Jump to content

Swag ideas.


Recommended Posts

I spend the week in London, ON doing my first real day of GeoCaching. I've one here and there, but I set out with a bunch of points in my GPS and decided to hit them up.

 

I thought I would grab whatever was around the house I was holding on to and toss it in the cache (even if I didn't take it, kids might like to own it). I ditched a giraffe (which actually had some memories, but I thought it was fun to give a new home) and a spider (for hallowe'en) and a little bobble-head turtle a friend got from Hawaii.

 

I was just reading so topics about trading swag and I feel as though I could be trading better things -- one thing that troubles me is of the 4 caches I have been to where it was large enough to trade, there was just plain old junk... Mcdonalds toys, pennies or small plastic pirate chips. I would feel kind of bad leaving something good and not taking anything.

 

I'm going to start taking a messenger bag with the usual odds and ends (small toys I've had growing up other people might want) but I would also like to know what are some good things to trade I can pick up before setting off geocaching? What have you left and felt good about letting someone else have?

 

I'm sure this has been asked plenty of times so I apologize, but it's always good to bring up the issue.

Link to comment

This is never a bad question to ask! Personally I favor solid gold krugerands :D In lieu of that, a great place to start is your local outdoors/camping/hiking section at the local Wallyworld or 'Mart. There are lots and lots of great ideas and all for a couple bucks or less. Fisheye compasses, waterproof containers, water bottles, whistles, emergency blankets, waterproof ponchos, stuffsacks, etc. Basically anything that would look good in your gear is going to look great when opening a cache! Good for you for giving a hoot and keep up that attitude. It will take you far :mad:

Link to comment

This is never a bad question to ask! Personally I favor solid gold krugerands :D In lieu of that, a great place to start is your local outdoors/camping/hiking section at the local Wallyworld or 'Mart. There are lots and lots of great ideas and all for a couple bucks or less. Fisheye compasses, waterproof containers, water bottles, whistles, emergency blankets, waterproof ponchos, stuffsacks, etc. Basically anything that would look good in your gear is going to look great when opening a cache! Good for you for giving a hoot and keep up that attitude. It will take you far :mad:

 

Perfecto! I like giving my old toys a new home. I made sure to write in the first log book to take care of my giraffe! hahah

 

I think I'm off for some GeoHUNTING tonight so I'll see what my city has in store. Thanks for the advice!

Link to comment

This is never a bad question to ask! Personally I favor solid gold krugerands :lol: In lieu of that, a great place to start is your local outdoors/camping/hiking section at the local Wallyworld or 'Mart. There are lots and lots of great ideas and all for a couple bucks or less. Fisheye compasses, waterproof containers, water bottles, whistles, emergency blankets, waterproof ponchos, stuffsacks, etc. Basically anything that would look good in your gear is going to look great when opening a cache! Good for you for giving a hoot and keep up that attitude. It will take you far :D

 

All stuff I've left or stocked my caches with. The ponchos are a great idea. Only 97 cents at Walmart and

something people can use. Same with the mylar emergency blankets.

 

Another thing I like to leave are individually wrapped packs of insect repellent wipes. I picked up few boxes of 12 Off! wipes on sale for $2 and leave 2 or 3 packets in caches. Similarly I have left individual packets of hand sanitizer.

 

Some other things:

 

Waterproof match containers, Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars, packs of Post It notes, US flag pins (you can adjust this for your country) and collectible or interesting coins.

Link to comment

On maybe a less practical note from the first-aid kits and panchos and all.....which are most excellent.....I like to leave foreign coins - Aussie coins are cool, singapore dollars, US$2 bills, these are not all that common. I find that they generally move out of caches pretty quickly.

 

A stop at a rock shop will yield a goodly supply of small intersting mineral samples - only a few dollars, and good unless you plan on hitting 50 caches in one day.

 

Small field guides local to the area are very welcome - and can be had cheaply at used bookstores.

 

A nature museum I went through recently was selling very cool seashells for fund raising. They were $2 - 3. I bought a mess of them and was happy to know that the $$$ was going to help the museum.

 

I understand that these things don't come without a bit of looking. But I think that's kind of the point of finding cool swag to leave. I'm just getting into hiding caches now, but leaving cool trade items is sort of a thank you to the folks that hide and maintain the caches I've visited.

Link to comment

I recently picked up close to 40 mini-flashlights with carabiners between a couple Dollar General stores in my area. $1 each and while I plan to use them for something else in addition to this they are always a welcome find. The only thing I don't like about the ones I picked up is that there is mercury in the batteries so people need to be aware to recycle them properly. Take a look around at the dollar stores as you can find some decent items for a good price still.

Link to comment

I spend the week in London, ON doing my first real day of GeoCaching. I've one here and there, but I set out with a bunch of points in my GPS and decided to hit them up.

