How to Display Con Badges & Convention Pins with Pride

How to Display Con Badges & Pins

Posted April 28, 2016

Most avid attendees of conventions love to collect the badges, passes/tickets, or pins they acquire while attending cons. Unfortunately, most people end up hiding them in a shoe box under the bed, or collecting a mess of lanyards on a single doorknob.

Today I have a number of ideas to share with you guys on how to display those old badges. Time to add some decoration to your house, show them off with pride, and be reminded of all the wonderful memories they represent….it doesn’t matter if your passes are paper tickets in plastic sleeves, hard plastic id cards with clips, or even pin-back buttons; I’ve got solutions for all of these.

Frame Your Convention Badges & Pins

There are a number of ways you can use frames to display your convention badges, tickets, patches, art & pins. If all the items you’d like to display are flat, a conventional frame is a great option. If you want to frame 3D objects or a mixture of items, like badges & pins, then shadow boxes are the perfect way to go. You can even include additional photos, or items purchased from the Artist’s Alley in your shadowbox.
Another fun idea is to add strings of wire or a mesh chicken wire to a frame, then clip all your badges on.Feel free to play with your layouts when creating your framed designs. You can make a collage of items, you can opt for neat rows & columns, or you can arrange the items into an overall shape for added fun.

Photo via: poppytalk

Photo via: paperdroids

Photo via: serenitynowblog

Photo via: unknownmami

Photo via: tagsecond

Showcase Convention Badges & Pins in a Coffee Table

Speaking of shadowboxes, why not display your pins, patches, artwork & badges in a shadowbox coffee table? These types of tables come in many varieties, from a large-open space, to many smaller compartments. You can easily throw in other fun mementos & fandom collectibles for display too.
Alternatively, having a plexi-glass topped coffee table mimics the framed wall display and it makes swapping items out easy.

Photo via: unknown

Photo via: artistshelpingchildren.org

Pin Badges On A Cork Board

Badges of all types can easily be pinned to a cork board. You can even hang your pins & patches on the cork board too. What’s great about this setup is the easy access you’ll have; great for rearranging whenever you feel the need or rotating the collection if it’s large enough.

Photo via: warosu.org

Badge Holder Book

Maybe the con badges you have include a lot of plastic holder sleeves. Create a booklet of them by binding them with a keyring or piece of ribbon. Then display your badge book on your nightstand or coffee table.

Photo via: blissfullydomestic

Plastic Con Badge Storage Case

Perhaps you want a way to collect and organize your badges without displaying them. If that’s the case, and you have a lot of plastic id badges, then the storage brief case may be the best option for you. This case safely keeps and organizes your badges and easily stows away.

Photo via: pcnametag

Hang Up Con Badges

Purchase any sort of post shelf, closet hanger with hooks, or any other type of multi-hook hanger to display your badges on lanyards. You can easily pin your buttons to the lanyards as well. If you want, you could hang ribbon from the hooks and just attach your pins or patches instead.

Photo via: etsy

Lampshade Rim Badge Holder

Another great idea for holding & displaying your badges in plastic sleeves is to remove the shade from an old lamp, then hang your badges (using paperclips) from the shade’s remaining wire rims.

Photo via: scrapbook

Pinback Button Lampshade

Sticking with the theme of lamps, lampshades are also the perfect spot to display all your pins from a convention. To make your pinback buttons pop, opt for a shade that has a more neutral color palette & pattern.

Photo via: dailymail.co.uk

Scrapbook with Your Badges

Feeling extra creative or want a way to keep all your badges nice, without actively showcasing them all around your place? Scrapbooking is the perfect solution!

Photo via: amygigglesdesigns

Make Your Pinback Buttons into a Bracelet

Add your pins to a piece of elastic to create a bracelet out of them. Make a couple different ones or switch the pins out as you fancy. If you don’t mind gluing your pins, you could glue them into empty bezel trays and create a chain bracelet too. If you don’t mind sewing your patches, you could easily use them to create a bracelet too.

Photo via: estystatic

Photo via: peoplepowerpress

Bonus Ideas for Things To Do With Convention Badges, Pins & Shirts

If you don’t mind gluing or otherwise altering your pins or badges, here are a couple more ideas:
Turn your pins into earrings or necklace pendants.
Make a resin top coffee table with your pins or con badges.
Turn your pins or plastic badges into fridge magnets.If you have a collection of shirts from conventions you can easily turn them into a t-shirt quilt.

Hopefully this post has inspired you to pull out that shoebox of badges and start showing them off around your house or room. If you do, please share a photo of your new display with me on Facebook or Twitter. I’d love to see your collection!

What do you do with con badges? Do you have additional ideas? Share them in the comments below.
Which one of your badges or pins is your favorite -does it relate to your favorite con memories, or do you just like the look of the badge?

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