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Swag for Guys?


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Hi, all.  I like placing swag in caches. I pretty much know what youngsters would like, both boys and girls, and grown-up girls, since I'm a grown-up gal, ;) but I need some thoughts/tips on what to get that the grown-up guys might like to find.  Thanks for any insight. :cool:

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5 minutes ago, skyekeyes said:

Hi, all.  I like placing swag in caches. I pretty much know what youngsters would like, both boys and girls, and grown-up girls, since I'm a grown-up gal, ;) but I need some thoughts/tips on what to get that the grown-up guys might like to find.  Thanks for any insight. :cool:

 

Bungee cords, carabiners, mini flashlights

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If I want something, I go to a store.   Most of the things I'd be interested in aren't supposed to be allowed in caches, or low-end.

Odd thing is we find a lot of low-end multitools, and most we've seen do have a knife in 'em...

 

I've found bullets/shotshells, pen knives, and similar guy-like stuff, and kept it all (and traded for...).

 - But even the other 2/3rds has a quality flashlight, and real carabiners...   

I'd think a simple signature item would be preferable to a "guy" item.

 

 

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On 6/27/2020 at 3:30 PM, niraD said:

Speaking only for myself, the only things I bother trading for are personal signature items left by other geocachers.

This is mostly what I do too. But I also enjoy signature items from, for example, the organization that put out a geotour. 

 

On 6/27/2020 at 3:29 PM, cerberus1 said:

Odd thing is we find a lot of low-end multitools, and most we've seen do have a knife in 'em.

Two of us have gotten cut on those just reaching for the cache log. I

 

On 6/27/2020 at 3:10 PM, skyekeyes said:

Hi, all.  I like placing swag in caches. I pretty much know what youngsters would like, both boys and girls, and grown-up girls, since I'm a grown-up gal, ;) but I need some thoughts/tips on what to get that the grown-up guys might like to find.  Thanks for any insight. :cool:

One of my favorite Shop Geocaching swag item was the Signal bottle opener/ keychain.  For men and women.

Edited by Max and 99
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Personally, I actually prefer no swag in caches at all. I rarely see something I'd really like to trade, though I can appreciate signature items sometimes.

 

Where I live, I see a lot of caches that are filled to the top (and being refilled) with toys supposed to be "nice for kids". It's mostly the typical very cheap Asian produced plastic stuff that kids will pay just a few seconds attention to and then forget. The toys usually end up in the dustbin quickly or are "lost in nature". In both caches, they're a burden for the environment. I'm a firm believer of sharing/recycling where possible, but from a conservation and CITO perspective I'd rather not find any swag in caches than this junk.

Edited by NLBokkie
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14 minutes ago, NLBokkie said:

Personally, I actually prefer no swag in caches at all. I rarely see something I'd really like to trade, though I can appreciate signature items sometimes.

 

Where I live, I see a lot of caches that are filled to the top (and being refilled) with toys supposed to be "nice for kids". It's mostly the typical very cheap Asian produced plastic stuff that kids will pay just a few seconds attention to and then forget. The toys usually end up in the dustbin quickly or are "lost in nature". In both caches, they're a burden for the environment. I'm a firm believer of sharing/recycling where possible, but from a "save the earth" and CITO perspective I'd rather not find any swag in caches than this junk.

I rarely take anything from a cache (paper money once...I took that :antenna:), and a small note book another time. Most of the things I leave are excess tor my needs, rather than specially bought to leave in a cache. I set up a TB Hotel and furnished it with cheap dolls-house furniture, and although I bought this for my hotel, some furniture was not needed, so I have been releasing that. (Yes, I bought that, but not specifically for releasing. That was an exception). Mostly lately I have been releasing excess jewellery. I rarely wear it, so I have been leaving jewellery I am unlikely to wear again, in caches; also another person has given me some of their unwanted jewellery for the same purpose. I received a thank you email for one pair of very nice old, sparkly earrings I left. The finder was thrilled. I have also been given a lot of trinkets by others for me to put in caches. (Not bought specially for geocaching.) Some have been very nice. I got given some nice Christmas tree decorations for instance. I was tempted to kept them myself, but told myself I had enough already. I don't see why adult men wouldn't like them. I have known some men who really like decorating trees.

