Mother Knows Best is a regular column on Your Highway in the Sky dedicated to celebrating Disney with Kids. Traveling to Disney with kids can be lots of fun. Whether you’re taking a baby or a teen, or any age(s) in between, we’d like to share with you ideas to help you make the most of your family trip. It’s even possible to enjoy a Disney vacation with children of multiple ages!
Are your kids into pin-trading? If so, I hope you’ll find this post very helpful.
Allow me to set the scene . . . your little ones sees all the neat pin-trading sets in the stores throughout Walt Disney World. He wants to trade pins too. So, you relent and buy him a lanyard with 4 trading pins. You’re walking along in the parks, when suddenly he bursts into tears. Apparently, one of his pins has worked itself loose and fallen off the lanyard, never to be seen again.
Does this sound familiar? Have you been there? Me too! I realize that Disney sells special pin-trading bags. In fact, we have a few of them. They’re really nice, but tend to be more cumbersome to lug around. My kids like to keep their “keepers” (the pins they don’t wish to trade) in those bags. But, for ease of trading, they want something with easy access to the pins.
So, before our last trip, I wanted to come up with something that would solve the problem. I did some online searching and found something that I thought would work. (I’ve since looked for the website where I found this idea, but haven’t been able to find it again. If this was your idea, please leave a comment and let me know, as I’d love to share the credit!)
start with a clear plastic make-up bag
A quick trip to Wal-mart, and a few dollars spent, and we had the supplies we needed to throw together some pin-trading bags that worked great!
The first thing you’ll need is found in the health and beauty section of the store – a clear plastic make-up bag (like the one pictured to the right). I purchased mine earlier this year for $1.99 each. It’s about 7 1/2 inches wide and 5 inches tall.
quilted fabric, doubled up and finished around the edges
The next stop at Wal-mart is the craft department. Here, you’ll want to pick up some material. The original instructions I found called for something stiff like burlap, but I was afraid my kids couldn’t get a pin back through something that stiff. Yet, I wanted something that wouldn’t flop around and lose it’s shape; so I ended up going with a quilted material. We bought some in black and some in red (because my kids can’t agree!) We doubled the material and sewed around the edges (actually, I have to give my mom credit for this step). We made 2 of these for each pin bag. The picture to the left shows two of the inserts, outside the bag.
While in the craft department, you’ll also want to pick up a pack of keyrings. (We chose the fun-colored keyrings, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them as the color rubs off and you end up with silver anyway.)
Before you leave the store, head over to the outdoor department, and grab a pack of carabiner clips.
the finished product (we also added a character name tag)
To assemble your new pin trading bag, simply put the 2 liners inside the bag (backs together). Add a keyring to the zipper pull, and attach a carabiner clip. Then, you’re all ready to go – just clip the carabiner to a belt loop! If a pin back happens to come loose, no worries – no more lost pins! The pin will just fall into the bag. Because the bag is clear, all the pins are visible, making it easy to reach in and select the one they want to trade. Oh, and if they happen to be too lazy to put the new pin on the material, so be it – they can just put it down inside and organize later on.
My kids use these bags in the parks, do their trading, then go back to the room in the evenings and reorganize. If they trade for “keepers” then those go in their storage bags. We still have lanyards too – but they are only used for display in their bedrooms.
