to score more for being underpaid in a business that really charges more than it should for basic items we consume, using these tip jar ideas might help to gain you a better gratuity! What do your tip jars look like? If they are not creative enough you are probably not maximizing your tip income.
Here’s a fabulous TIP Cup we love and because it is bright and light it is a great solution for TIPPING Suggestions.
You’ll Love the Creative Designs for Tip Jars and Cups Because:
- gratuity cups offer Eye-catching phrases that might translate to more eyeballs on the tip jar and you might increase your tips
- being more personal on the outside of your gratuity tip cup shares why you want tips and might just help the customer make a decision to tip or tip more than they were planning on.
- my premade gratuity saying designs for tip jars are easy to add to your current cups for tips
- tip jars are not hard to make and you don’t need to be creative you just need to copy and paste
- You can use your current tip cup and just update it if you are totally in love with your container
- you can buy materials to make this DIY for tip cups or you can use what you have and either way, it will be better than what you are currently using
- Creative ideas for tip jars are easy to print out and/or simply add to your current undesigned tip cusp or tip jar or whatever you use to hold your tips.
- My Designs for tip jars are not just for in-person tips because as our world continues to change so does the way your patrons can tip you!
- Gratuities/tipping is one of the most awkward areas for most and it really is a ‘gray’ area for many but if you blatantly spell it out on a well-designed jar for tips you can’t go wrong!
What Materials You’ll Need To Make Creative Ideas For Tip Jars
- I suggest either the shiny tin pails or the colorful ones. Why? Shiny is always an eye-attractor, while colorful tins can be matched with your personality. Choose what makes you happy and what best suits the person you are.
- you can use mason jars (just remember they are glass and could potentially break
- large fish bowls are great ideas for tip jars
- clear containers of any kind are what you want
- you’ll need stickers as well to place on the jar (but I’ve got a few ways to do this and it costs pennies on the dollar!
- my list of printable sayings (use them to make your own or simply use them as they are)
How To Make Effective Tip Jar Ideas To Help Increase Your Income
You’ve got to consider the industry you work in:
- coffee-slinging
- ice cream scooping
- drive through anything
- bartending
- pay at the register food service (online food picked up in person)
- hair stylists
- nail artists
- musicians (bar, street, etc)
- curbside delivery
Are there a lot of you taking tips in via one gratuity jar or will it be you only? This will guide your design.
Step 1 Is Sifting Through Ideas For Tip Jars
First, if the gratuity cup is just yours, you’ll want to build a little personality into it, sharing what you’ve got going on such as:
- college fund
- paying off student loan
- wedding
- vet bills (yep this one caught my heart)
- newly divorced
- braces
- 1st flight ever
- flight home
It makes gratuity giving relatable and it might even sway someone to increase their give if they relate to your cause (we’ve all been there, with any of the above)
In my personal experience, when I saw vet bills, I also a gratuity jar topped off and the day had just started, plus a lot of people discussing the cause with the employee, which translated to big bucks because animal lovers stick together and we all understand big bills at the vets!
Conversely, if your tip cup is an all-employee gratuity vessel, make it fun, using either a tip jar poll or dualling tip jars these are fun!
Step 2 Select A Gratuity Tip Cup To Decorate
You’ll find endless options of tip cups you can use for gratuity collection, but you want to pick the right one.
- consider tiny pails in fun colors – if you working at a shop that is not too busy, and it is just your personal cup these work well because you don’t want to use a huge tip cup and not have it loaded or might appear as your service is not good enough to be tipped? Keep it simple and use a pail see the directions below on how to quickly DIY your own
- glasses such as mason jars are perfect for bars and indoor pickup of to-go foods
- fish bowls are great designs for tip jars because they are large and good for bar areas and bartenders and piano bars, musicians because it is easy to toss money in quickly
- large deep cookie jars are great in bakeries where you have many employees working and it fits the vibe and they are great for pizza-to-go orders to pick up where many employees get part of the gratuities left (cook, phone girls, etc)
- clear large plastic containers anywhere that glass might be a hazard and that there are a lot of employees in on the ‘take’ at the end of the day.
