Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity that combines technology and a healthy dose of exercise. It’s also a passion of mine and if you haven’t come across it before check out our beginners guide here. Participants can use a handheld GPS receiver like these or even their smartphone to search for the treasure.
The idea is to use these navigational tools to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches.” These are found all over the world at specific locations marked by the coordinates that you input into a GPS receiver or smartphone. The goal is to find the geocaches while keeping a log of your finds. You must always ensure to put everything back where you found them and also to keep the locations secret. This way other geocaching players can also enjoy the challenge of finding the hidden cache.
When Geocaching became a mainstream hobby, there was a huge boom in the number of people Geocaching, and this also resulted in a large demand for Geocache related merchandise. People wanted more Geocache related stuff to enhance their geocaching experience and get more involved with the community.
With the boom in interest came a boom in the number of products available, so today there is a huge Geocacheswag selection that ranges from Geocache related clothing, books, and even some toys. However, the swag you find and place within the containers do not have to be ‘official’ merchandise. Indeed, in many instances, it’s much more fun if they are not official trinkets.
If you find a geocache container that contains some swag items then you are most welcome to take one home with you. The rules are pretty clear, however, as you must replace that item with something else. This way the game can continue and other people can enjoy the fun of finding some trinkets.
These trinkets should have very little monetary value. Their sole purpose is to provide some fun and to bring a smile to your face. Kids who go geocaching will most certainly appreciate finding some treasure hidden inside the hidden cache container!
Geocache Swag Ideas
As a result, we have rounded up a list of the best cheap Geocache swag ideas around.
1. A piece of paper with a joke on it or a short story written by you. It goes without saying that the jokes should most definitely be appropriate for all ages! No rude or offensive ones, please!
2. A pinwheel or an ornamental feather which can be purchased cheaply at your local craft store or even better found or made at home.
3. Mini flashlights that you need to wind up with a handle. It’s probably best to avoid the battery versions as they could potentially leak over time and ruin the cache.
4. Homemade coin purses made from small ziplock bags, yarn, fabric scraps, construction paper, and whatever else you may have lying around in your home sewing kit.
5. Small plastic figurines. These might be different animals, dinosaurs, or even action figures. A favorite from our household has been finding little toy soldiers inside the containers. We probably have enough of these found to put together a little army at this stage!
6.Good luck charms. As we have strong Irish family connections we often place small magnets that include something along the lines of a well known Irish saying:
“May your troubles be small and your worries be few, and may good luck be with you, whatever you do!”
Old Irish proverb
If you enjoyed that saying, then head over here for some other cool Irish sayings to live by.
7.Badges are really cool swag items. If you have your own badge making kit how nice would it be to receive a badge that relates to the area in which the cache is found? A badge memento if you like!
8.Keyrings. Who doesn’t like to find keychains? I mean, after all, they are rather useful and a great number of them have real novelty value.
9.Phone charms. These are great little items for geocachers as they can fit and be squashed into a huge number of caches.
I have stopped the treasure in caches list at 9 items as, to be honest, this could have gone on forever! Bear in mind that it can be difficult for swag to be placed within nano or micro-sized caches due to space constraints. Other than that I’m going to leave the rest to your imagination.
Happy treasure hunting and geocaching!
