All-Star Pin Trading - Is It Really That Big At Nca, Uca?

[KikiD22]

Okay, question from a cheer mom here...

Our gym is offering pins for trading this year. Level 5 teams are going to NCA in Dallas, Level 1-4 teams are going to UCA in Orlando. The pins are pricey, $5.00 each, so I'm wondering if it is really worth it to purchase these for my CP to trade. If you look at the Varsity website, they play the pin trading off as the next best thing since sliced bread, but I want to know the opinions of those that have actually been there.

If there are going to plenty of chances for her to trade, I'm fine with spending the money to get her some pins to trade with others. But, if it's really not that big of a deal there or not many people participate, I'm not sure I want to spend that kind of money right now. If there is good participation in pin trading, what is a good number of pins to have on hand to trade? I'm completely clueless. We have to order by Thursday, so any input is appreciated.

 

[BlueCat]

Ive noticed it a bit at Worlds, but not so much at NCA. $5 a pin seems pricy to me.

 

[cheermommaRN]

At NCA last year it was HUGE!!!! Our girls couldn't walk more then a couple feet without getting stopped to trade. It's not just the Varsity pins, gyms have their own custom pins made and the kids all trade back and forth. This year my cp will have 5 or 6 varsity pins and then a bag of Spirit of Texas pins. Being from UA, if they have a pin buy a couple because big name gyms are hot for trading (I know my cp will be looking for one).
The big Varsity promotion this season is the license plate pins, the kids got a Texas one at ACA as a participation gift and then I ended up buying a few states like AZ, NJ, and GA. It's a lot like pin trading for Disney.
My favorite part as a mom is that my cp gets to meet kids from all these other gyms. She would be to shy to walk up to someone from Top Gun and ask for a picture but she has no problem descending upon them like a spider monkey if they have a pin she wants!

 

[cheermommaRN]

Ive noticed it a bit at Worlds, but not so much at NCA. $5 a pin seems pricy to me.

Oh I posted at the same time as you. I think it may have been our age group, it seemed much more popular with the younger kids then the older ones.

 

[ssccxnce]

regardless of popularity or not i think even buying one would be neat to keep as a keepsake if you were going to do a shadow box later on with her uniform and medals

 

[KikiD22]

UA had custom pins made for trading, and I thought $5 was a little high for that (from what I remember back in my old travel softball days where pin trading was huge).

I'll probably end up giving in and getting some of the pins to trade. I was going to do about 10 or so. This is what the UA pin is going to look like:

 

[King]

I'm surprised no one has thought of bow trading...

 

[Cheerlegal]

My cp's gym did a custom pin for trading last year..... I think I bought more pins than what she actually traded...lol... I didnt seem like a lot of gyms did it, so there wasnt many for her to trade with

 

[cheermommaRN]

I'm guessing UCA may be a little different then. Maybe because we are in the heart of Varsity country....

 

[Justacoach]

The pin trading was pretty big at UCA last year, so I assume it will be even more popular this year! We have had 2 styles of pins and I'm still bitter I traded my last one of the old style away. Now we only have the new kind.

 

[Audrey]

I did this a few years ago at nationals with my softball team. It was really fun and it's a good way to meet other people! That does seem a bit expensive though. I remember paying much less than that and my team had some really cool pins.

 

[bignate]

kiki just buy the damn pins

 

[KikiD22]

kiki just buy the damn pins

Hey, this trip is expensive enough as it is!! I'm just going through a bit of sticker shock because I just placed the order for the Monarchs' spandex outfits for Orlando today too.

I don't want to spend a ton on pins and then Keira has no one to trade with. We were actually talking about this last night at the gym, since all of us Mini moms are new to UCA nationals, so I figured I'd ask on here for the group.

Anyways, I'm cool with buying them now that I know there will be people to trade with.

 

[aggie1983]

We did quite a bit of trading at NCA and are assuming it will be even bigger this year. We didn't see any trading at UCA - I guess we weren't looking in the right places. We weren't all that interested in trading Varsity brand pins, except for the limited edition ones they have had the last two years. We had our sights set on the pins from other gyms. By the way, for those new to it, the NCA personnel are only supposed to trade for other Varsity pins or those gym pins made by Varsity.

cheermommaRN will y'all have the same pins as last year or a new pin? If new, I'll have to stalk some of y'all; as a transplanted Texan it just wouldn't be right to not get a pin for my cp that says Spirit of Texas.

 

[cheermommaRN]

And just like Disney the staff is supposed to trade with any kids that come up to them. I think we will have the same pins, if new ones come out we will have them at NCA.
KikiD22 your cp is so cute she'll probably have the bigger girls giving her pins without trade...lol