ISO Legit place to buy to get kids started...

Advance apologies if there is somewhere, but I've looked though here. Wow! I never that there WERE pins, much less collectors. What an awesome hobby! I ran across this forum while searching because some of the auctions and amazon lots just seemed too good to be true. We are planning a family trip to Disney and I heard about pin trading and wanted to seed the kids with a lanyard and (what? 10?) pins each to get them started, but I don't want to give them knock off pins and risk the cast members not accepting them (what a bummer on so many levels!)

I've spent some time looking into this, but it just seems best to ask. I know we cannot name names here (see, I did read!) but how do I know where to start looking? I did look at the Disney store itself, but ouch, to get started, that's quite heady. Perhaps someone can nudge me in the right directions or can PM me a few legit sources? I'm not real picky about what the pins are - just something to get them started on their trading while we are in the park.

Thanks so much in advance - and again, I apologize if this is covered somewhere that I've missed!

- Candy

Check our sale boards here. Double check their feedback scores. Welcome to the boards.

Thanks, I actually did eventually find what I was looking for, paid more than some of the "junk" sales, but that's okay. I don't want to be passing crud on to the cast members to pass on to others that might care. Appreciate your response!

Can I just commend you on researching and getting information before taking the trip. So many people run to Disney, buy fake pins, and pass them off to cast members at Disneyland/world. It is great that you want to go about pin trading the right way and you are taking the time to do so. Have a great trip and I hope the kids enjoy it too. Just make sure you educate yourself more on fake pins because cast members sometimes have those on their lanyards without knowing sometimes! Sadly, it is up to the trader to make sure they are getting authentic pins off the lanyards.

I want to ditto what mybabykelly said, and thank you and welcome you to the board also. First let me ask a couple of questions.

1. When is the trip?
2. How long is the trip?
and 3. How patient are the adults that are going to be with the children?

First - you guys are welcome, I hate knock off anythings (especially if I don't KNOW it) so some of those eBay auctions are annoying. I'm a research hound though. I want to know EVERYTHING before I make a decision. Having said that, the lot we got only comes with one Stitch pin. I see those seem to be in high demand and a bit expensive - at least the real ones I found on eBay. If anyone has a common one or few that they are looking to unload, please PM me, I have paypal or whatever). OF COURSE that would be their favorite character. I'll check the local Disney store as well, I guess?

Dan - it's in June. The kids will be 9 (girl) and 11 (boy). It's for 8 days and 7 nights. We're traveling with my sister (who is in her mid-20s) and are all pretty patient. My daughter will be into trading, my son won't want to give up any of his. I could be wrong, but that's what I think will end up happening. We know we'll be stopping so they can do this. They are older so it's a lot easier than if they were 4 or something. I always buy my mother's xmas gift for the kids because she's on a very fixed income, and this will be a perfect "gift from grandma" this Christmas. Just gotta find cool lanyards with Disney characters on them.

The kids are already saving their allowance (one has $34 and the other $14) so they can buy souvenirs in the park. That was the deal if we went, they have to buy their own junk. BUT I will be picking up a t-shirt each or something and bringing with me to surprise them on the first day (I hear it's cheaper to grab at Target and it's still licensed stuff). I figure between that and the pin trading, they'll have a nice chunk of stuff to remember the trip by plus the trading seems memorable in and of itself.

Thanks, everyone! You guys are super helpful!

Candy

Hi Candy
First off welcome to DPF..I also reccommend the sales board here..wondeful sellers and great prices
You do not have enough posts to post what you need..but you can PM the sellers though..I am glad to see another honest trader
on DPF...I hate fnding "JUNK/Scrappers"on Cast Members..so its good to see you are researching info you need for not getting them for cast members
Check out the "Comparsion forum..there are pics of scrappers and alot of info there.If you have any ??'s We are all here to help you
or to trade..I am always up for a god tradeWelcome again to DPF!!

Judy

Thanks, Judy. I poked around over in the sale area. I'll spend more time later. I guess because they're going to trade them, I didn't want to spend $5-$10 per pin, but it's their fave (you'd think Stitch is a movie star *laughing*) so I'll grab an extra so it's "even" to start with. I love my kids, but they can make me nuts with stuff like that!

Yup, I poked at the comparison forum too. Crazy, it's so hard to tell too

I see a TX suffix in your user id. Are you in TX?? I am in Austin. Disney outlets near us (in Round Rock) occassionally have the spill over pins from DLR and real affordable too. Last month I got Stitch pins for $1. You can not beat that!

Merry - PERFECT! I'm in Austin near Anderson Mill so I'm really close to the outlet. I'll pop over there this week and take a look. That's fabulous!

Candy,

Pm me your address, I have some extra lanyards and pins that could use a great home

Hi Avery - I will do that, just send me a paypal invoice or whatever. Thanks!

Candy I wish you had made your way to DPF before. We had a great pin trading meeting in Round Rock on 10/20 - no worries there will be more next spring. I am planning on going to the outlets this afternoon. Also, you can call them on the phone when they are less busy - early times on weekdays work really great. They usually tell you when they get pins on the phone, it would save you the drive.

I am not too far from you actually, I am on Parmer between I-35 & Mopac.

Merry - how fun! I assume the pin meeting is adults only, serious stuff? Maybe if there's a next one, I might bring a kid and let them see how trading works (after xmas and they have their stuff, of course!) How fun! I have to go to the outlet one day next week anyway (ugh, the holiday season and shopping!).

Great to meet a fellow Austinite here!

