First To Find

[+HyperactiveGirl]

Hi.

 

I am getting read to place my very first cache. A nice friend gave me two ammo cans and now I am trying to come up with my theme, hide locations, etc.

 

My question is, what is good to put in the cache for the First To Find? A certificate and something cool as a prize? What would you all think would make a great FTF prize?

 

Thanks for your help.

[+StarBrand]

Usually (around here anyway) the FTF prize is something that is labled as FTF and is slightly more in value than the other swag. So if you have $1-$2 dollar store items as swag - throw in a $5 item for the FTF. I've never personally seen a FTF certificate. The fact is that most caches have no identifiable FTF prize (again - around here).

 

BTW - make sure you mark out the military markings on those cans before setting them out.

[+briansnat]

It's not necessary to put anything in for the FTF. I've placed over 225 caches and probably put a FTF prize in maybe 5 or 6 of them. I've also been FTF on maybe 15 caches and not one had a special prize for the FTF. That said, it's a nice gesture.

 

Some ideas:

 

A gift card for a popular business (Target, Home Depot, Dicks, Starbucks, etc...).

 

A nice flashlight or headlamp (Perhaps a Princeton Tech Rage or Petzel Tikka)

 

An unactivated travel bug tag or geocoin

 

A good compass

Edited December 17, 2007 by briansnat

[+Team Cotati]

A matchbox toy and some Spice Girls stickers and two used golf balls..

Edited December 17, 2007 by Team Cotati

[+x_Marks_the_spot]

I would skip the FTF certificate. I don't know how many people would think anything of it; I wouldn't.

 

For micros and Lock&Lock-in-a-park type caches, we usually just skip the FTF prize completely. But for our Trivial Pursuit puzzle caches or anything that is more difficult, we'll go for a $10 gift card of some sort; Wal-Mart or Starbucks.

[+HyperactiveGirl]

Thanks for all the advice. I have seen different caches do different things, some quite elaborate and expensive, and others nothing, for FTF's. I just didn't want to do too little to too much.

 

Also, thanks for the advice: "BTW - make sure you mark out the military markings on those cans before setting them out."

 

I didn't know I was supposed to mark those out, so luckily you mentioned that before I went and placed the cache!

[+briansnat]

I didn't know I was supposed to mark those out, so luckily you mentioned that before I went and placed the cache!

 

You're not the only one. I find them with the military markings all the time. You have to think how a non geocacher will react if he accidentally finds a military looking box that says "200 cartridges 7.62mm - 1 Tracer" on it.

 

You can sand off the markings, or get some green spraypaint and cover them. It's also a good idea to

label it clearly as a geocache. I usually write WWW.GEOCACHING.COM - NO DANGER and my e-mail address on the side.

[+Renegade Knight]

...I didn't know I was supposed to mark those out, so luckily you mentioned that before I went and placed the cache!

 

It's a perception thing. A stranger who happens on your cache should think they happened upon a cache. Not an old forgotten ammo can full of ammo.

[+DanOCan]

My own guideline is that the FTF prize matches the amount of effort the cacher will have to put in to claim that prize. For an easily accessible cache I'll likely leave nothing, for a puzzle of a significant hike I'll leave a little something such as one of our local caching organization's Geocoins.

 

Gift certificates are very popular around here as FTF prizes. On one productive day last month I managed to get enough Tim Horton's certificates to buy my coffee for the whole week.

[+Printess Caroline]

All of my caches have a theme, so I like to leave the FTFer something that relates to the theme. In the cache that has a beaver theme, I left a carved beaver; I left an unactivated coin that looked like lips in my Sleeping Beauty's Prince Charming cache; and for my car themed cache, I left an admission ticket to the nearby automobile museum. I haven't found any special gifts in any of the caches for which I was FTF, so I think that the practice is a bit unusual around here. Still, choosing an appropriate gift is part of the fun of putting out a cache for me.

[+wesleykey]

My question is, what is good to put in the cache for the First To Find?

 

 

I prefer a blank log book.

[+joranda]

Here are some items that I have gotten for FTF prizes. Unact. geocoins, geo pins, gift cards, $5.00, geocaching stickers, fake rock cache container. Theres other stuff I'm not thinking of but it's all up to you if you even want to. But if they know a prize is there they will fight to get it!