Good Trinkets To Leave In Trade?

[+haegajok]

We didn't succeed today on our first try but may try to hit a few one stars tomorrow as a family with 6 and 4 year olds in tow... I am figuring we're likely to only trade for children's items... anyhow do you think these sound like ok items to uses as our traders:

• rubber frogs
  
• rubber snakes
  
• rubber lizards
  
• barbie swan lake ball puzzle watch toys
  
• a few foreign coins if a cache is more grown up
  

I plan to bring some small ziplock bags to put our things in. Thanks for the help!

[+JMBella]

First, welcome to geocaching!

 

Second, Those items sound fine. No need to put them in their own ziplock though, it may just clutter the cache. (It's is a good idea to bring some extra ziplock though in case you find a cache that needs a little help.) The main thing you should worry about when it comes to trade items is to trade even. Like I said the items you listed sound fine as long as you trade equally. ie, Took: plastic dino, Left: Rubber frog. As opposed to, Took: Brand new mini mag light, Left: Rubber snake. The fact that you were thoughtful enough to post that question here says your off to a great start. Best of luck to you and your family!

[+haegajok]

Thank you! Now let's see if we can actually find anything!

 

Is it generally ok to leave a set of small items in exchange for larger itens if we find something we'd love?

 

I know a few showed having travel bugs... we've ordered a few TB tags as father's day presents for my husband and father (they got the GPS pair and 2 dry boxes with laminated cache notes and log books for xmas but we were waiting for winter to end to start playing). Is it ok (etiq-wise) to start taking them to new sites while new to the game?

[+Torry]

Thank you! Now let's see if we can actually find anything!

 

Is it generally ok to leave a set of small items in exchange for larger itens if we find something we'd love?

 

I know a few showed having travel bugs... we've ordered a few TB tags as father's day presents for my husband and father (they got the GPS pair and 2 dry boxes with laminated cache notes and log books for xmas but we were waiting for winter to end to start playing). Is it ok (etiq-wise) to start taking them to new sites while new to the game?

Take it slow and find a few first. That'll give you some ideas for your cache. You can fire off your bugs early or save them to launch with your own cache.

 

Also finding a few will help you figure out your skills and equipment so your own hide will be well-documented.

[+RichardMoore]

Thank you! Now let's see if we can actually find anything!

 

Is it generally ok to leave a set of small items in exchange for larger itens if we find something we'd love?

 

I know a few showed having travel bugs... we've ordered a few TB tags as father's day presents for my husband and father (they got the GPS pair and 2 dry boxes with laminated cache notes and log books for xmas but we were waiting for winter to end to start playing). Is it ok (etiq-wise) to start taking them to new sites while new to the game?

First of all, I agree with what JMBella said. It sounds like you're off to a good start. On the Ziploc thing, most caches already have the trade goods in a ziploc as extra protection, you don't need to provide your own. But, like JM said, you may want to have a couple just in case. A lot of cachers carry "cache repair kits" with them to fix problems.

I have traded a few smaller items for a larger item on occasion. The idea is a fair exchange of value. I also sometimes leave extra just to help build the selection in the cache. Cache contents deteriorate over time, a sad but true fact of life.

As I understand your last question, you're asking if it's okay to take a travel bug even though you are new to the game/sport/activity/addiction? This is a hard one. A lot of travel bugs disappear because a newbie finds a cache or two, takes a bug from a cache, and then loses interest and never goes out again. You seem like the type that accepts responsibility, so go ahead. Don't forget to log it on the Travel Bug page. And if you put it in another cache the same day that you find it, don't forget to write down it's tag number so you can log it.

 

Good luck!

[+Jeeps the Squirrel]

Hi there!

 

You've got some really neat stuff to put in caches! Most of the stuff that I trade for are kids' stuff! It's lots of fun!

You might want to take a look at my homepage by clicking your mouse thingy here! It tells you some things about geocaching for the first time!

 

Have fun!

Jeeps the Squirrel

[WH]

I always ask myself 1 question before deciding what to leave in a cache:

 

If I found this item, would I let my 6 year old have it?

[+Amazon Annie]

Took: plastic dino, Left: Rubber frog. As opposed to, Took: Brand new mini mag light, Left: Rubber snake.

 

I agree! I know of more than a few caches in one area that were 'kidder-ized' by a family group. There were some good trading items but the large family went out and exchanged all the goodies for cheap kids junk. I don't trade that often but this sort of exchange makes for a disappointing find when I've got my adult daughter with me (she loves to trade).

 

I have helped to 'restock' a depleted cache that I've come across if the items are low and junky. I also take a few items that are a bit nicer if I come across a really great cache - often one that takes a bit of effort to get to and is in a good spot - to say "thanks" to the owner and to make the hike worth while for the next finder.

