Pin Swap or Not? 5 year old

[mom2grace]

Should I plan for pin swaping? Is 5 too young? Would she even catch on if I didn't say anything?

 

[PaulaSue]

My 7 and turned 5 year olds had a blast pin swapping with the CM last month. Even my 2 1/2 year got into it by the end of the week watching her sisters.

I think the reason we got into it so much is our neighbor show us hers over the years. They have season APs and go 2-3 times a year.

I think it could easy go either way you want. Be warned it is addictive and gets expensive to get started if you don't plan ahead.

 

[la79al]

We took DD 4 and DS 8 last year and neither one of them said one word about it or seemed to notice it in anyway. They had a lot of fun doing the penny presses though.

 

[luvthedis]

Our family had gotten four free Pluto pins from AAA, so we let our four year old trade them for princess pins. She was interested enough to get all of the princesses (some were in a trio on the pins) but did not really care beyond that. What was funny, though, is that we could not find any CM with a Mulan pin, so her grandfather bought her one. My DD got upset because she did not want to buy a pin, only to trade, and we had to pretend to trade with the cashier. She also likes to have the lanyard and pins hanging in her room, but when we went to Disney a few months later, she did not want to trade anymore, since she said she had all that she needed.

 

[indigoxtreme]

My DGD age 4 loved this as well as the autograph books. CM's cannot refuse to trade with a child as long as it is a Disny Pin that is being traded. Some even had certain ones that were surprise pins as they had them on backwards on their lanyard. hen she asked wahat one as the CM told her that it was special and if she wanted it to let her know and they would trade but she couldn't show it to her. I knew this must be a CM pin so I told my DGD that if she wanted to to go ahead. She smiled so big as it was a cast member pin of one of the princess'. Every one of the CM's that I saw trading with any child seem to have a great big smile on their face and the children were happy and having fun. It was like seeing a big sign :This is what it is all about, the children. I would try it and just see if yours enjoys it. There are CM's that trade everywhere, hotels, bus stops etc.

 

[lovesdumbo]

My kids DD(6), DS(4), DD(2) didn't notice that others were trading pins. It can get VERY expensive. We did do the pressed pennies (51 cents each) and they all loved that. I did buy them each a book to put them in (around $6). The pressed pennies were great because a lot of rides exit into gift shops and most have pressed pennies machines. So for 51 cents they got to get something and that help stopped the "I want that" in all the shops.

 

[mommyceratops]

My 5 yr old DS got into it the last day and I wished I had done it sooner. I got the tip to buy on ebay and check the Disney auction sight and you get a bunch for a $1 to trade that way they wont trade the expensive ones.

I did get him and my DS 2 year olds lanyard and a couple pins of their fave to commimerate the trip. We have done this the past 5 times we have gone as a souvinear.

But of course I hope they get into it.....

 

[trene]

I went on ebay and got a bunch of pins for about $1.00 a piece. My kids had a blast trading them! They had so much fun and we came home with some beautiful pins that we put in a display frame in our front room. Now everytime they walk by them they talk about how much fun they had at WDW.

 

[HaleyB]

My kids love it. We started when dd was 5 and ds was 7. They got in so many neat conversations with Cm because of it. They both end up with some theme (it changes each trip). On our last trip ds was into space anything and star wars any thing. My daughter went for purple. Yep, a color. Any pin that was purple would do.

We would trade a pin in every dump shop (you know the shops they dump you into at the end of the rides) and the kids never really asked to buy anything. They felt like the 'got' something in each shop and were happy. We also take a picture with each person we trade with and try to get their names. The CM's seem to really get a kick out of that and it makes for a nice memory.

Just be sure to teach them how to trade. Never touch a lanyard if someone else is wearing it and trade the pins hand to hand with the backing on them. Look for the CM's wearing kid only lanyards.

 

[HaleyB]

And if the times work out do go to the pin trading talk in the MK. It is not held everyday, I think last time we went it was m-w-th. We have never made it, but I have heard the kids get a free pin to start out with.