The biggest takeaway from this portion of deciding on which type of gratuity cups to use is to keep them clear, so that the GREEN shows through, and make sure to add a few bucks in before your shift starts so that it is not an empty cup!
With 1 large exception to the rule (coffee houses) if and where permitted use the cups as your design!
Also don’t overshoot the size of the tip money collection vessel.
Step 3 Is Simply Using The Tip Jar Design You Choose And Printing It Out
Hardly is what I am sharing rocket science it is just a label going on a gratuity jar vessel of some sort but that said, under-doing it won’t score dollars so use any of the effective tip jar ideas to help increase your income below as I’ve created some FREE easy printable sheets that don’t require label paper, but just a simple printer.
If you don’t want to print these out on paper, you can use chalkboard tags you can grab at the Dollar Tree to wrap around the neck of the jar or chalkboard stickers or chalkboard sticker paper to cut to the dimensions you prefer and adhere either right on the jar or tape on or use this quick trick to adhere the label (paper or tag) which also makes it waterproof!
Step 4 Assemble Your Gratuity Jar
Cut out the label of choice if that is what you are using.
Then use either laminating stickers, clear vinyl paper, or packing tape and fasten it to the tip jar.
Easy To Use Free Printable Designs For Tip Jars and Cups
The first set is pretty generic, except for the Drink Wisely and Tip Recklessly so that one is specifically for anyone working as a bartender!
These free printables below are great for anyone working to scoop out ice cream or sling out drinks as a barista from Dunkin Donuts to Starbucks!
You can print these free and in the mix are some ideas that might be what you will do with your collected gratuities, sharing a bit of your story without oversharing.
Simply print them out on plain paper, cut them to size, out then tape them with clear tape on a jar or I’ll show you a different method below as well!
Other Creative Ideas For Tip Jars Are Dueling Tip Jars
This is a simply brilliant concept and great for team gratuity vessels that you all benefit from.
You choose 2 opposing items and instead of asking for tips, the money put in supports the choice on the front of the tip cup.
Again, I’ve made you a few free printable options, these are about 3.5″ x 5″ for reference.
And if you want another option for dueling tip options feel free to print these out as well!
Other Ideas You Can Use, Modify And Change For Tip Jar Dueling Jars
- Beetle Juice or Edward Scissorhands
- Jaws Or Godzilla
- Money vs Love
- House vs Apartment
- Lucid vs. Tesla
- Beard vs Moustache
- Democrat v Republican
- Trump vs. Biden
- Obama vs Bush
- Beer vs Wine
- Sugar vs Sugar-Free Anything
- Vacation Options Italy vs St. Barts (etc. you get the idea
Don’t Forget About A Virtual Tip Cup For Those Gratuities
I believe that the new normal has driven this hard core into our world and it is easy and great for anyone who does not carry cash but wants to tip you.
Venmo, Paypal, and Other Cash Apps allow you to virtually tip, so scan and do it, and in case you haven’t heard of the concept it is actually known as cashless tipping too!
Other Effective Tip Jar Ideas To Help Increase Your Income
Reward great service with great gratuities. Earn The Change In Their Pockets!
Make Your Cup a Party Tip Jar & Other Additional Creative Fun Labels
Parties are always fun so go ahead and light it up with decor for a party and let the tips roll on in!
Try this tip jar! It’s one of our faves.
For those of your working in an industry where you have to ask for a tip, it is always easier to be clever about this.
There’s more to acquiring a tip than just putting the words, “tips” on a jar! At the other end of every cocktail, food service, ice creamery, and the curtain call are YOU! You work hard to bring a great moment to all of the patrons, so collect that tip!
It’s all about the money honey!
Here is a captivating phrase, now I want to use!
Here’s another favorite Tip jar reminding you that cows are not the only thing to get ‘tipped!’
A Candid Discussion With The Ice Cream Shop Owner Creative Ideas For Tip Jars and Why To Use Them
I wanted to talk to the Owner, of a local high-end ice creamery to see what she has seen in the tipping industry, the challenges, and the results of employees who get tipped.
