Any good FTF swag ideas?

[+TnT7686]

I have been giving the ground speak produced FTF coin for all of my FTF cachers and for the other caches I have lined up that is what I still plan on giving as the prize but do you guys have any other ideas? I believe I pay 5.99 per coin so if you have a cheaper idea/option please let me know! What do you give your FTFers?

[+kunarion]

I have been giving the ground speak produced FTF coin for all of my FTF cachers and for the other caches I have lined up that is what I still plan on giving as the prize but do you guys have any other ideas? I believe I pay 5.99 per coin so if you have a cheaper idea/option please let me know! What do you give your FTFers?

I've sometimes left something that I thought was pretty cool and unique, yet seemed a little too valuable for a just plain trade item.

 

Can you make something special? Some people place a particular item all their own, each time. Maybe there's an item that's cheap for you to make, but is very creative as a "prize". Also consider signing it and adding the cache name to it. Some people print up little "certificates" on paper that cost next to nothing, but are still welcome.

 

If it all gets too expensive, it's fine to just leave the blank log book only.

Edited May 31, 2012 by kunarion

[+Dan2099]

I am debating on ordering a cheap plastic trophy with FTF and the name of the cache...costs about 15 bucks but I think finders would appreciate it.

[+scrapcat]

I've seen people make those survival bracelets (also mentioned in the forums and videos on YouTube). People use them as swag but it always seemed more of a special swag to me.

[+T.D.M.22]

I've only done two-one TB for a puzzles and a gift card for an event cache. I've seen-or heard-everything from coins, trackables, gift cards, bison tubes, even sets of co-ords for a cache yet to be published. I personally won't do it unless it's for an event.

[GOF and Bacall]

Take whatever money you would spend on an FTF prize and invest it in a better container or cammo for your next hide.

[+briansnat]

Take whatever money you would spend on an FTF prize and invest it in a better container or cammo for your next hide.

 

+1 or upgrade the swag for everyone. Most FTF hounds will tell you that the only prize they want is a blank logbook. Heck, the few times I've left FTF prizes the FTF often didn't even bother taking it and I've left some reeeeal nice FTF prizes.

[+ngrrfan]

I go to the local Harbor Freight store and get the "freebie of the month" , screwdriver sets, LED flashlights, voltmeters, tape measures, etc. Then I head to the dollar store and buy a bunch of kid things, matchbox cars, pencils, decks of cards, etc. Once I make up a cache container, then I put some of that stuff in it and take the cache out to hide.

 

Most adults are happy with a blank log, and if the cache is published in winter.... I'll put a dollar in it so they can go get a hot drink.

[sisterchicksteph]

My kids just hid their first cache today. They play baseball and hid one at our local ballpark. They bought a new baseball and decorated it in our local team colors and wrote FTF on it - their very own themed "trophy" for the FTF. :-)

[+Flintstone5611]

I have gotten a few FTFs and the blank log is always the goal, but I have a appreciated a few prizes. Money is always nice . I have gotten a few cards for Tim Horton's Coffee which is like heroin, but more addictive.

 

One time I even got this, the CO wanted a pic of me with it:

 

 

[niverson92]

i recently found a $2 bill in a cache for the FTF prize and was super stoked on it for the rest of the week. i actually just ran up stairs to grab it from my room when i read your post.

[+The_Incredibles_]

I usually put in a $1 or a $2. If it's an extra special cache, I'll put in a gift card. If I have disabled a cache for awhile or moved it or replaced it, I will often put a $1 for the next-to-find-prize.

 

I haven't got too many FTFs myself, but I remember when one where there was a loonie and we were pretty darn excited over it. Another time we got a gift card, also lots of fun.

[+6NoisyHikers]

Our last cache had a choice of a Campbell's Soup travel cup, a Canada flag ice/heat pack or a new flashlight with batteries as a FTF prize. We felt since this one was quite the trek to find, there should be something really good in there.

 

Our first two caches, which are more easily accessible, had a stuffed animal keychain and a compass pendant for the FTF.

[+akkatracker]

An instant lottery ticket is fun- costs you a dollar or so and the scratcher could win more than that (and if they win big they could be owing you a brand newe gps )

Certificates are nice with money or a scratchie. I prefer scratch cards since there's an element of surprise

[+Walts Hunting]

Most of my caches are ammo cans and I gave a complete cache (decon, container, log book and travel bug tag as FTF for the new one). For the smaller ones I gave a car wash certificate. These don't meet your cost issues but people loved them.

[knowschad]

• This is the most popular item, by far!
• It is what FTFers the world over cherish!
• They will go after any cache that has one of these, regardless of what else may or may not be in there.
• It is universally sought after. Its all you need.

 

[+The_Incredibles_]

An instant lottery ticket is fun- costs you a dollar or so and the scratcher could win more than that (and if they win big they could be owing you a brand newe gps )

Certificates are nice with money or a scratchie. I prefer scratch cards since there's an element of surprise

 

If they win big, you'll hate yourself, you know.