 

[cigarboo]

My 4 year old son enjoyed the pin trading, but it was distressing for me because we spent so much money buying pins he liked and he would always trade the ones we bought for cheap/non-wdw pins. Since I didn't want to be the one telling him which ones to pick, I could only bite my tongue when he'd point to the Rainforest Cafe Tennessee pin, or the Mickey Delaware pin, or the lion pin that's not actually Simba or Mufasa. I think that many CM's have a terrible time saying "no" to any child that many pins get traded regardless of whether they are Disney or not and if you have a kid like mine, they'll always find the "weird" ones. I think next time we go(in May, my son is 5 now), I'll let him wear his lanyard, but won't remind him that he can trade, because I think he's forgotten. I would feel funny trying to trade away some of the pins we got last time, so we may be moving on to pressed pennies. Thanks everyone for the pressed penny idea!

 

[WDWCPAlumni]

Our last trip, October 2005, I had decided I did not want to get into the financial commitment of the pin trading with my then DS (4). I figured it was a waste of money at that point. He had asked us what all these people were wearing, so I decided to get him the lanyard and a few cheap pins. He then started trading, and he would find cast members everywhere to trade with. Finally I decided we would buy special pins, I would not allow him to trade, like our halloween pin, and the rest were up for grabs.
The trick however, is purchase the cheap pins and trade for the ones you really want. You can even find coupons for free pins!!!!
It was a big hit..........and he actually has gotten me hooked too!!

 

[Vickie46]

where can I find the 1.00 pins? Any certain seller on ebay?

 

[trene]

You just have to keep watch on ebay. Sometimes you get lucky!! Just don't get caught up in the bidding and bid too much. I bought 40 pins for $45.00 (including shipping) and was able to trade them all. It's alway nice if you can find someone to share them with, then it doesn't seem like so much money!

 

[In a hurry]

disneyshopping.com has some pins you can get for about $2.25 right now. The code is PREZMICKEY. Good for the next couple of days. Free shipping too. $1 pins are going to get you some pretty rude looks and remarks, if they are sedesma and propins.

 

[melomouse]

DD(9) has just this past trip gotten really "into" pin trading, even putting a pin-trading event at DTD and a trip to PinTraders on her Wish List pre-trip. She loved it!Didn't want to leave even after patiently waiting her turn for trading.

Though she's had pins and lanyard since 5, she really just wasn't into it beyond stopping at the pin stand at WL on our trips there, even getting a Tinkerbell birthday pin from the CM there.

My take on it is that I'd rather wait til the child is ready to enjoy the pin-trading experience and understand it. There's so many other things to do and the trading, looking, choosing, etc., can be very time-consuming on a trip.

melomouse

 

[budbeerlady]

We didnt tell DD (5) about it when we went.
I though 1- she wouldnt care
2- she wouldnt notice
3- she wouldnt want to spend the money.

On day 2 she bought her 1st lanyard for $25 with buzz lightyear and 4 pins. I figured she wouldnt want to trade them but just wear it around. Were we wrong. She drove us nuts, EVERY poor cast member was traded with for the rest of our trip. They were all very nice and she had a great time. But anytime we tried to do anything, even get on a ride we had to pin trade first. She didnt really care what pin she got and had no real reasoning for the ones she picked, just whatever she liked from their lanyard. I do have a cute pic of her trading with Rafiki!

 

[skoi]

Our two bigger kids trade pins (dd 11, ds 7), and love it. We had one bad experience where an adult was trying to get ds to trade a limited edition pin his grandparents had bought him for some piece of junk. As soon as the guy saw me lingering he backed off, though. We then had to tell the kids- we know they're your pins (most they bought themselves or they were gifts), but please be careful what you're trading.

 

[hannahsmomma]

My dd had a blast doing it at 4 years old!

 

[mom2grace]

$1 pins are going to get you some pretty rude looks and remarks, if they are sedesma and propins.

What does sedesma and propins mean?