what kind of swag is good to put in caches

[mead2006]

hello everyone

 

i'm new to geocatching and just wondering what kind of swag is good / appropriate to put in catches ???

[+Touchstone]

Welcome!

 

Here's the general guidance from the Knowledgebooks:

 

Trading Items

 

That being said, I'm partial to homemade stuff, rather than store bought items. Typically, the homemade items are in the form of a "signature item". KB Article link for reference:

 

Signature Items

 

Good luck!

[+briansnat]

Items that are inexpensive, but potentially useful or collectible are appreciated. One of my favorite things to leave are small packets of Off! insect repellent wipes. I buy a few boxes of them when I see them on sale and will leave 2 or 3 in a cache. Comes out to maybe 40 cents a packet on sale and many people have gratefully traded for them.

 

Some other things I like to leave include emergency ponchos (97 cents at Walmart), Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars when I can find them on sale, small eyeglass repair kits, pocket first aid kits, boxes of colored chalk, fishing tackle (small packets of hooks, sinkers, swivels, bobbers, etc), maps, bargain bin DVDs and CDs, collectible coins like mercury dimes, buffalo nickels, wheat pennies, Indian head pennies, foreign coins or bills, decals, buttons and costume jewelry.

[+ngrrfan]

What ever I can find in the dollar store that will appeal to kids and adults.

[+hzoi]

I know some of this is already in the knowledge books entry that's linked above, but some of these bear repeating.

 

- No food. First of all, when you think about it, it's almost like leaving food on a bus or subway -- would you eat food if you didn;t know where it came from? Second of all, there's no guarantee someone will find the cache before it spoils. Finally, critters will smell it and try to get into the cache to get it.

 

- Nothing dangerous or potentially illicit. If you wouldn't want your kids (or your nephews/nieces/cousins or neighbor's kids or whatever) finding it and taking it to show and tell, don't leave it in a cache. Alcohol, tobacco, lighters, matches, porn, condoms, drug paraphernalia, etc.

 

- No trash. Ticket stubs, receipts, pocket lint, string, gravel, empty candy wrappers, etc. It doesn't have to have a lot of value, but definitely think about whether it would have value to anyone other than a pack rat (rodent or human) or magpie.

 

You might laugh at some of those, but in four and a half years of caching, I have found just about everything I've listed above. (I didn't find the drug whatnot, but I do have a buddy whose cache was being used to hide a marijuana stash.)

[+Geodalf]

What kind of swag that is NOT good to put in caches:

-religious tracts and items

-McDonald's toys

-advertising

-junk you would not want yourself

[+StarBrand]

What kind of swag that is NOT good to put in caches:

-religious tracts and items

-McDonald's toys

-advertising

-junk you would not want yourself

I'll take issue with the McDonalds toy in that list - one of my most popular and well commented caches is full of the things: McToys I found in my Other Caches

 

I currently have in my bag:

• small pocket calculators (50 cents on closeout)
  
• small screwdrivers
  
• foriegn coins
  
• small rubber duckies
  
• small beanie animals
  
• matchbox cars
  
• small roll of Duck Tape
  
• etc
  

[+W4G_SOTAGoat]

My current "signature" item is a patch from the 2008 GA State Sporting Clays Championships.

 

 

Having a Pathtag designed and will start dropping those in good caches.

[+briansnat]

What kind of swag that is NOT good to put in caches:

-religious tracts and items

-McDonald's toys

-advertising

-junk you would not want yourself

 

I'll have to disagree with McToys. New McToys in their wrapper are great swag items. Kids love them. On the other hand broken, dirty McToys scrounged from under your car seat are not appreciated by most.

 

Junk of any kind is not good. If it is trash don't put it in a cache. Unfortunately too many people think a cache is the perfect place for their garbage if the contents of many caches I've found are an indicator.

[+Team Firenze]

Somebody touched on this above but something important to remember is to try and put stuff in that is in its own bag or sealed. I can't always do it but I try.

 

That shiny rubber ducky by itself may look nice but after sitting in a container for six months it gets kind of iffy.

[+6NoisyHikers]

Somebody touched on this above but something important to remember is to try and put stuff in that is in its own bag or sealed. I can't always do it but I try.

 

That shiny rubber ducky by itself may look nice but after sitting in a container for six months it gets kind of iffy.

 

+1

 

We stay away from anything that won't cope well with water. In our neck of the woods, caches get wet inside - whether by fault of the container or moisture sneaking in when a finder opens it up to sign the log. That means no paper-based swag (stickers, temp tattoos, etc) unless it is sealed in its own baggie.

[+FolsomNatural]

Good question, and I'm sure there are many good answers.

 

One of my favorites is to go to the local coin shop. They sell foreign

coins by the pound. Foreign coins are great for their size and

general interest.

 

Most of my searching shows that caches are generally small, so tiny items

are best and can be used in the greatest number of containers.

 

I also like semi-precious stones that you can get by the pound in rock

shops and on line. These include polished or tumbles stones

(tiger's eye, jade, agate, etc.) and crystals (quartz, amethyst, copper, etc.)

 

I have a cache with a lady-bug theme, and for that I spray painted a bunch of

glass beads red, then put black and white dots on to make little lady bugs.

This is easy and efficient and I've made so many they are now my "signature" item.

[+robocoastie]

I am glad I found this thread. My daughter and I recently got into GC'ing and trading swag and seeing what people leave behind is what she looks forward to. She is particularly delighted when she finds someone's signature item they drop off. For example we keep finding pboy's homemade tracking cards so often that whoever he/she is is like a mystery celebrity to her 8 year old mind.

[+Thrak]

Krugerrands -- definitely. Everybody will be happy to find those. Of course they may not "trade even or trade up".........................

[+Ry Dawg]

Anything that's not edible, stolen, scented, a rock or condoms is general okay. Sadly I've seen all of these.