disney pin collecting | The Memorable Journey ~ The Affordable Mouse

Thrifty Thursday: Making Pin Trading Affordable

Guest Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning, Disney Vacation Tips, Saving Money at Disney World, Saving Money on Souvenirs, Thrifty Thursday May 18, 2017May 18, 2017disney pin collecting, disney pin trading, how to trade disney pins, inexepensive disney pins, saving money on disney pins, saving money on disney souvenirs 0 Comment

You’ve seen all those pins and have probably heard about pin trading…..and you’ve probably also wondered: Is pin trading expensive? Well so glad you asked! 🙂

First a quick explanation. Pin trading involves lapel pins that are traded by Disney guests with cast members or other guests. Each guest can trade a maximum of two pins per cast member per day. To be acceptable to trade, the pins must have the copyright symbol as well as the word Disney on the back. Many guests purchase a lanyard to display their trading pins while at the parks. Read more

Thrifty Thursday: What’s the Deal with Disney Pin Collecting?

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning, Disney Vacation Tips, Saving Money at Disney World, Saving Money on Souvenirs, Thrifty Thursday, What to Do at Disney World July 7, 2016August 2, 2018affordable disney souvenirs, disney pin collecting, disney pin trading, disney pins, disney souvenirs 1 Comment

One of the biggest budget-busters when it comes to Disney vacations are souvenirs….because there are just so darn many cute choices! And a lot of things that you (or your kids) will want are not cheap either, which means that giving in to “gottabuyit” means that you’re probably also giving in to spending more than you intended….and possibly lots more than you intended. Read more

Stop by Chip and Co. to Chat About Pin Collecting

Nancy Chip and Co. Posts September 23, 2010September 22, 2010affordable disney souvenirs, affordable disney vacations, chip and co., chipandco.com, disney pin collecting 0 Comment

I haven’t made it a secret that we love pin collecting. This week over at Chip and Co., I decided to chat a bit more about how we have found this to be a great way to find some awesome souvenirs and keep that souvenir budget under control as well:

There are a number of things to keep track of when it comes to spending on your Disney vacation: accommodations, travel, food and park tickets are the 4 biggies and the ones that have the most written about them. But souvenirs often become the biggest budget buster, as many of us don’t really “plan” what we are going to buy until we get there….and then emotions take over, which is a sure sign of spending more than you want to! We’ve all been there, and it’s pretty frustrating, after having budgeted oh-so-carefully before your trip, to return home with a pair of Mickey crocs that you spent too much on and, really are you going to ever wear again?

However, when we discovered pin collecting, we discovered a great way of keeping that souvenir budget under control. Because pins are now our souvenir of choice, we are better able to plan our souvenir purchases and stick to a planned budget. We don’t get sidetracked, and don’t suffer “buyer’s remorse” when we get home either.

You can read the rest of the post here: 5 Tips for Affordable Disney Pin Collecting Looking forward to seeing you over there! 🙂

Affordable Disney Vacation Souvenirs: Discover Pin Collecting!

Nancy Saving Money on Souvenirs, What to Do at Disney World May 10, 2010September 21, 2010affordable disney vacations, disney pin collecting, disney world souvenirs 7 Comments

This post is part of the 10th Edition of the Disney Blog Carnival. Be sure to stop by there for more great Disney blog posts!

When it comes to planning an affordable Disney vacation, saving money as many ways as possible is important. So I thought 506625 that I would take the next few blog posts to discuss ways to keep your souvenir budget under control. I did a blog post about this in a general way a few months ago, but I thought it might be helpful to look at several ideas in more detail. So today, we’re going to discuss my very favorite Disney vacation souvenir, pins.

How We Discovered Pin Collecting

Disney has been actively promoting pin collecting as a popular hobby for 10 years now. They started it during the Millennium Celebration, and oddly enough, that is when my family started collecting pins! And I have to say, the way we got started was almost accidental…

We traveled to Disney World in the year 2000, and during this trip at the end of June, we experienced the rainiest vacation we have ever spent. Florida is, of course, prone to sudden thunderstorms every day in the summer, but this was different: it didn’t come up quickly, rain quickly and leave….it came up quickly, rained, and stayed. So a lot of the fun parades and outdoor shows were cancelled every night. What to do with all this extra time?

We discovered that all the castmembers were wearing lanyards with these really cool pins on them….and that if you had a pin and you liked one of theirs more…..well, they had to trade with you. How cool is that? Especially if you are 9, as our daughter was at the time.

Pin Collecting and Trading Strategy

But you needed to have some pins first, so we bought a few…and then a few more. There were SO many kinds of pins it was mind boggling and we literally spent hours looking at all of them, trying to decide which ones we liked the most, bought them….and then stupidly traded them away. DOH! (We were kind of slow learners….) Eventually we figured out the trick about this: buy cheap ones that you don’t like as much, and trade them for more “valuable” ones. (Of course everyone defines “value” here differently. For some, it is ones that are literally worth more. For others, it is merely ones that they like better.)

Now the thing is, pin collecting doesn’t have to involve trading, and now ten years later for us, we still collect them, but are not concerned about trading. Pin trading is most popular with children, and I must say it is a lot of fun to see kids bravely ask castmembers to trade a pin with them….and then be delighted when they do!

Set a Pin Budget and Stick to It!

At this point, with hundreds of pins, we limit ourselves to 2-3 pins per trip. Because yes, this CAN be an expensive hobby if you are not careful! While the cost of pins can start as low as maybe $6-8 each, they can go up to $20+ for some very elaborate limited editions. And Disney sells pin sets too, so if you like that idea, you can spend even more.

Keeping Pin Collecting Fun AND Affordable

Which is why this can be a great souvenir and hobby, but you have to set limits and be careful to keep it affordable. With that in mind, and to still have fun with this, I suggest the following.

If you have kids, arrive at Disney with a dozen or so cheap pins for your kids to trade with. You can find some on eBay, on sale at DisneyStore.com, and even Amazon. The idea here is to trade these for others your kids will like more.
Set a limit of so many per day, or per trip, or a cost limit…and then stick to it. It is easy once you start looking at them, to get carried away!
It is easier, in my opinion, to do this if you are collecting with a theme in mind…..which can be just about anything. Maybe the resorts, or characters, or villains, or princesses. You name it Disney’s got a pin for it. Seriously. We now pretty much buy our pins around dated events, as they are a great reminder of when we went and when we got the pin: for example New Years Eve 2005.
Make a conscious decision: collect for fun, collect to trade, or collect seriously. If you have kids who are going to trade everything away, you won’t spend a lot on them, or especially care about what they look like. But if you want to make this a serious collection, you can purchase only Limited Editions, for example, to increase the value of your collection. If this appeals to you, there are some great books that can give you more information and help you make informed decisions.
Think about how you are going to keep them when you get home! Don’t go to all this trouble to buy all these pins and just keep them in a shoebox! Some people frame the lanyards and pins. Some put their pins in a shadow box. Some keep them in a display portfolio or binder.

Pin collecting can be a fantastic hobby and a relatively inexpensive one if you are careful. Even better, it is an affordable way to collect Disney vacation souvenirs…and have a blast doing it! And if you are like us, you will love looking back at them years later and relive the fun we had collecting them!