[+briansnat]

Thats a pretty good start. You might want to bring a few nicer items along in case you find someting really nice in a cache that you want to trade for.

 

I always ask myself 1 question before deciding what to leave in a cache:

 

If I found this item, would I let my 6 year old have it?

 

I'm glad that isn't everyone's attitude, or a lot of the neat stuff I've found wouldn't have been in threre.

[+haegajok]

As I understand your last question, you're asking if it's okay to take a travel bug even though you are new to the game/sport/activity/addiction? This is a hard one. A lot of travel bugs disappear because a newbie finds a cache or two, takes a bug from a cache, and then loses interest and never goes out again. You seem like the type that accepts responsibility, so go ahead. Don't forget to log it on the Travel Bug page. And if you put it in another cache the same day that you find it, don't forget to write down it's tag number so you can log it.

oh if i could never find another one and the cache i found the bug in dissappeared, i'd email some of the cache owners near here and ask them to help me place the bug.... with little ones i know the devestation of having someone else ruin your work, of course.

 

with the ziplocks i did mean i'd have enough with me in case the caches' ones were depleted/ruined.

 

and not going to hihde ours til we've got the game down, but whata a boring gift it'd have been to just give a pair of gps with nothing fun to go with them, esp to a pair of men thaat hadn't heard of geocaching

 

now wish us luck acatually finding something!

[+haegajok]

You've got some really neat stuff to put in caches! Most of the stuff that I trade for are kids' stuff! It's lots of fun!

You might want to take a look at my homepage by clicking your mouse thingy here! It tells you some things about geocaching for the first time!

thank you i did read it but of course didn't look to see when last updated

 

just reading thru posts and seeing other's favorite finds, etc made me start wondering about what i planned to bring

 

btw we grew up with squirrel we named fantasia. we fed her crackerss for yearas by hand or a few feet away, then one year she dissappeared for a while only to come back and show her children to us for one last visit of course now that i'm grown up they all look the sasme to me

[+haegajok]

I always ask myself 1 question before deciding what to leave in a cache:

 

If I found this item, would I let my 6 year old have it?

yeah, all but the coins are meant to be for my children (4 and 6, with summer bdays) to swap for other things meant for them... all brand new that we use for easter egg hunts, themed bday party prizes, etc... i just wish i knew where i hid the stash of mini skateboards!

 

btwt i always buy foor than i need for a party and we use left overs to make favor bags for school halloween/valentine's cards, putting in small stockings for donating to the church kids' shopping room, etc... so i figured it was a good place to draw from for this, if they were good enough.

[+haegajok]

Took: plastic dino, Left: Rubber frog. As opposed to, Took: Brand new mini mag light, Left: Rubber snake.

 

I agree! I know of more than a few caches in one area that were 'kidder-ized' by a family group. There were some good trading items but the large family went out and exchanged all the goodies for cheap kids junk. I don't trade that often but this sort of exchange makes for a disappointing find when I've got my adult daughter with me (she loves to trade).

 

I have helped to 'restock' a depleted cache that I've come across if the items are low and junky. I also take a few items that are a bit nicer if I come across a really great cache - often one that takes a bit of effort to get to and is in a good spot - to say "thanks" to the owner and to make the hike worth while for the next finder.

that's what i was figuring on using coins for, if we find the cache doesn't have children's items (though the ones i'm targetting had descriptions and log entries that make me believe they have many children's items)... then maybe we'll trade one item if the kids cry cause we ara leaving all the treasure behind!

 

Thats a pretty good start. You might want to bring a few nicer items along in case you find someting really nice in a cache that you want to trade for.

 

what sort of items would you suggest that i may have at home or be able to grab quickly? (had a touch of insomnia last night and overslept this morn so short on time)

[+haegajok]

we did it! we only got to go to 2 sites cause it was getting late and my husband was under that mosquito attack but we found them relatively quickly and i think we left fair trade items esp the second one which was filled with lots of great child friendly trinkets

 

i ended up finding a bunch of subway tokens from 2 cities nearby and took those instead of foreign coins and we did a fast walmart stop since my son decided to thoroughly coat himself in mud before we began! and picked up a pin on compass and another little caamping/hiking item for groown up trades, should we need them. also brought along some new rockport shoes-branded scrubby brushes (good on fingers or shoes/boots), a new olive canvas and plastic windowed zippered pouch for a 3-ring binder, and new teenage mutant ninga turtles bike safety pad set that i bought extra of on clearance last year... just asa alternates should we only find grown up items or find somethingn big and a big enough cache for it! but both we wound up going for (out of 6 in that area) were smaller sized and filled with children's goodies.

 

we did wind up picking up one of the tb's and will try too get it just a little further on it's journey west