How old for pin trading?

[mmorris72]

We will be taking ds 6, ds 4 & ds 2 to WDW for the first time in December and I was wondering at what age kids start the pin trading at and how exactly does it work? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Michele

 

[james'mommy]

My son was 4 I think. Basically you buy pins and if you feel like it you can trade with any cast member (the ones with green lanyards only trade with kids). There is no obligation to trade. You can just look at everyones pins if you like. You don't have to trade with another guest if you don't want to. I only trade with cast members. You can buy a lanard if you want. DH carries pins in his pocket in case we are apart and he sees something I'd like. I buy pins in bulk at mousepinsonline.com. They are about $1.75 a pin. Pins at the park can run you a good bit of money. We also always buy a pin from the hotel we are staying at and put it on our map when we get home.

 

[mom2att]

I personally wouldn't start them pin trading until 10 or so. Not because they won't like it, just because it's an expensive hobby! We get AP's periodically and go to the parks a lot during the year, so the year dd was turning 11 we wanted to do something different since she'd been to the parks so many times already. Pin trading was perfect, and her brothers liked watching. We'd no intention of them pin trade, and in fact told them when they were 10 like their sister they could pin trade, too. That is until we won YOMD lanyards! They traded those things right away, and of course 2 pins is not enough, so we wound up with all three kids pin trading. We got all of our pins from the Disney outlet for next to nothing, but still . . . anything X 3 adds up!

Dd loved trading and has many, many pins. Middle ds (6, turning 7 at the time) also liked it and it actually was a good thing for him--he's quite shy and learned to approach CM's and ask to trade. Little ds (3 turning 4) was too young. He liked it, but just because his siblings did.

So if you have a choice, don't start, especially if you are new to the parks. There is so much else to see and do!

 

[mickeylove2]

My 4 & 6 year old DDs love, love, LOVED pin trading!! It was probably 1 of their favorite things to do, they would want to get out of autograph lines in order to trade! I bought a grab bag of pins (50) from mousepinsonline and paid $1.75 a pin plus maybe $6 for shipping, and I bought nice lanyards with a metal hangy thing with the 5 Princesses from Disney shopping, each lanyard came with a LE pin, I think with the discount code and free shipping I paid $10 a piece for those. Mousepins was great, lots of really nice pins, only 1 duplicate, we also bought a few pins from each park, like favorite rides and a character pin, like Tink or Ariel, those were REALLY expensive in my opinion, I'm cheap I guess! We aren't going until Dec of 2009 and I am starting to stock up on pins NOW! We certainly didn't have enough last year.

 

[jack hannah bananah]

My DS started at 7. He was old enough to appreciate what he was doing and not trade expensive pins. If you decide to start earlier 1) don't let them trade with anyone except CM 2) Keep the expensive pins back in your room or home.

While my DS7 did pins, my DD5 did the autograph book (much more appropriate for her age). They both have their "thing" to do and love doing it. Everyone is happy.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

Okay, so I'm sure I'm an oddball. I've been pin trading for several years and have lots of them (probably over 800). My daughter will be 18 months old and trade when we go to the parks. She loves my pins and wouldn't leave them alone, so she already has her own pin book that she sits on my lap to play with. Her collection is anything that moves and doesn't have a spring since she would wreck the springs--so she gets anything that spins, slides, opens, etc. We will be helping her find more pins that move for her collection and she can play with her little pin book while we wait in lines. She already knows all about how to give one thing to get another because she pays for her own toys at garage sales, so that skill should transfer to trading.

I have to agree that it is expensive (and we get pins before we leave and just trade for whatever we like), but we enjoy it. I love a souvenier I can get, take home and enjoy for a while, and then bring it back to the park years later to trade it in for something else.

 

[mmorris72]

If possible, can anyone post pictures of their lanyards? TIA

Thanks for all the responses. I was actually at the Disney store last night and picked up 2 lanyards and some pins marked down and an extra 40% off for them. I am sure that they will have a blast "trading" when we go. Thanks again.

Michele