Reaching the kids...well, my kids, anyway.

ISURedbird · 03-19-2016, 08:11 PM

I thought it would be fun to purchase a couple retail blasters of 2016 Topps Opening Day to open with my family last night. My wife, me, our 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son had a blast. The kids were opening packs and squeeling and yelling like it was Christmas when they came across a card that they thought was cool, or a player on a team we like. We decided to sort them and will try to complete a set together. (Didn't count, but we two blasters completed at least half the base set, plus inserts. My son even pulled an auto.) So, we put them in a binder and are off and running.

The kids have looked at it twice, before begging for their own binders and sheets to put the cards they already have. My little girl called an audible and decided to use the binder for her Shopkins cards, but my boy and I sorted all his cards into teams and we've been putting them in sheets. We're talking about players and teams, and he decorated his binder with a picture he drew of a baseball card. He's having a blast, and we're having a blast together.

In 1979, I was six years old and my parents bought me my first cards, and it started me on a hobby that has created so many great memories. I'm hoping my own family will have many more memories together like this.

Now, how else can we experience this hobby together? How do you collect with your family? I'd love to get some more ideas. (Bonus points for fairly inexpensive ideas.)

rudyjustinfarrell · 03-19-2016, 08:13 PM

Maybe for doubles of players/teams you like try the Through The Mail (TTM) option? Give them something to look forward to?

ISURedbird · 03-19-2016, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjustinfarrell

Maybe for doubles of players/teams you like try the Through The Mail (TTM) option? Give them something to look forward to?

Love it. Still have some of my old TTM autos. Remember the thrill of receiving one from Mark Fidrych, and also Mark McGwire. Cory Snyder signed a card and wrote a letter. Had a few others, too. Great memories. Thanks for the recommendation!

houstonrules51 · 03-19-2016, 09:27 PM

Yeah, I give them cheap graded Dodgers (like gma and some of those whack graders) because they are protected. They (5 year old daughter and 3 year old son) have their own binders and I give them commons. They also like to open packs but I always wonder what would happen if they pulled a valuable card - they'd probably destroy it - so I like things like opening day or junk wax packs.

It was cool when my 3 year old woke up early and went to the counter and we found him opening 87 topps packs and celebrating when he got a dodger and throwing the Giant cards away - priceless. I'm taking them to Spring training next year for my 40th and hope they can get some autos they will have for a lifetime.

Great fun.

ISURedbird · 03-19-2016, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by houstonrules51

Yeah, I give them cheap graded Dodgers (like gma and some of those whack graders) because they are protected. They (5 year old daughter and 3 year old son) have their own binders and I give them commons. They also like to open packs but I always wonder what would happen if they pulled a valuable card - they'd probably destroy it - so I like things like opening day or junk wax packs.

It was cool when my 3 year old woke up early and went to the counter and we found him opening 87 topps packs and celebrating when he got a dodger and throwing the Giant cards away - priceless. I'm taking them to Spring training next year for my 40th and hope they can get some autos they will have for a lifetime.

Great fun.

I opened the packs for them and let them take them out of the opened wrappers. I'm with you. '87 Topps may be my favorite set ever. Don't know how many of those I put together when I was 14 years old. You're from Sac! I grew up in Fair Oaks. Spent all my money and time at Hawaiian Brothers Baseball Cards in Carmichael when I was in junior high and my first couple years of high school.

mattsey9 · 03-20-2016, 02:26 AM

Buy old 80s era Donruss boxes for them. They're super cheap, and have puzzles! My son cut his teeth on them. Also you can get a complete set of cards from a box of 86 Fleer Star Stickers. The box is only 10 bucks or so, but I've yet to meet the kid that age who isn't fascinated with stickers. At this age, junk wax is your friend.

Keep it up! I love when my 7 year old breaks out his folder and asks if "I want to play baseball cards."

gopherfan · 03-20-2016, 04:51 AM

My son and daughter told me they are selling my entire collection immediately when I die. They are fanatic about collecting.

Shanehw · 03-20-2016, 05:30 AM

I got my 8yo son into collecting cards. I started him out on the cheap packs and showed him how to take care of them and put them in pages and toploaders. He then saved up his money and wanted to buy an "expensive" pack with his own money. He picked out a pack of Museum Collection and pulled a Bo Jackson Gold Framed Auto #ed /10. Just seeing his face when he saw the card made it all worth while.

What I do now is buy a box of Topps and if he can get his homework done and chores done, he can open some packs. Best idea I have come up with in a long time!!

houstonrules51 · 03-20-2016, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ISURedbird

I opened the packs for them and let them take them out of the opened wrappers. I'm with you. '87 Topps may be my favorite set ever. Don't know how many of those I put together when I was 14 years old. You're from Sac! I grew up in Fair Oaks. Spent all my money and time at Hawaiian Brothers Baseball Cards in Carmichael when I was in junior high and my first couple years of high school.

Small world. I was over on Hillhurst by Madison and Dewey. I'm not sure what the card shops name was 30 years ago but the same shop I went to is still there (Teammates) over on Manzanita. 87 topps is one of my all time favorites as well. I am currently building a set from wax packs - it's pretty nostalgic and a lot cheaper than Heritage to complete (I am so close to finishing my 16 heritage set).

ISURedbird · 03-20-2016, 02:33 PM

Junk wax will always be my friend! Never thought about Star Stickers. And great call on the Donruss wax with puzzles. Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattsey9

Buy old 80s era Donruss boxes for them. They're super cheap, and have puzzles! My son cut his teeth on them. Also you can get a complete set of cards from a box of 86 Fleer Star Stickers. The box is only 10 bucks or so, but I've yet to meet the kid that age who isn't fascinated with stickers. At this age, junk wax is your friend.

Keep it up! I love when my 7 year old breaks out his folder and asks if "I want to play baseball cards."

ISURedbird · 03-20-2016, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanehw

I got my 8yo son into collecting cards. I started him out on the cheap packs and showed him how to take care of them and put them in pages and toploaders. He then saved up his money and wanted to buy an "expensive" pack with his own money. He picked out a pack of Museum Collection and pulled a Bo Jackson Gold Framed Auto #ed /10. Just seeing his face when he saw the card made it all worth while.

What I do now is buy a box of Topps and if he can get his homework done and chores done, he can open some packs. Best idea I have come up with in a long time!!

Genius!

ISURedbird · 03-20-2016, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by houstonrules51

Small world. I was over on Hillhurst by Madison and Dewey. I'm not sure what the card shops name was 30 years ago but the same shop I went to is still there (Teammates) over on Manzanita. 87 topps is one of my all time favorites as well. I am currently building a set from wax packs - it's pretty nostalgic and a lot cheaper than Heritage to complete (I am so close to finishing my 16 heritage set).

That's crazy. I grew up near Dewey and Winding. Del Campo, class of '91.

dodgerfanjohn · 03-20-2016, 03:05 PM

I tried really hard with my nephews(9 and 7). The 9 year old loves soccer and went bonkers with the world cup stickers eventually getting the whole set. He drove my brother nuts.

I don't have any kids of my own, but my step daughter was 14 when I met my wife and a die hard dodger fan. Her 15th birthday was after I had been dating her mom for 5 months and we got her a Kershaw jersey...she was so happy she slept in it that night. After we got engaged and moved to a new place together, I gave my stepdaughter one of my signed Kershaw cards and slowly started to give her other Dodgers cards. She has a lot displayed now, and also tore into a couple junk era sets her grandfather had given to her a long time ago and pulled out all the Dodgers cards as well as the stars she knew of like McGwire and Mattingly.

She loves tearing open blasters and I usually give her the Dodgers cards. Her best pull was a Matt Kemp Auto mini from a old A&G blaster. She has a few binders with Dodgers cards and Sparks(Lakers WBA affiliate) cards. I got her a Lisa Leslie auto A&G card a while pack and she was super happy about that.

jared6180 · 03-20-2016, 03:13 PM

My girl was born in 2003, maybe I can get her to start putting sets together with us doing flagship Topps and Topps Chrome. I love Chrome.

gglenn3278 · 03-20-2016, 04:12 PM

A few years ago my parents told me to come get my childhood collection from their house and my son saw them. He fell in love immediately, so I have been helping him start his own collection. We started out with "cheap" boxes from the 80's-90's. At first he wanted to keep them all, but my wife didn't like all the clutter. I couldn't convince him to focus on one player, but he decided to focus on the Braves. We don't have a hobby shop nearby, so we mostly do group breaks and buy an occasional box online. I have to say, for no more product than we open, he has pulled out some nice stuff.

houstonrules51 · 03-20-2016, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ISURedbird

That's crazy. I grew up near Dewey and Winding. Del Campo, class of '91.

Wow, was at Charles peck and will Rogers but moves to Clovis for High School. Moved back to Sac about 16 years ago.