Even though I rarely take anything I find in a cache, I do find some interesting things occasionally, and I know that some others like the swag and so I would prefer that swag stayed, and I do enjoy leaving it, when I have something excessive to my needs, such as unworn jewellery. I left a nice glass egg timer once I didn't need. I'm sure someone liked that.

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4 hours ago, NLBokkie said:

Personally, I actually prefer no swag in caches at all. I rarely see something I'd really like to trade, though I can appreciate signature items sometimes.

 

Where I live, I see a lot of caches that are filled to the top (and being refilled) with toys supposed to be "nice for kids". It's mostly the typical very cheap Asian produced plastic stuff that kids will pay just a few seconds attention to and then forget. The toys usually end up in the dustbin quickly or are "lost in nature". In both caches, they're a burden for the environment. I'm a firm believer of sharing/recycling where possible, but from a conservation and CITO perspective I'd rather not find any swag in caches than this junk.

There's a reason it's called a geocache...

cache: a collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place.

 

Without swag it would be a summit log, or a munzee, or a letterbox, or orienteering...or Poke-Go.

 

Back to the topic of what guys might like, in the past we found many multi-tools that were useful and without knives. We have found and left lanyards, para-cord, "round unnamed tokens" from that 'other site, and lots of unactivated geocoins. We have also left coins foreign and domestic in coins flips. There was one cacher who left buffalo nickles in flips and another who left dollar coins. We also like finding sig items and had a few of our own; one was a sewing kit.

 

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29 minutes ago, SEWdaugh said:

Back to the topic of what guys might like, in the past we found many multi-tools that were useful and without knives. We have found and left lanyards, para-cord, "round unnamed tokens" from that 'other site, and lots of unactivated geocoins. We have also left coins foreign and domestic in coins flips. There was one cacher who left buffalo nickles in flips and another who left dollar coins. We also like finding sig items and had a few of our own; one was a sewing kit.

 

Thanks, SEWdaugh. A fellow at an event this past weekend mentioned he liked finding coins also. Can you explain signature items? Is that like the wooden nickels I find with a cacher's name on it? Or do you mean things with, for example, team logos and the like?

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4 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

I rarely take anything from a cache (paper money once...I took that :antenna:), and a small note book another time. Most of the things I leave are excess tor my needs, rather than specially bought to leave in a cache. I set up a TB Hotel and furnished it with cheap dolls-house furniture, and although I bought this for my hotel, some furniture was not needed, so I have been releasing that. (Yes, I bought that, but not specifically for releasing. That was an exception). Mostly lately I have been releasing excess jewellery. I rarely wear it, so I have been leaving jewellery I am unlikely to wear again, in caches; also another person has given me some of their unwanted jewellery for the same purpose. I received a thank you email for one pair of very nice old, sparkly earrings I left. The finder was thrilled. I have also been given a lot of trinkets by others for me to put in caches. (Not bought specially for geocaching.) Some have been very nice. I got given some nice Christmas tree decorations for instance. I was tempted to kept them myself, but told myself I had enough already. I don't see why adult men wouldn't like them. I have known some men who really like decorating trees.

Even though I rarely take anything I find in a cache, I do find some interesting things occasionally, and I know that some others like the swag and so I would prefer that swag stayed, and I do enjoy leaving it, when I have something excessive to my needs, such as unworn jewellery. I left a nice glass egg timer once I didn't need. I'm sure someone liked that.

Thanks, Goldenwattle.  I have taken paper money too!...lol  I've run across jewelry in caches before and thought that was cool.  I used to like to collect those small clear or colored glass baubles shaped liked stars or moons, etc. Thanks for your response.  :D

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5 hours ago, NLBokkie said:

Personally, I actually prefer no swag in caches at all. I rarely see something I'd really like to trade, though I can appreciate signature items sometimes.

 

 

Thanks for the response, NLBokkie.  Can you explain signature items? Is that like the wooden nickels I've found that have a cacher's name on it? Or are you talking about things maybe like team logos, etc.?

