Surprise Gift: Pin Trading - Yay or Nay?

[71dsp]

We've been to WDW a couple of times in the past two years and our son (7) has loved each visit (so did we!). We never did any pin trading, but my son doesn't know about the trip that my wife and I are planning for early 2012. So we're thinking of ways to surprise our son with the trip. I thought about buying a bunch of pins off of eBay, giving them to him as a Christmas gift (maybe even from Santa?), then letting him do some pin trading when we go to WDW.

Those of you who have done pin trading, do kids usually get a kick out of it?

 

[Philhar-Fanatic]

Our family started the Disney Pin tree 3 years ago. We order 40 pins, 10 per person. We hang them on a small tree and we go person by person and pick off the tree. It has become a tradition for us. This Christmas will be our 4th Christmas to do this. Our family looks forward to this so much. Kids get more excited about our pin tree than Santa!! DD is 9 and DS is 10. It's like a triple surprise. First, when we take the pins out of the pack to hang on the tree. We don't look at them until Christmas Eve. Second, when your actually picking! Third, once were done picking and we trade amongst ourselves. Best thing is when we get to Disney we have pins to trade. We have gotten some REALLY cool pins over the years. It's a HUGE part of our Disney experience. They have no monetary value to us, we just collect the ones that catch our eye! So, the answer to your question is YES, GO FOR IT!! I hope he loves it as much as we do!

 

[71dsp]

As a quick follow up, we ordered a bunch of pins. My wife has gone through them and decided which ones are "keepers" and which ones are "traders." I think she's getting into it more than she'll admit! She's already said she has a mental list of pins she wants to trade for. :lol:

I'm thinking I better order some more pins for our kiddo so my wife can't monopolize them all! j/k, she'd never do that... would she?

Anyway, thanks for all the ideas guys. I'm not that big into the pins, but I admit that I had a pretty good time looking through all the ones we ordered.

 

[MissM]

As a quick follow up, we ordered a bunch of pins. My wife has gone through them and decided which ones are "keepers" and which ones are "traders." I think she's getting into it more than she'll admit! She's already said she has a mental list of pins she wants to trade for. :lol:

Uh oh. You've done it now! It all starts innocently enough with a pin or two and next thing you know, there's 200 of them on a corkboard in your bedroom! (And I'm not even that bad of a collector!) :lol:Welcome to the addiction!

 

[Princess_Minnie]

We've been to WDW a couple of times in the past two years and our son (7) has loved each visit (so did we!). We never did any pin trading, but my son doesn't know about the trip that my wife and I are planning for early 2012. So we're thinking of ways to surprise our son with the trip. I thought about buying a bunch of pins off of eBay, giving them to him as a Christmas gift (maybe even from Santa?), then letting him do some pin trading when we go to WDW.

Those of you who have done pin trading, do kids usually get a kick out of it?

I was seven when I first went to Disney World, and I was very shy. My parents bought me a pin starter set so that I would have to go up and talk to Cast Members: they were trying to bring me out of my shell. Well, that pin set turned to a pin string, and that string into two, and still today I am a pin trading maniac! Seven strings, and more to come on our next trip.

Pin trading is really fun, and I think all kids should do it. Its just another way to get them invested in the parks and have a little Disney to take home with them. They can start character collections and completely customize a really cool souvenir.

However, there are some warnings I will give. If your child loses a pin that they loved, it could lead to upset. This happened a few times for us, and I know I remember each and every pin that I lost. Also, I would hold up my family in a line or getting to a destination in order to get a pin that I wanted.

But seriously, the benefits outweigh the risks. GO PIN TRADING! IT IS AWESOME! :sohappy:

 

[SAV]

My kids were 5 and 9 when we surprised each of them with a set of pins to trade. They spent the time before going thru then designating which they would trade and which they "would never trade". They loved it. And only 1 of the "would never trade" made it back to the house after the trip. And for us it was a relatively "cheap" souvenir to buy for them.

You could see them looking to each CM to see what pins they had and then making one of us go up with them to make a trade. By the end of it, they were just going up themselves(with us right by) and asking if they could see the pins and making their own trades. They were dealing and trading with each other too. Much better than them talking snarky and beating each other up, I'd say.

It is something we're going to do for the next trip for sure.

 

[jlevis]

I
However, there are some warnings I will give. If your child loses a pin that they loved, it could lead to upset. This happened a few times for us, and I know I remember each and every pin that I lost. Also, I would hold up my family in a line or getting to a destination in order to get a pin that I wanted.

But seriously, the benefits outweigh the risks. GO PIN TRADING! IT IS AWESOME! :sohappy:

Great point!! Dsney sells locking backs that are better than the Mickey backs that come with the pins. The only issue is if you overtighten them they can break the stud. I use a clasp type simialr to the ones find on military ribbons. I got mine on ebay for very little for 250 for them.

 

[71dsp]

I thought I should update this thread. We bought a bunch of Disney pins before our trip and gave them to our son the night before we left. He wasn't really much into it the first couple of days of the trip and we had to encourage him to talk to the CMs. However, by the end of the trip he was carefully watching all the CMs as we'd pass them and every now and then he'd tug my hand to let me know he wanted to go talk to the CM. He would approach them and ask to trade. As a great surprise for my wife and I, he was extremely polite with "Excuse me, may I see your pins" and "Thank you very much for trading with me!" We had quite a few CMs comment on his politeness. Made us very proud!

As a side note, my wife got into it just as much as our son. I did some trading of my own, but not nearly as much as the two of them.

 

[Philhar-Fanatic]

It's just SSOOO fun! Hooray for Disny Pin Trading! We of course did our Disney Pin Tree on Christmas Eve as stated earlier in the thread. We got some really cool ones this year. Can't wait to trade the duds and show off the keepers in June!!:animwink:

 

[real mad hatter]

Pin Tip.

We love collecting pins but the first year my son and I lost two as the back came off.My tip is when you put the pin thro the back,put it in at a angle so that the sharp pin pierces the hard rubber.I know you can buy lockable backs but I've heard there not much better.:wave:

 

[DisneyRunner]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm bidding on pins to trade, as we speak.:ROFLOL:

 

[Joshua&CalebDad]

We love collecting pins but the first year my son and I lost two as the back came off.My tip is when you put the pin thro the back,put it in at a angle so that the sharp pin pierces the hard rubber.I know you can buy lockable backs but I've heard there not much better.:wave:

Something else you might want to try is the locking pin backs which they sell at Disney for about $10.00 or online.

http://pinseller.com/locking-pin-backs-set60-1333.html

The pin backs have a small screw which keeps them from falling off. You have to use a small allen wrench to take them off (not as complicated as it sounds).

My 4 year old lost a "special" pin on the first trip and was pretty upset. On the next trip I saw the locking pin backs and purchased them. We have yet to lose a pin since then.

As a side note, we only use the locking pin backs when we have pins on the lanyard at the parks, keeps us from buying more of them since they are so expensive. Once we get home and its safe we start using the regular pin backs. Good luck. :sohappy: