"Hobby tool ideas needed." Topic

Each year at the HMGS convention Fall in! our club, (WNPG) runs a charity event for Toys for Tots. As part of the Raffle we give out items if you buy a certain amount of tickets. I.e for $10 USD you get 10 tickets and a pair of Toys for Tots dice. For $20 USD we have in the past given out a tape measurer, ( which turned out was crappy manufacturing) and last year we gave out a Pocket Dice tower. The dice tower was great but a bit pricey for us.

What I am looking for are some ideas for "Hobby tools" that would be useful to most gamers, so nothing genre or scale specific. (Like the dice, tape measurer and dice tower)

I was thinking maybe a turn marker, or dice bag/box etc. We usually get the Toys for Tots logo added to the item to promote the event so hopefully something that is customizable.

I appreciate any suggestions you may have and look forward to hearing your thoughts..

Thanks
Santa Moe.

"Hobby tools" that would be useful to most gamers

Paint brush. Nearly everyone uses them.

How about a laser pointer for "line of sight" etc. logo on the barrel.

99 cent store sell a 4 tweezers set in their tool aisle that is actually pretty good. Four different types, including a self locking one. Gave them as door prizes at a recent Saga tournament we ran

A soft rubber sleeve to make brush or tool handles a little larger and more comfortable to hold.

DM

I suggest you stay away from the logo unless you have been granted permission to use it. Put your own logo on it, or put down the name of the event and the year.

A bar of soap; a pen (not wargaming specific, but everybody uses them); I like the laser and dice bag ideas.

How much do you want to spend per item, and how many do you need? Personally, I don't need trinkets. I would rather see you take that money and put it in a raffle for coupons off in the dealer's hall, such as have five draws for $20 USD, or two draws for $25 USD and one for $50 USD, etc.

For a good tape measure try the dollar stores. The local one had some with inches and CM and they are excellent. I bought of them. For a $20 USD pledge it works out great.

Also dice cups, some dollar stores have plastic cups just the right size for using as dice cups. My local store only had glass ones which work very well but bringing that to a con might be a bit of a problem since they are breakable.

Clipboards – always handy! Should be available at the dollar store.

Talk to the laser cut guys like Litko. You could make number spinners for turn number, arrows (for wind direction, initiative, entry point), status markers etc.

Turn marker sounds great!! That would get me to buy tickets. Dice bag – could be good if it was unique – maybe with some logo connecting it to the charity event.

BTW – off topic – I'd like to start painting now for the event. What figures seemed to generate the most interest?

@79thPA. We do have permission to use the toys for tots logo as 100% of what is made goes to the charity.

Litko never responds when contacted about this. Last year Impudent Mortal stepped up and helped make the dice towers.

We like to keep the cost below 3 dollars and the logo makes the item unique and people actually spend more to get the items. ( Versus picking up the same item at their local dollar store)

I like to laser pointer idea..

Someone else suggested a nice lanyard and badge holder to hold your convention badges. For dice we go through 500 each year and the "bigger item" around 200. We never put a date on them so we can reuse them the following year.

@The King. PM sent.

Got it – thank you.

Pin vices. Everybody needs a pin vice.

Doug

Pin vice is a great idea. So is clipboard and turn marker.

I use these Viewtainer plastic containers for holding dice sets. They are meant for organizing screws and come in different sizes. The top has a slot for popping out one object at a time, or you can remove the top during play, invert the top and use to sort unneeded dice, and the rest as a dice cup.

Viewtainer at Home Depot: link

Viewtainer at Amazon: link

Get people to donate a painted figure…display type…on a base. We oldies have heaps of s… Stuff that we could give away.
I have a friend, who said I'd get most of his stuff when he …anyway I dont have the heart to tell him, I'd run a charity convention, and give most of his stuff away as prizes.
My stuff, I'm going to be the emperor of China and have mine buried with me…somewhere…the back of beyond 😜

Sillypoint, we already do that. We have an auction and huge raffle. Over the last 8 years we have raised over $33,000. USD

We gladly accept donations of painted miniatures for our auction.

Mechanical pencils? A pack of 10 is just a couple bucks. Dry-erase markers and hand held boards? The boards could double as clipboards. Thanx for helping Toys For Tots. What a great cause!