Examples of Good Swag

[+Trotter17]

Hey all,

 

I've just got back into caching and was curious as to what everyone thought was good swag for caches that can hold it? I've searched for a thread on this but only found threads covering bad swag and signature items.

 

My personal favorite things to find are various plastic army men and toy soldiers.

[+dameetro]

Best swag I have ever found was in a doggie themed cache. Our geodog pulled out a squeaky purple ball. It's still one of her favorite toys 3 years later.

 

Favorite people themed swag was a very powerful tactical flashlight I got from a night cache. It came in handy while getting back out of the woods.

Edited July 16, 2014 by dameetro

[+frinklabs]

I had been leaving mini-glowsticks, but then someone in the Ottawa area said they've been removing them because it is their (as-yet-to-be-proven) allegation that they freeze and burst.

 

Meanwhile, I did a really cool puzzle cache that involved deriving information from a picture of some of the cool swag the CO had picked up:

 

 

(I tried embedding the hi-res version but the forum doesn't like dropbox and/or https img urls so click on it to enlarge)

[+narcissa]

I don't know why, but I always enjoy those mini-carabiners.

[+RocTheCacheBox]

I like old golf balls, business cards, pebbles, and religious propaganda.

[+L0ne.R]

Some the cool geoswag I've collected:

 

 

[+Sunmill]

Glow sticks do not burst...we put them in the freezer to make them last a bit longer.

 

I'm interested to read this thread, I'd love to up the ante for what we put in caches!

[+Team Dredd]

I like to find items that do not get wet and soggy, and are a bit unique to specific cachers. Hard to think of anything right off, we do like things like golf balls sometimes. Especially when signed by another cacher and where they are from, we like to move them. For us things that are another cachers "signature item" we will almost always pick up and move.

 

You mentioned seeing the other threads about bad swag, the worst swag etc, read them. I read through them pretty thoroughly and decided not to leave some of the swag we had been leaving (oops, live and learn) and leaned a lot about what people do not like finding. By reading what people hate to find (business cards, any candy or food, most anything that will get wet and soggy, anything that will leak or melt, green corroded pennies etc etc) you can get an idea on what to leave. I have been to some very well stocked caches but not taken anything because I didn't have anything equal or better.

[+Trotter17]

I left a little sealed plastic bag of about 7 or 8 various bottle caps the other day that I thought was pretty cool. I'd been collecting them for sometime. They were various traditional metal bottle caps from a variety of different sodas that aren't very common (some were from various micro-regional sodas). I figured someone would find them novel, use one in an Up! cosplay like I did, or turn them into some sort of craft.

 

I was hoping something like that was considered cooler than just a standard little junk item I had laying around although I did buy a really cool set of World War 2 styled army men that I might use for common trades. I love to collect plastic army men, minifigures, and little rubber guys like M.I.M.P., OMFG, and MUSCLE.

[Odyssey Pod]

I have a large cache called "Treasure Trove." I stock all kinds of things in it from Nintendo games, to gameboys, books, cosmetic sets, tool sets, puzzles, board games, etc. I encourage anyone who comes to bring good swag and trade up. It is easy to find, even accidentally, and gets people into geocaching. Here is the cache page.

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC51NDB_treasure-trove?guid=502bf0fa-72a1-4214-a285-311c9d3ad20c

Edited July 17, 2014 by Odyssey Pod

[+mar1sa]

I spend hours making handmade swag, bangles, keychains etc etc and try to place one in every cache I can, but when you do a run of 50+ a day I run low pretty quick, as I make them while watching a movi I find I cant sit down and watch one without doing something.

we hardly ever take from a cache unless its something different and normally random

[+T.D.M.22]

Glowsticks won't burst when frozen. When you crack them and the kids are done, stick them in the freezer for another time. It slows the reaction. I've seen them still glow after more than a month- not brightly but they still glowed.

 

What I'd like to find? Money- Canadian bills are now plastic so they won't get soggy

Or anything hand/custom made. Pathtags, little plastic circles with caching names, sig items really. Or handmade stuff, para ore stuff, bracelets. If I want toy cars, or a Swiss Army Knife I'd go buy one.

[+niraD]

Foreign coins can make interesting trade items. I get them from friends who save their pocket change when traveling overseas, and from coin shops that have bulk bins.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Foreign coins can make interesting trade items. I get them from friends who save their pocket change when traveling overseas, and from coin shops that have bulk bins.

 

I've never done it but you can also buy foreign coins in bulk from a bunch of places online. I've got a 8x10" box full of foreign coins from my travels and dip into it occasionally to drop a handful into a plastic bag that I can stuff in my front pocket. I've also occasionally used foreign paper currency in small denominations. I had a bunch of Ethiopian 500 birr notes (about 50 cents, US) that are pretty cool.