 

I bought a scratch and win ticket intending to put as a FTF prize, but I kept wondering 'What if this is the jackpot?' so I scratched it before it made it in the cache, LOL.

[+akkatracker]

An instant lottery ticket is fun- costs you a dollar or so and the scratcher could win more than that (and if they win big they could be owing you a brand newe gps )

Certificates are nice with money or a scratchie. I prefer scratch cards since there's an element of surprise

 

If they win big, you'll hate yourself, you know.

 

I bought a scratch and win ticket intending to put as a FTF prize, but I kept wondering 'What if this is the jackpot?' so I scratched it before it made it in the cache, LOL.

Being any decent cacher and knowing the FTF Hounds around the area if they won more than $100 they would give you some money back and still make a large profit. If they win huge $1000 + I'm pretty sure they'd ask you what new GPS they'd want . Here's an example http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC21PB0 with that being included in the description

Would be mean if they kept $20 000

[+AneMae]

I have left everything from $2 (A Toonie here in Canada) for a coffee, a blank log to a $40 specialty item (related to the cache)- depending on the difficulty of the cache.

Each one is unique and different.

FYI this is a Toonie:

(I love Canadian currency!)

Edited June 3, 2012 by AneMae

[+birder428]

I'll leave a lottery ticket or two, or a pack of batteries. One of the best FTF prizes I've received was a $20 bill with directions to get lunch. A cute coffee shop was across the street, and it was lunchtime, so it was perfect!

[+briansnat]

An instant lottery ticket is fun- costs you a dollar or so and the scratcher could win more than that (and if they win big they could be owing you a brand newe gps )

Certificates are nice with money or a scratchie. I prefer scratch cards since there's an element of surprise

 

If they win big, you'll hate yourself, you know.

 

I bought a scratch and win ticket intending to put as a FTF prize, but I kept wondering 'What if this is the jackpot?' so I scratched it before it made it in the cache, LOL.

 

Yeah, I'd kick myself if they are introducing the million dollar winner on the news and he tells how he found the cache in my geocache as a FTF prize.

 

I've put lottery tickets in caches, but scratched them off first and if its a $2 or $5 winner I'll put it in a cache. Anything more goes in my pocket.

[+The VanDucks]

We try to leave a FTF prize that has something to do with the cache name or theme, if we can. Several years ago, we hid a puzzle cache that related to high school musicals, since our daughter had been in many during her high school days. The FTF prize was a DVD of the recently released movie, "High School Musical." The FTF was a single lady, a school teacher, who wrote in her log that she loved finding the prize but would leave it for someone else; the second finder was a family with a young girl just the right age to be very excited at getting the prize!

 

Another of our hides, a multi-cache which involved a rather complicated set of directions to follow, had as the FTF prize a $15 gift certificate to a local restaurant located very near the cache. We were happy that the FTF said it was his favorite place to eat and he would enjoy using the certificate.

 

Most of our FTF prizes for less challenging caches are $5 gift cards, to Starbucks, or McDonald's, or Barnes and Noble, all of which are in the local area. Sometimes I leave as the FTF prize a new bison tube or a nano cache, especially if I've just reordered to keep spare ones in stock for our own caches.

[+Meandering WA]

I recently found a cache ( Elephant Rock, washington state) where the FTF ( certainly not me, historic) was a hand carved walking stick.

 

The cache was isolated and slightly challenging to reach. The prize could easily exist out in the open next to the cache.

 

I cannot imagine what a thrill it would be to gain such a prize

[+mwellman]

Most FTFers are very happy with an empty logbook.

 

Does your area have a few geocachers who seem to get every FTF? In that case, I would probably not leave any prizes and they probably don't want anything other than a blank logbook. Especially if they are experienced cachers. We have over 100 FTFs and have slowed down. It's the thrill of the hunt not the prize that is the adrenalin.

 

We like to leave:

 

Something geocaching related - Locknlock, small flashlight, geocaching lanyard, badge or pin.

 

Something out of the ordinary.

 

Homemade items.

 

Lately, I have gone to farmer's markets, speciality hobby stores, etc and gotten old pennies from the 1930's - 1940's, old nickels, 50 cents pieces. Also special polished stones like Moonstone, Amazonite, Citrine, fossels, etc. with a little description note that you can buy for $1-$2. For harder puzzles or more remote hikes, we leave TB tags.

Our amazing Geohound, CharlieDog, has 16 hides to his credit and he likes to leave his FAVORITE toy - a tennis ball!

 

It doesn't have to be expensive. Sometimes we will just tell them to take something from the container and they don't need to trade.

[+sshipway]

This cache of mine http://coord.info/GC31398 is called 'Monkey!'. I left a FTF and STF prize of two books of different translations of the famous Wu Ch'eng-en story related to the cache (about $15 each).

 

Always good if the FTF prize is in some way related to the cache itself.

 

I also know (from subsequent maintenance visits) that people have obtained Buddhist-themed swag items from the nearby temple giftshop to place in the cache.