Pin Trading and Children

[tjkraz]

Anyone have kids that are into pin trading?

For Christmas my two kids are getting starter pin trading lanyards from grandma. In the past we've looked at the racks of pins at WDW with the kids--solely to admire them--but never gave any serious consideration to trying to get the kids involved. But as they are getting older I thought it might be a nice way to develop some social skills. I see many Cast Members who seem to be very patient and accommodating (like they have any other choice on the second count) with kids. Both of the kids have their favorite characters and attractions and my hope is they will occasionally check out the lanyard of a CM and initiate a trade if they see something they like.

So far, so good?

My one concern is dealing with adults. In the unlikely event that the kids should pick up a desirable pin from a CM, is there any chance they will subsequently be hounded by adults trying to pry it away from them? I want the kids to be able to enjoy the pins that they collect without facing any harassment.

Anyone else have kids that are involved in pin trading and have observations to share?

[David Welty]

Tjkraz,

I can answer this one. This past year our son got into pin trading. We have Annual Passes to Disneyland and go about twice a month on average. We have indeed found that due to pin trading he, and the whole family for that matter interact alot more with the Cast Members he trades with. We have NEVER been approached by independent adult traders. I suppose if we attended a trading meet it might happen, but we find plenty of trading opportunities just trading with cast members. We started in August, and my son already has about 30 pins he traded for. One word of advice, Have your child choose one caracter or theme and have him/her stick to it. This makes it more challenging to find the pins, and it keeps the whole thing under control and affordable for you. (my son trades only for goofy pins) Another piece of advice, buy discount pins at the Disney outlet stores like Caracter Wharehouse, They are located near WDW and DLR but they also travel around the country and set up shop for several weeks at a time. Stock up when they come to your town. We have found $8.95 pins for $3.95. It dosen't matter if they are all the same type, as they are just used as traders anyway. You will find that you will get into the action helping him/her spot the Castmember lanyards around the parks. Have fun!

[doombuggy]

I think there are more pin sharks here in FL, although I don't think one would go out of their way to aproach a child...who knows? I do collect pins, but I don't wear my lanyards when I am out in the parks (not thta I get there too often...).

Remember that the green CM lanyards are for kids 12 & under. The blue ones are for everyone to ask to trade. Also keep in mind that if there is a pin you want to give to the CM and it is already on their lanyard, they cannot accept the duplicate. The advice of going to a Character Warehouse and getting a bunch of pins to trade is a good idea. I wouldn't buy 20 of the same pin, however.....
We all have the 2000 ribbon dancer pin, so stay away from that one.....:)

[Disneymooners93]

We were like you as well, always looking at the pins but never even thought about starting into trading.

Our last trip to DL the kids (age 6, 7) became a bit more interested in the pins and we thought we would let them try it. They loved it, it became the highlight of the trip for them. DW and I also got lanyards and had fun doing it too.

Both of the kids have their favorite characters and attractions and my hope is they will occasionally check out the lanyard of a CM and initiate a trade if they see something they like.
If your kids are like mine, "occasionally" will go out the window in a hurry. Once they started they were on full-blown lanyard patrol. It was a good thing there was a one transaction limit per trade or else they would have traded every pin each time.

We never encountered an unscrupulous trader, we only interacted with cast members though. We did have to balance letting them trade whatever they wanted and making sure they didn't trade one of their "special" pins. We were doing it to trade pins not collect them, so for the most part we let them do whatever they wanted. They alternated what they were collecting throughout the trip. One day was Tinker Bell, the next day Piglet...

Generally we didn't buy individual pins at full price. They sell packs of 7 small pins for like $22 at the pin stands and we used those to trade for the better pins. I looked into ebay for pin lots for our upcoming WDW trip, but didn't get any so we'll get the small packs when we get there.

Have Fun.

[carolina_yankee]

Tim - I tihnk your idea is a good one, and great for your kids social development.

I've never seen adults hound children, but I have been approached by children several times to trade, and I have. You will want to establish clear rules with your kids as to whether they are allowed to approach non-CM adults about trades. Personally, I don't think any adult should ever approach a child, even with the parent's permission, to initiate a trade since adults know more about the inherent value of pins than kids (or their unsuspecting parents). When the kids asked to trade, I asked what they wanted that I was willing to part with, then I asked what they were willing to give up. I left the choices completely up to them (as long as I was willing to trade the pin).

However, I can say that I have personally been hounded by adult pin traders this last Thanksgiving trip. After 3 incidents, I realized they thought I was a CM - I usually wore a blue Mickey polo or a GAP casual blue button down shirt, and had a blue pin lanyard, so I guess I looked like the YOMD CMs. One person got irate when I refuse to trade, until they realized I wasn't a CM. Just keep an eye out!!

Dirk

[tjkraz]

Thanks for all of the info. :)

Good to know that adults--most of them, at least--aren't into pestering kids. It's not like I'd send the 5yo out to start trading on his own, I was more worried about people approaching him and the awkwardness that may ensue.

Like I said, the kids are getting starter lanyards for Christmas. I think those have 4 pins each. I also have a handful of other starter pins that DW and I have accumulated over the years. They were free handouts at DVC member events and such.

Hopefully that will be enough to get them started. Thanks for the tip on getting other trading pins for low cost.

Tim

[doombuggy]

had a blue pin lanyard, so I guess I looked like the YOMD CMs.

Yep. That's why I looked at you twice when we met - I thought you were a CM with the lanyard you were wearing...... :)

[TW1]

Our two kids have lanyards and small collections. DD likes everything Goofy, DS likes everything Stitch. (hmm..wonder why)

They have never been asked by an adult to trade and honestly neither wants to. We buy them pins for birthdays and Christmas and they each get to pick one out ever trip, but again, neither has traded and doesn't really have an interest in trading (yet.)

