Teeny Tiny Swag

[The Odd Socks]

I found a micro cache at the weekend and was surprised to find that it had swag in it. The micro was a little bit larger than a film canister, but not by much. I would have been glad to trade for it, but all our trade items were much too big of course. I sometimes even have this problem with smaller "non-micro" caches. It can be very hard to squeeze things in.

 

Anyone got any ideas for really small swag, but things that will still make a decent trade item and not just be rubbish.

 

As an additional thought, I really like the idea of leaving stuff in micros, but is that likely to cause problems - because they aren't really set up for it. (I promise I would make sure the lid fitted back on properly!!)

[+sparqui66]

I was also surprised that one could fit swag in a micro!

 

Coins (foreign currency)

Stickers

Charms (homemade or storebought)

[+briansnat]

I like to stock my micros with trade items. Even a film canister can fit a few things.

 

Not long ago I found a 5 pack of mini Matchbox cars at Walmart. They are about 1/4 inch long. I picked up a few of them to stock micros. Some other things I've used:

 

Collectible coins (mercury dimes and Indian head pennies fit almost anywhere and are inexpensive)

Lapel pins (flag pins are popular)

ear rings (my wife has quite a few that she received as gifts over the years and have never been worn)

fishing flys and trout spinners (with a small piece of tape over the tip of the hook)

Wheresgeorge dollars ( folded small)

Charms

colored paperclips (I hook about 5 together)

P-38's (the can opener, not the gun or WW2 fighter - I put a piece of duct tape over the sharp part so nobody gets cut)

Edited August 1, 2006 by briansnat

[+Wandering Bears]

fishing flys and trout spinners (with a small piece of tape over the tip of the hook)

 

Brian,

 

Please come geocache in the Morgantown, WV area. Heck, we even have an awesome event this weekend.

 

Sincerely,

 

WB

 

P.S., I like march browns, white millers, and black mayflies the best.

 

 

[OuttaHand]

I've also used Susan B. or Sacejewa gold dollar coins. You don't see them in circulation much so they're unique, they are clearly worth something, and they fit nicely.

[+briansnat]

fishing flys and trout spinners (with a small piece of tape over the tip of the hook)

 

Brian,

 

Please come geocache in the Morgantown, WV area. Heck, we even have an awesome event this weekend.

 

Sincerely,

 

WB

 

P.S., I like march browns, white millers, and black mayflies the best.

 

 

 

Sorry, I only leave gold ribbed hare's ears and woolly buggers. I'm a nympher (don't go there ).

Edited August 1, 2006 by briansnat

[+sbell111]

I keep a pile of Euro coins around for micros that I really like. (OK, sometimes, I forget them.) They'd be no big deal in your neck of the woods, but around here, some people really like them.

Edited August 1, 2006 by sbell111

[+the hermit crabs]

In addition to the Sacagaweas, Susan B Anthonys, and interesting foreign coins mentioned above, we sometimes leave these in microcaches:

Micro-sized geocaching bumblebuttons

Geocaching postage stamps

Geocaching temporary tattoos

 

We've also seen little pins in caches that are the same designs as some geocoins (I think they're from http://www.coinsandpins.com/)

[+Jhwk]

I got a tiny painted lady bug from a micro a few weeks back. Really cute, and she goes with me everywhere now. Left a dollar, as all of my other swag was too large.

[The Odd Socks]

I keep a pile of Euro coins around for micros that I really like. (OK, sometimes, I forget them.) They'd be no big deal in your neck of the woods, but around here, some people really like them.

 

I guess that works both ways, doesn't it. My eldest, who is 7, was thrilled to bits to get "Real Live American Money" in a cache (a "Where's George" dollar bill) - again, it would have been much more of a non-event over near you.

[+the hermit crabs]

I got a tiny painted lady bug from a micro a few weeks back. Really cute, and she goes with me everywhere now. Left a dollar, as all of my other swag was too large.

ooh, we picked up one like that a little while ago too. A shiny glass one, about the diameter of a dime. It is really cute. I've been thinking of gluing it to a TB tag and sending it out as a microbug.

[+horsegeeks]

We're not much on trading but have seen some of the neatest little things in micros. We have dropped a few mini geocoins and small wooden nickels in micros before. We purchased some of the small GW4 wooden nickels and have put them in micros recently

[+Scooter Bill]

Be sure to check out 25 cent "bubble-gum style" vending machines for microswag.

[+What rock?]

We have left nano and small micro cache containers inside larger microcaches.

[+ThreeRushkateers]

At a local children's science center (near this cache... I Wonder Wonder Wonder), they had some really small swag in their giftshop. They had black or white dice about 1/4" on a side, 2" long and maybe 1/16" thick toy snakes, 1/2" long farm animals, etc. And best of all, they were only 10 cents each. I bought a handfull for each of the kids we were with. I spent less than $1 and they all had trade items for our caching adventures, and thought I was the best. Actually, I think they left everything I bought in the I Wonder cache, but they traded for other fun things.

 

Now that I think of it, I really should have bought a lot of those things! So I guess my point is... check out those museum gift shops, they always have great stuff... some of it in miniature!

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

I have found several items at the "boutique" type toy stores. I have about 50 mini pigs for micros (10 for a dollar). One store had tiny ninjas and tiny rubber chickens (bought a few of each). They also had small farm animals and plastic dogs, all of which would fit in a film can.

 

You can also find cool marbles online very inexpensively. For a Columbus themed cache, I bought earth marbles that everyone liked.

[+Team Snoopy]

We have some Micro machine cars, bouncy balls and little poppers we stick in little caches.

Edited August 2, 2006 by Team Snoopy

[+Scooter Bill]

I've been a little weary lately of seeing all the micro-bashing going on in the forums.

This kind of topic (micro-swag trading) refreshes me because it offers an answer to help rehab the image of micros, not all of them but some of them. I'm starting to put together a micro-swag bag and making plans to put out micro-caches to encourage micro-trading. I'm dropping in a few geo-coins and micro TB's as well.

Edited August 2, 2006 by Scooter Bill

[+miss_butterfly]

I've decided to make some micro tokens after having a good selection of sig items to leave in small/regular caches but none to put into micros.

 

 

made from shrink plastics and are great fun to watch them shrink in the oven!

[+TEAM 360]

I will personally guarantee $100 bills will fit into any of my caches, please feel free to leave one anytime!

[+chancerider]

We found a tiny glass lady bug that looks very similar... this one is a bead that I thought I'd string onto a keychain or something similar. It gave me the idea to go to bead shops and get different types to leave in micro caches.

Edited August 8, 2006 by chancerider

[+briansnat]

I was just looking for things to put in a micro and thought of postage stamps. I cut 8 off a roll and cut them again into individiual sections.

[+sbell111]

I was just looking for things to put in a micro and thought of postage stamps. I cut 8 off a roll and cut them again into individiual sections.

Self-stick or lickable?

[+briansnat]

I was just looking for things to put in a micro and thought of postage stamps. I cut 8 off a roll and cut them again into individiual sections.

Self-stick or lickable?

 

They happened to be self stick. I think lickable would work if you have a very small Ziploc for each one.