-Candy

HI Candy, I have a sale thread going right now and have many licensed pins for $3 each, most below retail. No scrappers, sedsmas, pro-pins, etc. and these won't be the same old thing you see on the lanyards now. I have been collecting/trading for 11 years and my collection has grown so huge that I have to down size. ....... They are taking over my house. LOL. Please feel free to take a look and PM if your interested in anything.

--Crystal

Thanks, Crystal. I think we're set, but I'll take a peek anyway to see if anything grabs me My kids are going to love it!

In regards as to how many to take. We just got back from a trip....We took down 200 for the 4 of us (me, hubby, my son and my daughter) and we ran with 2 days still left in our trip. Next year when we go I think we are going to take 500 down.

200? How do you even fit 50 on a lanyard? Wow! I assume you just took off those you didn't want to trade, eh? Hmmm... I think we maybe shouldn't get that complicated our first run out.

-Candy, intimidated by pins

CandyTX said:

200? How do you even fit 50 on a lanyard? Wow! I assume you just took off those you didn't want to trade, eh? Hmmm... I think we maybe shouldn't get that complicated our first run out.

-Candy, intimidated by pins

Click to expand...

Yeah we would just trade out the pins on our lanyard every night or we would just load up a completely new lanyard...we have about 5 lanyards a piece and we would always carry an extra lanyard full of pins in case we ran out during the day while we were in the park

CandyTx
thank u for learning sum stuff and for not wanting to get bad pins and trade them off. Start off small and just get pins u like. I was just at the park with my fam for my birthday. We just went for a day and took about 25 pins with us. so we could have made 25 trades if we keep every pin we traded for... we do keep most..and just ended up trading about 10 of the 25 we had. It will depend on how much u want to run after CMs or if u just have fun in the park and just trade if u see sumthing as u are having ur fun day. 2nd thing for my fam is that even at deal price... 200 real pins would cost atleast $400.00 you could get the fake ones on ebay..but than u hurt the hobby that u are tring to b in. I think in the end u will know whats best for ur fam and u are doing good cuz u already didnt go get the big lot of fakes to trade off on the CMs. I hope u have a fun trip.

Wow, Candy! I am so glad you stopped by to ask for advice. And I'm super excited that you are training your new little traders to do things the right way. Who knows, with them getting started so young, they could each have a master collection before they go off to college.

Stitch is cute, and there are a ton of Stitch pins out there. This is a great character to start with, because most people will not outgrow this theme; he is very popular among adults as well. But if I had a piece of advice for you, it would be to encourage the two children to collect a different character than each other. You don't want them fighting over trade opportunities, and getting their feelings hurt when they don't get the trade. Of course one of them could still collect Stitch, but it will be tough for them to decide who gets to collect him.

Does your little girl like any specific princess? I know it sounds predictable, but there are a TON of princess pins around, and many are very cheap, and easy to get. IMO, this would be a great theme for a beginner to collect. And most girls will not outgrow their favorite Disney Princess movie. If you do go this route, I would recommend Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, or Snow White (but not all six at once). I would not recommend Mulan or Pocahontas, because there are not as many pins for them. And I would not recommend Tiana or Rapunzel, because they are very new, and thus more popular, and thus harder to trade for (read: expensive).

Other possible characters/themes that I would encourage: 101 Dalmations, Aristocats (or just Marie), Chip and Dale, Toy Story (or just Buzz Lightyear, just Woody, etc.), Alice in Wonderland (or just Alice, just Cheshire Cat, etc.)

I would also recommend getting a lanyard for yourself and one for your husband. Eventhough you will be more focused on the kiddos, you will inevitably see pins that you like, that you will want to trade for. And believe me, the kids are not going to let you to use their pins to trade for them. Haha.

I hope y'all can make it to the pin meet in the spring!

We went to the outlets yesterday and there were no pins at all One of the CMs there told me that they did not get pins in a long long time.

On a different note, I think there are at least 3-4 Austinites on DPF, we also have someone living in Dripping Springs area, but he is mia lately.

Here is the link to the TX pin meeting thread: http://disneypinforum.com/showthrea...e-Texas-pin-meet-at-Figgy-s-house-Oct-22-2011

Kiddos are always welcome. Our hostess has 4 boys (6-16) and I have a 6 yr old daughter. They looked at pins a bit, bust mostly watched movies and played.

We are leaving for DLR on 12/10. If I can get you anything from the parks pls let me know. We will be back well before X-mas.

Hello and welcome! I sell pins too when I'm either thinning out my traders. They change weekly or so (if it doesn't sell, I take it to DLR and trade for other pins). I will tell you that I started out with 20 pins (trading because it seemed so fun) and now the collection (well, mine & sis) has grown to about 400+ pins! EEK! You can usually get good traders here for $2-3 each (including postage with a minimum # of pins to purchase) as many people thin out their traders to get $ to buy other pins they want. :hsd: Plus the traders here don't sell scrappers. Obviously, that seems pricey when compared to the ebay scrappers but even a booster pack (7 pins for $29.95 + tax at Disney - Annual Passholder discount) comes out to about $4 per pin. The Disney Character Warehouse doesn't seem to have a good selection of pins anymore (in Fullerton) and their pins are minimum $4 each.

Thanks everyone, you guys are great The kids will be really excited and I'll have to tell them about the group after Christmas and they get their starter pack. Like said, I don't know that it will become a hobby for them, but we'll see.

Sadly, my daughter is very much a tomboy... she's not into princesses AT ALL. Le Sigh. I'll see what I can do about getting them to each collect something different. I'm not holding my breath though. Stitch is a big deal around these parts!

Hi Candy The pins are on the way! I hope they enjoy them. I actually tried to pick pins they wouldn't like a whole lot so they would be willing to trade them There is a small pin book also for some of their keepers....