CONTEST ALERT!!!! Player Of The Day Contest FINALE! All About The Kids WINNING!

Kids are the future of the hobby so I try to include them in as many contests as I can. This one is probably one of my best ideas for them yet.

In my opinion, any kid in the hobby is win. So I have decided any kid in my contest is a winner.

The rules and entry are simple.

1. As always the only rule, contest is open to U.S. Residents ONLY. Shipping costs are crazy. Sorry for this inconvenience. Anyone who doesn't follow this rule will be disqualified from prizes.
2. Send a CREATIVE pic of your child or children or a child enjoying Panini cards (seeing some Player Of The Day ones would be great). You may also include a sign that involves Player Of The Day. PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE A NAME YOU WOULD LIKE FOR YOUR PICTURE OR FOR THE CHILD for me to use in my post and winner announcement.
3. Post the picture to my Facebook wall on SCC POD Promo 2015 or email it to me at sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com with the subject, POD Kids
4. All photos will be included in another blog post
5. You will have til November 6th 2015 to get the pictures to me. Kids will be randomed on November 7th for prize choosing order.
6. Prizes will be done Panini Rewards style! Meaning, kids get to choose their prize from a list of them in order of where they fall on a list.
7. Kids will be randomed for prize choosing. The kid up to the top of the list is first choice, last on the list get what remains from the prize choices. The more kids that enter, the more choices.
8. PRIZES CAN BE FOUND HERE.
9. I always need to throw in this small print due to scams in the past with people claiming prizes never arrived.Prizes will be shipped PWE. Sport Card Collectors blog or it's writer/owner WILL NOT BE held responsible for LOST, STOLEN OR DAMAGED cards. I will ship as safe as I can, then it's up to USPS to get the cards to you safely.
10. Once entered you agree to all rules above.

In years past for the kids contest I usually have Panini vote on the pictures. This year I wanted to simplify it and let everyone win something instead of only three.

Good luck to everyone that enters and I really hope to see a HUGE turnout on this one!

Cards, kids and our hobby

We really liked the topic Upper Deck brought up this week. What should we do to get kids interested in collecting new trading card sets? I like to twist their sentence a little and put it as, what should we do to get kids interested in the hobby in general? 

Here is the idea I had posted on there:

"Here is a new/old idea. How about introducing kids through collecting by putting 1 or 2 cards into cereal boxes? This hasn’t been done too often since Post had them in their boxes in 93 and 94. Have a checklist of about 10 players and have one card per box of cereal. And from here move onto other foods as well. Kids love food. You can put mini cards into boxes of Cracker Jack. Put them into fruit snack boxes. I was a kids once and nothing was more exciting than finding something special in my box of food.

Thats just a start. Put cards and video games together. In order to get kids into this great hobby, you have got to target their favorite spots. If they really dig what they find in their box of cereal or in the other foods or video games for free cards, it could push them into buying the real stuff.

But there has got to be a kid friendly brand(s) out there for them to purchase. Not something too expensive (I have seen so many parents not buying because of price), too confusing (meaning no Sp’s and variations), or too much in depth with the product. They need something simple, colorful, eye catching and on a kid level. Die cuts, refractors, cards that you can feel (ones with felt or bumpiness) could be attention drawers.

And maybe besides sports, doing their favorite tv shows might be a draw in. You never know."

This was only part of an idea I had. There is a ton of stuff we can do to fix the hobby to draw interest from younger fans.

I now post this question to you guys...what do you think we or card companies should do to draw in a younger fan base so the future of our hobby doesn't disappear?