My kids love collecting and trading Disney trading pins. During our first cruise, we came across several Pin Trading Boards outside of staterooms. My son thought this was particularly neat and would stop to make a trade whenever he saw one. We decided to make our own last year to use on our Merrytime Cruise and had a great experience. These will definitely be going on all future Disney cruises with us.
Pin Trading Boards are simple to make and only take a few supplies. You can decorate them as elaborately as you like or keep plain. We opted to paint a DCL logo on one and a Mickey head ship anchor on the other for a little Disney Cruise touch.
Supplies
- 6″ x 6″ Cork Squares
- Wood Glue and/or Hot Glue
- Stencil + Acrylic Paint (optional)
- 3/4″ Magnets
- X-acto Knife
Instructions
Step 1 Trace outline of magnets on 4 corners of one cork square. Cut out using and x-acto knife. This will allow you to recess the magnets later for a nearly flush design.
Step 2 Glue 2 cork squares together using wood glue. Set aside to dry. I placed a few large books on top of ours to hold them securely as they dried.
Step 3 Use a stencil and acrylic paint to personalize the cork squares. I cut our designs from vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo.
If you have kids, this is a great opportunity to involve them! Mine each chose one square and did the painting. Just a little paint on a foam brush and press gently. Very easy and quick.
Step 4 Flip over cork square and glue magnets into each of the holes cut in Step 1. Hot glue works well for this.
Add a few pins and your Pin Trading Boards are now complete & ready to take on your next Disney Cruise!
Hang on your stateroom door or the wall just beside it where other cruisers can easily stop by. Happy trading!
We completed our Unofficial Pin Trading station with a sign. You can download your own copy here. It’s sized to print onto a 4×6 photo or blank index card. I then placed it inside a simple magnet photo pouch to hang on our stateroom door.
6 Comments
Do you have a link to the cork boards you purchased?
Yes. I use these cork squares for our pin trading boards.
Maybe a dumb question, but where do you put the backings for the pins?
That is a great question! We keep the backs in a bag in our stateroom. The thought process here is that if someone has one to trade, they will remove the back and leave their pin on our board. Then take one of the pins from our board and attach their pin back to it. The trader still has a full pin + back; and we have backs to these if we want to keep one for ourselves.
Thank you for this! It’s perfect for our Disney cruise in a few days. I was going to make my own sign but yours is so much nicer!
Glad you found it helpful! Hope you have a great time on your cruise.