EricFozz · 03-21-2016, 10:45 AM

When Black Friday rolls around, there will be tons of cheap options to break with the kids for Xmas. 2015 & 2016 Donruss look like they are fun to break - lots of color and interesting parallels, and a few of the Hall of Famers from back in the day as well (for a little history lesson!). I like smaller sets like these, b/c you're bound to hit more of the players that kids know.

If you don't want to wait until Xmas (ahem, I mean the kids, haha...), I'd suggest 2012 Panini Triple Play - can't beat that price, and the illustrated players could be akin to cartoons for the kids - 2012 Panini Triple Play Baseball Retail Box - $5.95 : Blowout Cards - Sports Cards and Trading Cards Wholesale Online Store

There's also a bunch of retail (as opposed to hobby) stuff at online stores from the past few years that are priced to move - more fun for kids than adults.

ISURedbird · 03-21-2016, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricFozz

When Black Friday rolls around, there will be tons of cheap options to break with the kids for Xmas. 2015 & 2016 Donruss look like they are fun to break - lots of color and interesting parallels, and a few of the Hall of Famers from back in the day as well (for a little history lesson!). I like smaller sets like these, b/c you're bound to hit more of the players that kids know.

If you don't want to wait until Xmas (ahem, I mean the kids, haha...), I'd suggest 2012 Panini Triple Play - can't beat that price, and the illustrated players could be akin to cartoons for the kids - 2012 Panini Triple Play Baseball Retail Box - $5.95 : Blowout Cards - Sports Cards and Trading Cards Wholesale Online Store

There's also a bunch of retail (as opposed to hobby) stuff at online stores from the past few years that are priced to move - more fun for kids than adults.

Great ideas. Thanks!

Matesamo · 03-22-2016, 07:24 AM

I collect cards with my ten year old and we open a wide variety of stuff, new releases, 80's junk, etc. We never had much luck with the Panini stuff, I think the lack of team names and logos is a turn off for him. Opening Day is a great, a box runs under $40 and there are lots of great inserts. We opened Donruss base but Lucas found the cards very boring.

03-19-2016, 08:11 PM	#1
ISURedbird Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 13	Reaching the kids...well, my kids, anyway. I thought it would be fun to purchase a couple retail blasters of 2016 Topps Opening Day to open with my family last night. My wife, me, our 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son had a blast. The kids were opening packs and squeeling and yelling like it was Christmas when they came across a card that they thought was cool, or a player on a team we like. We decided to sort them and will try to complete a set together. (Didn't count, but we two blasters completed at least half the base set, plus inserts. My son even pulled an auto.) So, we put them in a binder and are off and running. The kids have looked at it twice, before begging for their own binders and sheets to put the cards they already have. My little girl called an audible and decided to use the binder for her Shopkins cards, but my boy and I sorted all his cards into teams and we've been putting them in sheets. We're talking about players and teams, and he decorated his binder with a picture he drew of a baseball card. He's having a blast, and we're having a blast together. In 1979, I was six years old and my parents bought me my first cards, and it started me on a hobby that has created so many great memories. I'm hoping my own family will have many more memories together like this. Now, how else can we experience this hobby together? How do you collect with your family? I'd love to get some more ideas. (Bonus points for fairly inexpensive ideas.) __________________ Detroit and Sacramento sports fan currently living in East Texas. Detroit Tigers collector. Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Jack Morris and Al Kaline are my favorites. Illinois State alum. Love cards from the 1980s.

03-19-2016, 08:13 PM	#2
rudyjustinfarrell Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 12,707 rudyjustinfarrell	Maybe for doubles of players/teams you like try the Through The Mail (TTM) option? Give them something to look forward to? __________________ Always willing to talk shop or B/S/T.

03-19-2016, 09:27 PM	#4
houstonrules51 Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,556 houst-ji	Yeah, I give them cheap graded Dodgers (like gma and some of those whack graders) because they are protected. They (5 year old daughter and 3 year old son) have their own binders and I give them commons. They also like to open packs but I always wonder what would happen if they pulled a valuable card - they'd probably destroy it - so I like things like opening day or junk wax packs. It was cool when my 3 year old woke up early and went to the counter and we found him opening 87 topps packs and celebrating when he got a dodger and throwing the Giant cards away - priceless. I'm taking them to Spring training next year for my 40th and hope they can get some autos they will have for a lifetime. Great fun. __________________ DODGERS ALL THE WAY!!! Looking to Buy 15 Bowman Jordan Luplow Red/Orange/Gold Autos!