 

I thought I would grab whatever was around the house I was holding on to and toss it in the cache (even if I didn't take it, kids might like to own it). I ditched a giraffe (which actually had some memories, but I thought it was fun to give a new home) and a spider (for hallowe'en) and a little bobble-head turtle a friend got from Hawaii.

 

I was just reading so topics about trading swag and I feel as though I could be trading better things -- one thing that troubles me is of the 4 caches I have been to where it was large enough to trade, there was just plain old junk... Mcdonalds toys, pennies or small plastic pirate chips. I would feel kind of bad leaving something good and not taking anything.

 

I'm going to start taking a messenger bag with the usual odds and ends (small toys I've had growing up other people might want) but I would also like to know what are some good things to trade I can pick up before setting off geocaching? What have you left and felt good about letting someone else have?

 

I'm sure this has been asked plenty of times so I apologize, but it's always good to bring up the issue.

 

If you English blokes have rock shops like we have here in the U.S. (pretty sure you do) you can get some decent semi-precious stones by the pound/kilo. I got several pounds of red tiger's eye for $8/pound U.S.

 

That was my first real regular swag and folks sure liked to find it. It's really pretty and uncommon enough that folks knew it was me that left it. It took me 4 years to run through abut 8 or 9 pounds of the stuff.

 

Red tiger's eye is NOT naturally occurring. It's just regular tiger's eye that has hematite inclusions in it. When the rocks are heated several hundred degrees, the hematite bleeds red through the fossilized asbestos fibers which is what tiger's eye really is.

 

This is my current regular swag to leave in caches:

f9e95d2c-cd58-4c20-badc-f0c37b3727d6.jpg

Link to comment

We've just started geocaching and love to come across foriegn coins. I had started getting different ones from working at my bank, now its even better because i can sometimes find them caching thats a plus for us! A reply for Snoogans: Where did you get your latest swag item made at? I would like to do something like that myself. COOL!!

Link to comment

As well as my full time job I also work part-time at a hardware store, so I try to pick up some items from there that would be cool in a cache. The most recent thing has been a small 17pc bit set. It's nice to have a discount.

As well my sister is living in New Zealand. The last couple time she has come home I've had her bring me some little NZ souvenir trinkets like Kiwi pins and such. Something a little different that you don't normally see around here.

I've also left decks of cards (compliments of my full time job ;) ). I doesn't always take alot of money to find cool swag for a cache. Sometimes it just takes a little thought.

Cheers!

Link to comment

Another good idea is to "garage sale" your house. Now, I'm not saying to use a bunch of rusted up broken junk, but I'm sure like every other person on this planet, you most likely have nice things that you never use and someone else would love. Computer games, music cds, dvds, are all good ideas for larger caches. I'm a homeschooler and always seem to go overboard buying for our school year. I have tons of things we've never used like fun learning CDroms, card games, science experiments,etc. As my kiddos get done with books, we place them too (in a ziploc though to keep them dry). They look practically new when my kids are done with them, and some other kid is sure to enjoy them just as much. We've seen alot of book trading caches for adults.....but never any for kids.

 

The holidays are coming and you might find some nice Xmas ornaments on sale (stay away from glass items though). Kitchen items are nice too (again in ziplocs). I know most of the cachers are men, but some of us ladies like finding things too.

 

Our sig was jewelry made out of marbles. They went over well, but the foreign coins that my husband collected when he was in the Navy really went over the best. You can get pretty good deals on uncirculated foreign money on Ebay.

Link to comment

What we have been doing is using stuff that we made. I have spent some time in the wood shop over the last 4,5,8 years (HOLY CRAP when did I get that OLD) working on a wood lathe. I can spit out a "custom" wine bottle stopper or a key chain trinket made from a little chunk of excite wood that would have been throw away. We put them in with a little note, with the Type of wood, year and month it was made and our public email address, we have had a wonderful time meeting up with the people the found our items and have made some new friends out of it.

 

When we don't or cant go that route, I love stickers, you can make a quick sticker book with what cache, when and with who and place a sticker from the cache you found by a picture of everyone that was there that day. Makes for kick A memories latter, and its nice a cheep.

 

See you on the trail

Link to comment

One item that I found recently at a "party" store is small compasses with a clip (they're shaped like a carabiner). I think they were 4 dollars for 10. Otherwise, matchbox cars, rubber balls (recently got balls with Disney Princesses or Spiderman pictures inside), dice, etc. Basically stuff that won't break the bank, but will be about right for my kids to trade for other SWAG.

Link to comment

Ya know if you really don't have a lot of time to shop, a plain old dollar bill always brings a smile to my face and I can use it for whatever I want! :D Of course I would not leave them at every cache if I was going for a full day, but here and there when you do trade I think they work just fine. :rolleyes:

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...