Beach Badges for Christmas

Buying beach badges for Christmas? It seems like a strange idea but it is a possibility in some towns. Shore towns get early start on holiday beach badge sales is the title of an online NJ.com article noting that in New Jersey there are at least ten beach communities which have begun selling badges for the 2010 summer season during the Christmas shopping season of 2009. The badges come with holiday tags (outlines of Christmas trees) attached. The nation's largest plastic tag manufacturer, Jersey Cape Diagnostic, Training and Opportunity Center Inc., is credited with this innovative idea.

The tags are sold at a discount during the preseason. When the standard badges are made available in 2010, the holiday badges can be swapped for them. It looks like a good idea for the manufacturer, the towns and the purchasers of the badges.