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The kids and I love finding good swag.  If we come across cool stickers they go on our garage refrigerator.  If we come across a cool guitar pick, pathtag, or other signature item we will take those as well.  We are putting together a display for the kids' game room.

My husband is generally indifferent.  He is more of a sign the log and off to the next adventure kind of guy.  I did find a really nice leather key ring that I traded out for him once.

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2 hours ago, SEWdaugh said:

There's a reason it's called a geocache...

cache: a collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place.

 

Without swag it would be a summit log, or a munzee, or a letterbox, or orienteering...or Poke-Go.

 

 Please explain micros, especially nanos, as well as Virtual caches, Earthcaches, and Webcams.   Thanks.  :)

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3 hours ago, skyekeyes said:

Thanks for the response, NLBokkie.  Can you explain signature items? Is that like the wooden nickels I've found that have a cacher's name on it? Or are you talking about things maybe like team logos, etc.?

 

Yes, signature items are some sort of swag that typically has a cachers name on it.  Wooden nickels are an example,  sometimes it can just be something that one associates with a specific geocacher.   There was a local cacher many years ago that found a large box full of 1" copper balls at a garage sale,  For several years, that's what she would put in a cache and local geocachers knew that if they saw a copper ball in a cache,  where it came from.  They didn't have her name on them but I still considered them her "signature swag".

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4 hours ago, skyekeyes said:

Can you explain signature items? Is that like the wooden nickels I've found that have a cacher's name on it?

 

Yep.  It could as simple as a business card with their caching info on it.  

I put our unactivated signature geocoins in some caches I liked.  Maybe a bit of an incentive for folks to walk a bit too.  :)

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11 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

Please explain micros, especially nanos, as well as Virtual caches, Earthcaches, and Webcams.

(Usually) Boring :laughing:.

 

(If I arrive in a town with far more caches than I can find that visit, I have been known to filter out micros and ignore them.)

 

Yep, (for that amazed reaction click), I find there is a greater chance there will be some more thought put into a small and larger cache, than another nano (or micro) stuck on the back of another sign.

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19 hours ago, skyekeyes said:

Thanks for the response, NLBokkie.  Can you explain signature items? Is that like the wooden nickels I've found that have a cacher's name on it? Or are you talking about things maybe like team logos, etc.?

It's mostly "wooden nickels" (we call them "woodies" over here) indeed. They are very popular over here and surrounding European countries, and many geocachers have their own design and exchange them with other geocachers. It's not uncommon at all to find geocachers taking a collectors box full of woodies to events to exchange them for woodies they don't have yet. There are online catalogues where you can find many of the woodies produced, as the firms that produce them and the geocachers for whom they are produced are both happy to add them.

 

Apart from that, there are some geocachers that create nice swag themselves at home. And these sometimes have a trackable code added too, so the creator can see where the goodies end up.

Edited by NLBokkie
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22 hours ago, skyekeyes said:

Thanks, SEWdaugh. A fellow at an event this past weekend mentioned he liked finding coins also. Can you explain signature items? Is that like the wooden nickels I find with a cacher's name on it? Or do you mean things with, for example, team logos and the like?

Here's a couple of threads that show some examples:

https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/348839-making-signature-swag/&tab=comments#comment-5724595

 

https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/250224-can-you-show-me-pictures-of-your-signature-items/#comments

 

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2 hours ago, SEWdaugh said:

Things that happened (good or bad) after the original geocache ( or AOG ) ;)

veering OT...

Yeah...kinda.  May 3, 2000, wasn't Dave Ulmer's first actually part of the Geo Stash Hunt ?  The reason it's still called  "the original stash" ?

The one who first coined the word Geocache IIRC,  Matt Stum, said  on May 30, 2000 "The word "cache" both brings forth feelings of nostalgia for the days of exploring, as well as a "techie" feeling for those that associate it with computer memory. "      ;)

 

The history of the hobby in weatherproof card format would make good swag for everyone.    :)

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23 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

The history of the hobby in weatherproof card format would make good swag for everyone.    :)

Is there something like that available on the market? Or something that I would put together myself? And is that "history" available in a succinct form anywhere that could be copied to make a card? I wouldn't want to try to put that together myself since I'm not an expert on the subject.

