State DI Pin-Trading Party

Close your eyes. Imagine the floor of the stock market. 

Now replace all the stock brokers with children.

Trade out the money for colorful pins. 

What do you have? 

The Texas State DI Pin-Trading Party. 

Utter chaos and totally fun. This was definitely the highlight of the state tournament for our kids. It was way more exciting than we anticipated. 

There were 5,000 people packed into one convention center, all laughing and chattering and bartering. 

Check it out:

Here is how it works:

Each region creates several different metal pins each year. (Our regional pins were sparkly gold and maroon bats, a nod to the world's largest urban bat colony located in Austin.) Before heading to the state competition, contestants buy as many (or as few) of their regional pins as they'd like. At the Pin-Trading Party, everyone 'shops' from each other and trades pins to build a colorful collection. Texas has sixteen regions, so there are a lot of pins to choose from each year.

Students hosting 'stores' will spread their wares out on the floor for 'customers' to see. There is only one rule: one pin for one pin. High school students are not allowed to take advantage of younger students, and the transactions are all very friendly.

Here some of our boys peruse one collection of pins. 

 It is SO fun for the kids to be in charge of their own bartering and shop around for their favorite pins.

There are always pins to appeal to every taste. The boys really loved collecting monster pins shaped like cartoon zombies. Another favorite pin was a Creeper from Minecraft. 

You never know what you'll find, since contestants trade pins from years ago or from the global competition. There are literally hundreds of designs to choose from since pins come from all over the world. 

Every bit of floor space was filled with traders- even the foyers and halls were packed with students.

Sarah's favorite pins were a purple unicorn, a pink surfing cat, and a fiery dragon. 

The kids had a wonderful time and are really hoping to go to the state tournament again next year so they can trade more pins. This experience was so singular and so positive. They were dancing in glee when we left, exclaiming their delight over their favorite pins. 

It was a fantastic party to kick off the start of competition weekend.