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Swag Ideas


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I wanted to ask what would be some inexpensive, yet "good" swag items? I bought some junky stuff last year because I was just starting out (super bouncy balls and such) but I never took anything, that I can remember, from any of the caches I found. I felt I was leaving something too cheap and didn't feel right taking anything. Now I really want to do it right. I will always trade evenly but I want to leave something that will be appealing to the next cacher. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

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I wanted to ask what would be some inexpensive, yet "good" swag items? I bought some junky stuff last year because I was just starting out (super bouncy balls and such) but I never took anything, that I can remember, from any of the caches I found. I felt I was leaving something too cheap and didn't feel right taking anything. Now I really want to do it right. I will always trade evenly but I want to leave something that will be appealing to the next cacher. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

Go to your local dollar store and buy some stuff that both kids and adults would appreciate.

Just use the golden rule; put in a cache what you would like to find in a cache.

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I wanted to ask what would be some inexpensive, yet "good" swag items? I bought some junky stuff last year because I was just starting out (super bouncy balls and such) but I never took anything, that I can remember, from any of the caches I found. I felt I was leaving something too cheap and didn't feel right taking anything. Now I really want to do it right. I will always trade evenly but I want to leave something that will be appealing to the next cacher. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

Go to your local dollar store and buy some stuff that both kids and adults would appreciate.

Just use the golden rule; put in a cache what you would like to find in a cache.

 

One of the best soruces for swag and cache making supplies too.

 

cc\

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Here is a partial list of things I've left in caches. Many are under a buck and most are under $3:

 

Small US flags

US flag pins

modeling clay

insect repellent wipes

carabiners

Energizer squeeze lights

stickers

bags of toy soldiers

water colors

mini screwdriver sets

allen wrench sets

gel pens

boxes of crayons or colored chalk

emergency rain ponchos

packs of AA batteries

collectable coins (buffalo nickels, indian head pennies, SBA or Sacagawea dollars)

music CD's

blank RW CD's

cassettes (blank and recorded)

calculators

clip on safety strobes

bungee cords

LED key lights

"euro" stickers & other decals

mini sewing kits

maps (hiking & road)

software

travel packs of Wet Ones or Baby Wipes

Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars

key rings

packs of Hefty Handi Sacks

bags of balloons

velcro fasteners

interesting buttons

padlocks

foreign money

rolls of film

lighters

Slinky Jrs.

kazoos

movies on VHS & DVD

office supplies (packs of paper clips, thumb tacks, Post-Its, etc...)

Mylar emergency blankets

decks of cards

new wallets

Pick Up Sticks

individual packs of Armor-All & Rain-X wipes

survival whistles

travel packs of facial tissue

Wheresgeorge bills and stamps

Geocaching.com hats, pins, patches and compasses

Edited by briansnat
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Some things I recently picked up include:

 

Metal bookmarks (BDalton clearence $1.00)

Mini notebooks with mini pens (Michaels $1.00)

Address books (Michaels $1.00)

Mini note cards (Michaels $1.00)

Mini Doodle posters (Michaels $1.00)

Multi colored pencil (Michaels $1.00)

"regular sized" notecards (Michaels $1.00)

Heart shaped playing cards (Target $Spot)

Family card games (Target $Spot)

Drink Coozie (Target $Spot)

Tangle Jr (Walmart $1.50)

Set of 3 caribeaners (Walmart $1.00 in automotive)

Set of 2 hide-a-keys (Walmart $1.00 in automotive)

Pair of gloves (Walmart $1.00 in automotive)

Sets of 4 Pencils, Spiderman, Strawberry shortcake etc. (Walmart crayon isle $1.00 each)

Modeling clay (Walmart crayon isle $1.00)

First aid kits (Dollar Tree)

Mini Sharpies (Staples $1.00)

Sidewalk Chalk (Bi-Lo $.79)

Mini Windchimes (Hobby Lobby $1.75 50% off!) this was my favorite find!

 

Hope that helps some!

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The dollar section at Target is a good place also. I got a bunch of tools and outdoor things there for swag and for my personal caches. You can also find things on ebay in lots that may interest you. I would also suggest getting or making a sig item.

 

As far as Target goes, I would like to add that you may want to peruse the aisles for bargains. I often find stuff marked 75% off in the sporting goods area, and I recently bought about 20 "Essential Pop" CDs (various artists) for 50 cents each.