03-22-2016, 07:24 AM	#19
Matesamo Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 110 sportsandgeekery	I collect cards with my ten year old and we open a wide variety of stuff, new releases, 80's junk, etc. We never had much luck with the Panini stuff, I think the lack of team names and logos is a turn off for him. Opening Day is a great, a box runs under $40 and there are lots of great inserts. We opened Donruss base but Lucas found the cards very boring. __________________ Baseball and non-sports box breaks with my 9-year old son are available at www.youtube.com/Matesamo

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03-20-2016, 02:26 AM	#6
mattsey9 Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Sacramento Posts: 446 mikemaiaandotis	Buy old 80s era Donruss boxes for them. They're super cheap, and have puzzles! My son cut his teeth on them. Also you can get a complete set of cards from a box of 86 Fleer Star Stickers. The box is only 10 bucks or so, but I've yet to meet the kid that age who isn't fascinated with stickers. At this age, junk wax is your friend. Keep it up! I love when my 7 year old breaks out his folder and asks if "I want to play baseball cards."

03-20-2016, 04:51 AM	#7
gopherfan Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Sterling Heights, MI Posts: 2,746	My son and daughter told me they are selling my entire collection immediately when I die. They are fanatic about collecting.

03-20-2016, 05:30 AM	#8
Shanehw Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: NH Posts: 5,135 sportzcardz-r-us	I got my 8yo son into collecting cards. I started him out on the cheap packs and showed him how to take care of them and put them in pages and toploaders. He then saved up his money and wanted to buy an "expensive" pack with his own money. He picked out a pack of Museum Collection and pulled a Bo Jackson Gold Framed Auto #ed /10. Just seeing his face when he saw the card made it all worth while. What I do now is buy a box of Topps and if he can get his homework done and chores done, he can open some packs. Best idea I have come up with in a long time!!

03-20-2016, 03:05 PM	#13
dodgerfanjohn Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Torrance, CA Posts: 5,251 sternroolz	I tried really hard with my nephews(9 and 7). The 9 year old loves soccer and went bonkers with the world cup stickers eventually getting the whole set. He drove my brother nuts. I don't have any kids of my own, but my step daughter was 14 when I met my wife and a die hard dodger fan. Her 15th birthday was after I had been dating her mom for 5 months and we got her a Kershaw jersey...she was so happy she slept in it that night. After we got engaged and moved to a new place together, I gave my stepdaughter one of my signed Kershaw cards and slowly started to give her other Dodgers cards. She has a lot displayed now, and also tore into a couple junk era sets her grandfather had given to her a long time ago and pulled out all the Dodgers cards as well as the stars she knew of like McGwire and Mattingly. She loves tearing open blasters and I usually give her the Dodgers cards. Her best pull was a Matt Kemp Auto mini from a old A&G blaster. She has a few binders with Dodgers cards and Sparks(Lakers WBA affiliate) cards. I got her a Lisa Leslie auto A&G card a while pack and she was super happy about that.

03-20-2016, 03:13 PM	#14
jared6180 Banned Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kansas Posts: 4,421	My girl was born in 2003, maybe I can get her to start putting sets together with us doing flagship Topps and Topps Chrome. I love Chrome.

03-20-2016, 04:12 PM	#15
gglenn3278 Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Alabama Posts: 370 gglenn3278	A few years ago my parents told me to come get my childhood collection from their house and my son saw them. He fell in love immediately, so I have been helping him start his own collection. We started out with "cheap" boxes from the 80's-90's. At first he wanted to keep them all, but my wife didn't like all the clutter. I couldn't convince him to focus on one player, but he decided to focus on the Braves. We don't have a hobby shop nearby, so we mostly do group breaks and buy an occasional box online. I have to say, for no more product than we open, he has pulled out some nice stuff.

03-21-2016, 10:45 AM	#17
EricFozz Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Malden, MA Posts: 1,322	When Black Friday rolls around, there will be tons of cheap options to break with the kids for Xmas. 2015 & 2016 Donruss look like they are fun to break - lots of color and interesting parallels, and a few of the Hall of Famers from back in the day as well (for a little history lesson!). I like smaller sets like these, b/c you're bound to hit more of the players that kids know. If you don't want to wait until Xmas (ahem, I mean the kids, haha...), I'd suggest 2012 Panini Triple Play - can't beat that price, and the illustrated players could be akin to cartoons for the kids - 2012 Panini Triple Play Baseball Retail Box - $5.95 : Blowout Cards - Sports Cards and Trading Cards Wholesale Online Store There's also a bunch of retail (as opposed to hobby) stuff at online stores from the past few years that are priced to move - more fun for kids than adults.