New to Pin Trading, few questions please?

Hello!
I am completely new to pins, we have visited WDW once and off for our third trip to DLP for Halloween. I love collecting everything Disney and pin trading has recently come to my attention! I have 3 children whowould love to be involved too. I have a few questions if anyone can help please? We are in the UK if that helps!

1. Do people choose a character or theme or just go for ones they like? I'm not sure i could stick to just one character!

2. How do you get hold of pins for trading without just buying loads in the shop? Bit confused on this one!

3. I would love to have a pin with the year on it from each visit but is this possible as I imagine they won't be for sale anymore, would a CM be wearing an old year pin?

4. Where would I find a lanyard? I have looked on the disneystore but not keen on them ones. Would quite like a tinkerbell. Or princess one maybe?

Thank you!

Hi Kel, welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of pin trading. It's such a great thing to do as a family!

In answer to your first question; it's advisable to try and decide on a character or theme to collect. However some people also have side collections too. Perhaps try to focus on one thing when you're at Disney and see how you go. When I'm at the parks I trade for anything that I like the look of at the time & decide later if it really fits what I want to collect. If not, I trade it on
I'm sure with your kids collecting too, you'll end up with a wonderful variety.

As for lanyards you will be able to buy them in Disney, they do a good selection and they do starter sets if you want to buy them for your children. You could also check eBay to see if anybody is selling any.

As for traders; I really would recommend checking out the sales threads here as your first port of call. Or if you are on Facebook there are some groups on there with people who sell.
A note about eBay if you are going on there; be wary. Some sellers are not honest and tempting as it may seem to buy them, many of the pin lots sold on there may consist of or contain "scrapper" pins. These are either unauthorised or counterfeit pins.

Also be aware that these sorts of pins are present on Cast lanyards in Paris as well, so be careful when your family trades. You may be lucky enough to find year pins on lanyards, but it's more likely you'd be looking at buying from eBay or, once you have some traders, trading through this forum or pinpics.

Be sure to visit all of the hotels in Paris when trading, if you're there at the weekend visit the Pueblo in Frontierland. Do have a look at the white frames displayed near or behind the tills as they have the limited edition pins for sale.

Above all enjoy sharing a new hobby with your family and have a great time at DLP. I love it at Halloween!