“At our ice creamery, we encourage tipping. We find it entices our working teens to provide friendly, fast, and efficient service.
Providing a caring experience to our guests is a top priority since we so much sincerely appreciate them for choosing US to treat ourselves!
They sometimes literally race to the window to get the customer.
This way it also instills a sense of budgeting.
They save their take-home check for college or cars etc, and just learn to spend the cash tips they get.”
The Difference In The Marketing Of A Tip Cup (and using creative tip cup ideas)
Really, it’s true, we tested it out, and the difference between a tip cup that just says TIPS versus a genuinely crafted tip cup can actually translate into hundreds of dollars.
If you see someone has put effort into the cup: “Sandy needs college books, Tony needs a new bike to keep getting here, etc” it is fun to see and you feel some connection between good service, gratuities, and giving back.
Truly, people like people when they can uncover them without getting too personal. In fact, more people are LIKELY to tip if they know a bit about you. Not a generic ‘Tips Please’ that is just like a person holding a cup saying donate.
What you want to do is encourage someone to understand why they should part with the change or dollars in their hand and how their money is going to work! That’s it! Brilliant right?
How To Use Effective Tip Jar Ideas To Increase Your Income Rather Than Basic Tip Cups That Suck
Basic Tip cups suck and don’t effectively tug at my heartstrings to dig in and give.
In many cases that plain tip cup is like the service, bland, so spice it up!
Now, think about the creative tip jars you have seen, buckets, cups, and slogans, don’t they match the person and the service? The answer is most likely, YES!
Look at the difference a simple set of words can make on a cup!
Consider Starbucks’ drive-thru tip jars. It’s just a basic cup with the word ‘TIPS’ written on it – boring yet Starbucks coffees are anything but boring. SPICE that up and use tip jar ideas to spur on your crafting of a more ‘descriptive ask.’
The Winning Moment & Our Formula for Tip Jar Ideas Works
Yes, I work in marketing every single day, so does this formula that I am sharing work? You tell me, ready?
The proof is in this little conversation I overheard at the local farmer’s market so close to the ice creamery. A customer began questioning the cashier as to where her tip cup was?
Stating, “it is a shame you all don’t get tip cups we just saw some really cute ones down the road. We know that every time we give him our change, he is putting it towards a new bike to get to work.
Knowing our tips makes a difference makes a difference in getting to know all of you. You think we are not interested because we are old, but we are. As old as we are we still want to know you all.” (Yes, a winning moment, and I grinned!)
Creative Ideas For Tip Jars FAQs
Should I Use A Jar for My Tip Cup?
Yes. Clear jars allow others to see the money already in the cup and serve as a light reminder to consider tipping.
Can I Use A Cup As A Gratuity Jar?
Yes. But make sure you use one of the free printable label ideas to springboard your creativity and give the consumer a reason to ‘donate’ to your cause
Is There A Way To Create A Great Tip Jar Design For Multiple Workers
Yes! We Love dueling tip jars and that gives the customers a choice of what to donate towards you can see fabulous examples of this in this post as well as a list of free printables you can use on yours for your work family gratuity cups.
Is It Ignorant To Place A Tip Cup Out?
No. Patrons are able to make a decision whether or not to tip you based on their experience.
Are The Ideas For Tip Jars Expensive To Make?
No. You Can keep your gratuity jar (tip cup) as simple as a pen and a piece of paper with a message as to why you are collecting tips (New dog fun, new bike, etc) or you can run to the dollar stores and grab supplies that I’ve shared in this post to create fabulously inexpensive DIY tip cups.
Are There Other Ways To Get Tips OR Gratuities Besides A Tip Jar?
Yes! Don’t forget about our new normal which is all cashless tipping also known as virtual tipping. Read more in my article. It’s great for those who don’t carry cash!
Grab your labels, and those little tin pails that you see in all the dollar bins, and get ready to start earning tips. Good luck! ~ Dana Xo
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