Must Have Holiday Gifts for Sports Card Lovers
If you are like me, you have already begun planning your holiday gifts and presents to your friends and family. You may have a sports card lover among them or someone who is super passionate about sports in general. Since trying to buy sports card related items for sports card lovers is intimidating, I put together a list of items which may be helpful to you this holiday season.
I have broken this list out by the no regrets list, subscriptions to services and gifts for children. None of these other than my own website, Midlife Crisis Cards contacted me or paid to be included on this list. The list is genuine and frankly, is a list that I find interesting and would appreciate any gift off of.
The No Regrets List
Whether you are a sports card lover yourself or have no idea what the difference is between Topps and Panini, this list should be super helpful to you as you plan out your 2020 holiday season.
Supplies for sports card collectors are always in need. You can consider a Pastime Marketplace Graded Card Case, which is actually a case that I use here at Midlife Crisis Cards. I store my top graded cards in the case and it makes them extremely transportable to shows, friends homes, etc.
You can never go wrong with getting extra Resealable Graded Card Sleeves (BCW), Standard 3x4 Plastic Top Loaders (BCW), or Cardboard Gold Card Savers (Amazon). These are workhorses of the card protection world. They are also relatively inexpensive and you can purchase all three. You honestly cannot go wrong with any of these three.
For those who have space to display their cards, you could pick up an Oak Storage Box for Sports Cards (Etsy), a Wood Card Stand for Magnetic One Touch Cases (Etsy) or a Collector Card Wall Display (Michaels). I have personally been eyeing that Oak Storage Box and will most likely pick up a couple around my home office.
Last in this section are some fun t-shirts of new and old sports cards brands and graphics: Topps Baseball Card T-Shirt (Redbubble) and Vintage Sports Card T-Shirts (Homage). These are just two examples of sports card clothing but there are dozens of examples if you search online. So many cool shirts and hats around the sports card trade.
Surprise With a Subscription
There are some websites that provide utility to card collectors. They help us understand population reports, pricing of cards, and provide additional information to help card collectors make better decisions. A unique holiday gift would be to surprise your family or friend with a monthly or yearly subscription to one of these sites:
CardLadder: provides pricing information and market cap value reports on 10,000+ cards. I personally use CardLadder and find their charting and information valuable.
Sports Card Investor / Market Movers: the software is called Market Movers and it’s by Sports Card Investor. Similar to above, I am a paying customer and I use it to track cards in my collection. Market Movers is fairly robust, very well featured, and well liked by many.
Beckett: The most well known magazine er, website. Any hobbyist has been subscribing to Beckett as a child but may not still subscribe today. This could be a fun historical subscription to get. Additionally, it could be cool to go on eBay and find some old issues of Beckett Magazine and wrap them up in a gift for the holiday season.
Gifts for Children
I have children and they have recently gotten into card collecting. I created a specific product for new card collecting children called The Cardboard Box for Kids. This box includes 20 cards of the top NBA players, 20 penny sleeves and 5 plastic top loaders. This box has everything a budding collector needs in order to begin collecting. The penny sleeves and plastic top loaders will teach the child how to care and keep their cards safe which is a big part of the hobby. Additionally, we have starter packs that can be purchased in quantities that are all big name players. The perfect gift for kids ages 5–15 who are starting to collect sports cards. For 15% off the kids box or starter packs, use “MediumKids” at checkout.
The BIG Idea for a Sports Card Fan
Here’s a big idea for any sports card fan… a hotel reservation for the National 2021 Convention in Chicago. The National is the “super bowl” for sports card collectors. Roughly 15–20,000 card collectors coming from all over the world descend upon a convention center for three to four days and attend seminars, walk the trade show flow, buy a ton of cards in the exhibit halls, trade with each other, etc. An incredible gift would be a hotel room or registration to The National. Assuming no Covid-19 issues, the 2021 National show will be held in Chicago.
I hope this was helpful. Sports cards are all the rage this year and this guide should be helpful as you think about what to get your family and friends for the holidays. Stay safe and be well. Happy (early) holidays.