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On 7/2/2020 at 6:04 AM, SEWdaugh said:

Those are so cute! I have not one creative bone in my body, though...lol   :lol:

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On 7/2/2020 at 3:02 AM, NLBokkie said:

It's mostly "wooden nickels" (we call them "woodies" over here) indeed. They are very popular over here and surrounding European countries, and many geocachers have their own design and exchange them with other geocachers. It's not uncommon at all to find geocachers taking a collectors box full of woodies to events to exchange them for woodies they don't have yet. There are online catalogues where you can find many of the woodies produced, as the firms that produce them and the geocachers for whom they are produced are both happy to add them.

 

Apart from that, there are some geocachers that create nice swag themselves at home. And these sometimes have a trackable code added too, so the creator can see where the goodies end up.

I've seen the "woodies" here in caches as well, and I never knew they were so popular that folks have boxes full and trade them out!  I knew pathtags were a hot item, but they just never interested me. When I see them in a cache, I pick them up for a friend that collects them.  I'm learning a lot on this thread!

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2 hours ago, ras_oscar said:

When I was playing the trade game I put together a cache repair kit. mini zlock bags, nano log rolls, small replacement log sheets all bundled in a denim pouch with a velcro closure, 

Cute  Handsome idea!

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43 minutes ago, ras_oscar said:

When I was playing the trade game I put together a cache repair kit. mini zlock bags, nano log rolls, small replacement log sheets all bundled in a denim pouch with a velcro closure, 

I like that idea, as it's useful. Although I would never leave anything to do with nano evil caches :laughing:.

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I am a gem dealer and always leave gemmy items.  Everyone likes cool rocks, regardless of age or gender!  I leave a lot, but I rarely take swag because most of it is not worth taking.  (But I always do take coins, paper money, and once even a prepaid VISA card!  I figure I've made about $50 in the last three years just taking coins from geocaches!)  When a cache is in a LFL, I leave a copy of my gemstone book, signed with the date and an explanation on geocaching!

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19 hours ago, Ageleni said:

I am a gem dealer and always leave gemmy items.  Everyone likes cool rocks, regardless of age or gender!  I leave a lot, but I rarely take swag because most of it is not worth taking.  (But I always do take coins, paper money, and once even a prepaid VISA card!  I figure I've made about $50 in the last three years just taking coins from geocaches!)  When a cache is in a LFL, I leave a copy of my gemstone book, signed with the date and an explanation on geocaching!

 

I used to leave these in caches.  "Took golf ball.  Left a million dollars"

 

one-million-dollar-bill-USA.jpg

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When my kids were young they were motivated to go geocaching with me by swag trades, but now they don't go geocaching with me and swag has just become something that just gets in the way of finding trackables and signing the logbook. If I want cheap junk for myself, I'll go to the dollar store. :lol:

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On 7/8/2020 at 10:17 AM, GeoElmo6000 said:

When my kids were young they were motivated to go geocaching with me by swag trades, but now they don't go geocaching with me and swag has just become something that just gets in the way of finding trackables and signing the logbook. If I want cheap junk for myself, I'll go to the dollar store. :lol:

 

This is so funny; I feel exactly the same way.  If people would trade up, it might be exciting to find swag.  (And once in a while I have found a few truly useful things.)  But people are either leaving bottle caps and rocks, or they are leaving new but boring stuff like tiny plastic toys, chimes, erasers, beads.  It really DOES get in the way of looking for TBs and getting to the log!  (And if the cache is very full and you take it all out trying to get to the log, it can sometimes be a hassle to put it away.)

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On 6/27/2020 at 4:10 PM, skyekeyes said:

Hi, all.  I like placing swag in caches. I pretty much know what youngsters would like, both boys and girls, and grown-up girls, since I'm a grown-up gal, ;) but I need some thoughts/tips on what to get that the grown-up guys might like to find.  Thanks for any insight. :cool:

I would say unactivated geocoins, maybe a golf ball or tee since they're small, or just some signature items. Some cheap TOTT would probably be good too!

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