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I'm always on the look out for swag. The dollar store is the old reliable. I also look at military surplus stores, Big Lots has some great stuff if you have them, clearance isles at any store like Kmart, Wal-mart, CompUSA, Bestbuy, and on and on. Oh, hardware and automotive stores carry some cool inexpensive items, as well.

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As I see the "Tadpole" under my avitar, I must post. This will be number 5.

 

I see a lot of good ideas here and will use this advise. I've seen in another threads for Sig items, those are the things that really catch my interest, escpecial the hand-made items. For the most part, put the things that you would like to find. You won't please every body, but if you like it, there is bound to be others that are of the same mind. As I've seen throughout the Forums, you can't go wrong for trading-up.

 

Myself, I'm still working on a good sig item. I liked the rocks that are painted like frogs. My son is really into frogs and would love to find one to put in his iguana tank. I also saw a hand-made leather key chain with GC.com logo. Anything that is assiciated with hiking/camping is always a plus. The two earlier post have great ideas.

 

Good luck and good hunting!

Edited by smacktight
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Well being the parent of 3 kids and only my husband working full time, I'm always looking for deals on everything. Anytime I'm out, if something catches my eye and is marked down at a good price, I'll pick it up and save for swag. Being that we do have kids, I tend to purchase things that I know other kids would enjoy finding. I also buy in bulk from Oriental Trading Company. And then of course, we put freebies from hubby's work into caches too. Another great place is Home Depot, if you have kids, on the 1st Sat. of each month they do wooden crafts. I've gotten the left overs from there before and put them into caches too. The crafts are shrunk wrapped and really cool for any age.

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I am a relative newbie to Geocaching but had been listening to the Podcacher podcast for longer. I have burning some of their episodes to disc to try and help awareness to another part of geocaching that another cacher may not know of, plus I think it is something you wouldn't expect in a cache.

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I like to leave scratch-off lottery tickets behind as swag.

 

I'll go and buy about 10 of them before a day of caching, and leave one or two behind for the next to find.

 

They're cheap, but they could pay off big for the next one to find it, and makes it a bit more of treasure hunt too.

Ok, I love this idea. But a caviat. As a newbie, I found a joke lottery ticket, and thought I won 20 thousand dollars. I was SO excited. On the phone to my hubby telling him how my "stupid" sport paid of BIG time, when I turned the card over and read the small print. What a let down! Ok, now it has become mildly amusing, and maybe funny for someone else.....but just a heads up.

A Real lottery ticket would have been the GREATEST.

nutlady

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Some of the things I've been adding include...

 

I.) Hot Wheels (seems to be a popular item to put in caches as it turns out)...

II.) Cast Metal WWII Plane Replicas (easily found under $2)...

 

And my new favorite...

 

III.) Handheld video games that you can buy for a buck! A soon as I found these I stocked up on them!

 

I also think a dollar store is a great idea as well.

 

Good luck finding some good loot!

TX Knight :P

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I wanted to ask what would be some inexpensive, yet "good" swag items?

 

One place I stop in quit a bit is the local Goodwill Store. Many times they've got the toys that have came from fast food places (McD's, Buger King, Etc) still in their bags. I can usually get them from 25 to 35 cents each

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The list looks to have been covered so if I'm repeating, I apologize.

 

I tend to hit Home Depot and Lowes a lot becasue they're close and there's a world of cacher friendly stuff there.

 

Also, I've been given[1] a bunch of promotional stuff from my local E-911 office. I don't know why they feel the need to advertise but I'm happy to leave the travel mugs/tumblers, neoprene can coozies, and color changing pens/pencils, to name a few things, in trade caches across Alabama and Northwest Florida. So you might try asking some of your local (city/county) government agencies if they have any promotional items you can have to leave in geocaches [2].

 

 

 

 

[1] given = free, free = good

[2] be prepared to explain geocaching

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The dollar section at Target is a good place also. I got a bunch of tools and outdoor things there for swag and for my personal caches. You can also find things on ebay in lots that may interest you. I would also suggest getting or making a sig item.

 

As far as Target goes, I would like to add that you may want to peruse the aisles for bargains. I often find stuff marked 75% off in the sporting goods area, and I recently bought about 20 "Essential Pop" CDs (various artists) for 50 cents each.

 

After each holiday Target discounts their dollar section...first 50% off, and hten 75%! We've gotten some REALLY nice items for a quarter a piece!!!

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