They are fun and think they make great gifts.

[lenshanem]

We're doing this in a few weeks. We went thru our pins just the other day and gathered up six for each of them and put them on lanyards we got from a DVC gathering. We thought they are old enough to start trading with the CMs. I told them they should pick a theme. DD8 said she wants to collect pins with the Fab Five on them or Walt and DD5 said she wants to collect anything Peter Pan related. We'll see how it goes. I'm always trying to think of something new for them to do on our trips.
On a recent podcast I listened to it said to trade rack pins and not the limited edition ones so that might be a way of keeping overly serious pin traders away from the kids. It will say on the back of the pin.

[nono]

Our D, who's not yet 3, is into this already. I think she's the shark though! Definitely not a :goldfish: . She was pretty ruthless with her trading in October to the point I almost :faint: .

Each night, I'd take her new "keepers" off her lanyard to keep everything straight for trading the next day.

[aamove]

Our D, who's not yet 3, is into this already. I think she's the shark though! Definitely not a :goldfish: . She was pretty ruthless with her trading in October to the point I almost :faint: .

Each night, I'd take her new "keepers" off her lanyard to keep everything straight for trading the next day.

We do that also, taking the keepers off the Lanyard when we got back home. And if the DD7 got something she really wanted she would put it in mom's purse so she wouldn't lose it. We also took a couple of shoe strings with us to put keepers on so we could keep track of them. We started out trying to collect all different pins as we could, but now DD collects princess pins and i try to stick with Mickey. The only Mickey pin that DD had on her lanyard was one of my Mickey Texas State pins and yep she traded it :headbange :headbange But she was happy with her trade and the vulture that saw what she did scooped it up before I could even open my mouth.
It's a lot of fun and it gives you something to do with the kiddos, another thing that we look forward to each time we go to the World.

[carolina_yankee]

Yep. That's why I looked at you twice when we met - I thought you were a CM with the lanyard you were wearing...... :)

I'm surprised at the number of blue lanyards the pin trading locations are selling, but it was the most comfortable one of the bunch (not the stiff black or princess pink).

Now I know why I get all those winks and nods from other CMs, it's really amusing! And I know enough about the world to answer most of the "Where are the . . ." questions other tourists have. There are worse things to be mistaken for . . . (still, you'd think the huge camera and the Pal Mickey would be "Disney tourist geek" give-aways).

Dirk

[nono]

Now I know why I get all those winks and nods from other CMs, it's really amusing!

Dirk

I bet it is also because you are a charming and handsome person. :)

[TW1]

I bet it is also because you are a charming and handsome person. :)
Watch out Dirk, sounds like she's gonna ask a favor.

[gopherit]

DS11 decided a few trips ago he wanted to collect pins - BUT he will not - nay, flat-rejects! - the concept of trading! Blasphemy! Says he buys what he wants, and keeps what he buys, end of story! :yes:

DS10 decided a trip or two later that he too wanted to enter the pin world. He thinks trading might not be such a bad idea.... but says he "hasn't seen anything [he] wants enough to part with something [he] has" yet. He seems to be a random collector - just picks what he likes in the stores.

I made dd6's lanyard especially for her this summer - got some pretty pink webbing and princess-print ribbon, made her a gorgeous one and added one of those Disney lanyard medallions with the princesses on it. People asked me where I got it - looked like a Disney "original", and best of all, it was at a wearable length for dd. And yup, I even included the safety "breakaway" of velcro.

Sigh. She has since informed me she's "not so much into the princess people... maybe make it a Pooh or Fab Five next time, okay, Mom?"

:crazy: I think I am raising pin-impaired children! :crazy:

That said, all 3 kids got a fair amount of pins at Universal. SO here's my question - what kind of grief will the Disney CMs give a kid sporting a lanyard with a slew of "Dark Sider" pins?!? :Pokepoke:

[greenban]

Okay, I'll bite... The Fab Five......The Beatles? The Incredibles, Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Goofy/Pluto????

Who/what are the Fab Five?

Many thanks, and a free pin mailed to the first correct answerer, IN THIS THREAD!. Please PM me your shipping addy for the pin.

-Tony

[tjkraz]

Okay, I'll bite... The Fab Five......The Beatles? The Incredibles, Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Goofy/Pluto????

Who/what are the Fab Five?


The latter group: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.

BTW, since Tony resurrected this thread, I'll just add that my kids' experiences with pin trading were wonderful. They were a little shy at first but a little hand-holding got them thru the first couple of transactions. From that point on they were scoping out CM lanyards every time we stopped for 2 minutes. Sentimental dad thought it would be neat to keep their first traded pins (DS traded for a Safari Mickey at AK and DD's first was Figment), but the kids ended up trading and re-trading each pin two or three times over.

Good to see you again, Tony! :D

[KevGuy]

We started doing pins on our trip last week with my wife and 2 kids (DD-9, DS-6) and had a blast. My son got one orange B or D ticket one that the cast member told him is really limited, I guess it is what the old park tickets look like and it has that little small hidden mickey icon on it too. My son was in heaven. We all now have more pins that can fit on our lanyards. A suggestion for pins your definately gonna use is to get the barrel looking lock backs for them as we had a couple pins come loose during the early part of our trip until a cast member turned us on to the lock backs, they are great and easy to put on/off as long as you keep the minnie allen wrench on you somewhere. We did buy a card of 5-6 pins and used them to trade. Not sure what we are gonna do next trip in the sense of take pins off and leave them home or just get new lanyards and do it again. Every cast member we met was excellent about it, no one else approached us at all either. We bought some and traded some and had a ball doing it, looking forward to next time we go and doing it again.:jumpingbe