Supplies for kid-friendly caches -- suggestions?

[+L0weB0ys]

Hi!

 

Although there are literally thousands of geocaches within 20 miles of my home, I have found that there is a lack of really kid-friendly caches.

 

My eight-year-old particularly enjoys the few caches we've found that are a "larger" container with room for some little toys/trinkets/stickers/swag that he can "trade out" for things that he carries with him when we go. The best so far that we've found was Aiyannna's Pirate Chest, which was an enormous treasure chest filled with all kinds of goodies. It's amusing to me how excited he gets over silly little toys that he wouldn't care about normally, but when they're in a box in the middle of the woods and part of a "treasure hunt," they become a lot more exciting.

 

Anyway, I've decided that I'd like to put out a cluster of maybe 8-10 more child-friendly caches in a large park near my home. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of boxes/containers to use for this sort of thing?

 

Main considerations are that they need to be:

• affordable (I'm going to need to buy 10 or so at least, to start with)
  
• inconspicuous
  
• large enough to hold a handful of little toys, etc.
  
• *** as WATERPROOF as possible ***
  

 

I would also gladly accept suggestions for swag to stock them with initially. I was thinking that I would go to Dollar Tree or similar store and pick up some random little things. As I mentioned, in my experience, the excitement is more about finding them as part of a geocaching expedition than it is about what they actually find, so I'm not as worried about what I put in the containers as I am about finding the RIGHT containers.

 

It would be nice if I actually could find a few different kinds of containers to use, just to change it up a little bit so that the whole series doesn't end up being all the same.

 

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[+kunarion]

There are many threads on this Forum about cache containers. The "Lock N Lock" brand is suitable, and comes in many sizes. The 15-0z "HPL807" is a "Small" container, but can hold a few trinkets, and you may luck out and find sets on sale with even larger sizes. They have a rubber seal, and that's what you need for keeping water out (but of course it will also hold water inside). These are plastic which can become brittle or warp, and the tabs will eventually break. You should have extras on hand as replacements. If you order a bunch of one or two sizes, decorate them in creative ways (see the threads about cool cache containers). Or design a cover that a plain Lock N Lock can be placed in, so it's easy to swap out when needed.

 

You probably won't find genuine Lock N Locks at a dollar store, and the stuff you do find may need to be replaced more often.

 

Good luck!

Edited April 23, 2016 by kunarion

[+L0weB0ys]

Thanks! I haven't seen anything like the Lock N Lock containers in my caching yet locally. Mostly it is the little bison tubes, film canister, or magnetic key-hide containers, which basically just have room for the log book and possibly a TB coin or such.

[+cerberus1]

Looking at pics of that "treasure chest", though fun, you get the idea it's far from water proof.

 

There are large lock n locks, but many are actually pricier than ammo cans (I feel far superior) around here.

Dollar store items are fun for kids and often cheap.

 

Now, I don't mean to burst your bubble, and you might find it slightly different near you, but your idea, though refreshing, seems a bit naive.

Our (now archived) low D/T hides were the worst for maintaining, mostly due to new members with apps playing for a weekend or two, never actually learning about the hobby.

 

Realize that no matter how much "stuff" you intend to stock your caches, they'll gradually degrade to a pile of calling cards, wrappers, local stones, acorns, or shells.

"Trading" seems to be replaced with taking at many areas we've visited.

Maybe the reason we no longer see trades mentioned in logs today.

- The "treasure" in this real World treasure hunt.

[+L0weB0ys]

You're right, the treasure chest thing is far from waterproof, although one thing that perhaps you can't see in the pictures is that it is placed underneath another plywood box, which seems to help quite a bit. Also, everything inside the chest is packed into ziploc bags. The maintainer of this cache does seem to do a pretty good job of keeping it nice, from what we saw.

 

I guess it will be interesting to see how it works out. It's all down to people's honesty/integrity (and, as you pointed out, knowledge of how the game is supposed to work).

 

My thought is that it would be an interesting experiment, and it will be fun once for my son to go find them, anyway, and thereafter, I thought it would be fun for him to go with me to do occasional maintenance to see who had been there and what if anything they'd left, etc. I am not planning on putting anything expensive out -- the most expensive component will most likely be the containers, as I do want to try to find something that is truly (close to) waterproof.

[+cerberus1]

We did a product test on Plano Stowaway containers when they first came out (and on sale), and found them actually superior to lock n locks.

Now popular, they're at or above LNL prices (used to be 1/3rd).

- But if we were outta ammo cans, and a sale's on, I'd probably grab 'em first today.

[+NanCycle]

The plastic ammo boxes at Harbor Freight Tools are reasonably inexpensive when they're on sale. I don't know how they hold up out in the field. I bought 4 but haven't put them out yet.

 

For toys, I go to a Thrift store (ARC) and buy bags of assorted toys for about $5 to $7. I think I get a more interesting variety than spending the same amount at the dollar store, plus help support a worthy cause.

 

I wish you good luck with this endeavor; but I think you'll have to plan on replacing the swag after every 10-20 finds.

[+L0weB0ys]

If I do, so be it, I guess. My child is having a lot of fun with this, and so hopefully it will be fun for others as well. I hope that people participate and trade rather than just take more often than not, but I won't know until I give it a shot.