What to put in a cache

[+Silent P's]

At most every cache there is hardly ever any good swag that I are willing to trade with. I live in South Carolina and I don't know if it is a problem for other areas. I've heard to just buy thngs from the dollar store and don't spend over a couple of bucks, but thre are so many things that are considered junk. Can anyone give me examples of things that are good items that you can get at the dollar store without having to spend a lot of money?

[+Chi-Town Cacher]

Hello! Personally I've found the dollar stores ok for toy items, but not much else. What I've been doing is either searching on eBay for large lots of items that can be broken down into several smaller lots like a taking a lot of 100 trading cards for $6 and breaking it into 10 lots of 10 cards each which makes each little lot of cards cost about $0.60 each. Also, check clearance slelves in all the stores you frequent. In a tractor supply store near where I live they had a container of spark plug gapping tools on clearance for $0.10 each. I bought out the last 130+ they had just so I could have something inexpensive that maybe an adult could use rather than only having toys in the caches I visit. Also, on eBay you can find glow sticks which kids love a lot cheaper than at Wally World. Keep an eye out for clearance shelves and on eBay is what I think is the best bets. Oops, I just remembered another thing I recently discovered. Try checking out craft stores. I picked up a bag of polished "gem" type rocks for not much and broke the big bag into several smaller bags of them. Good luck! P.S. Some more items of value could be hand warmers, single use pouches of bug repellent, emergency rain ponchos, small compasses, geocache logbooks and the list could go on forever. Good luck!

[+Walkworthy & Wife]

At most every cache there is hardly ever any good swag that I are willing to trade with. I live in South Carolina and I don't know if it is a problem for other areas. I've heard to just buy things from the dollar store and don't spend over a couple of bucks, but there are so many things that are considered junk. Can anyone give me examples of things that are good items that you can get at the dollar store without having to spend a lot of money?

This isn't just a South Carolina problem, you'll run into it in all states. I look for handy things that people might throw in their glove compartments, trunks or toolboxes for emergencies. Like screw driver sets, wrenches, pliers, a package of fuses. There is a myriad of fun toys for kids. It depends on the dollar store. Some sell better junk then others. But on rare occasions you'll come across a cache where the swag is above the norm. Another thing I have used for swag or FTF awards are $1 or $2 lottery scratch offs. I am beginning to find myself more often then not, signing the log, TNLN. There is a saying, "One man's junk is another man's treasure."

[towanda42]

I'm new to geocaching and I've been wondering about what makes good swag or signature items. I'm not interested in having my own geocoins struck and I'm not sure about making my own wooden nickels. Lately I've been thinking that handmade shooter-size glass marbles might be a good swag/signature item, but after reading this topic I'm not so sure about that.

 

So what does make a good swag/signature/trade item that 1) doesn't break the bank and 2) is an interesting find?