Alternatives to autograph books?

[Neesy228]

I have three kiddos. They've all done the autograph books a few times on past trips, but now I'm looking for some budget-friendly AND easily transportable alternatives. We are just out of the stroller stage (which is awesome and a little sad at the same time), so it will just be my small-ish backpack as a park "carry-all" this trip. I need something that I can fit into my backpack (x3) for the kids to get autographed and I'm stumped!

What have you used that worked out great, but didn't take up a ton of space? Something your kids still use or display?

I like the pillowcase idea, but I'm not sure how to carry them and make them sturdy enough for the characters to sign without carrying a ton of weight/bulk.

I'd love to hear suggestions and what worked well for you! Thanks in advance!

 

[dhardawa]

We did autograph books once and I found it to be a waste. What do you do with it when you're done? Nothing, in our case. So, last time we went, I bought two of the glow in the dark 9" Vinylmation and a pack of colored Sharpies. The characters sign the Vinylmation in different colors and, when we get home, we sit it up. Probably not exactly what you're looking for in terms of being easy to carry, but I'll have three in my backpack for our upcoming trip. I did put them in gallon baggies to transport last time because I was concerned they'd scrape against each other.

 

[wdwmomof6]

I bought the book, Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters, took it to the local office store and had them laminate the front and back cover and put a spiral binding on it. We had the characters sign on their page and there were blank pages for characters not in the book. I have 6 kids but we did 1 book for the family. My kids still like to pull out the book and look at it.

 

[2minnies]

We've done hats and pillowcases (both with a pack of Sharpies). I had a piece of cardboard in my backpack to put inside the pillowcase and just pulled it tight.

 

[jvorhis]

We are trying the pillowcase idea this time. I found them on etsy. I just got an embroidery hoop and some fabric markers.

 

[bearloch]

as far as what to do with autographss I made we took each autograph and put it next to said characters pic in photo album hve dne it a few times and everyone loves looking at them! it was super easy to do with a smaller album!


as far a something else to sign

canvas bags!
ball or bucket hats
t-shirts ( make sure they are attached tosomething firm)
cloth lunch boxes
how about just a already streched canvas! then u jut pop in frame when home they are pretty light!!

 

[albarellic]

I've done this for our 2 trips and plan on doing it again next year. I made autograph scrapbooks when we returned. I bought photomats from Michael's. They sell 2 sets in primary and pastel colors- 100 sheets to a package. The mats measure 4.5" by 6.5". I took 10 of each color and cut them in half and put it into a heavy duty quart size freezer bag (for added protection) with a couple of sharpies. Also inside the bag was a small plastic photo album (from the dollar store- the floppy brag-book kind that only holds about 30-40 pics).

So the kids would pick a color (from the 10 choices) and have it autographed. It was then put into the album and everything got put away. When we returned, I printed a picture of the character signing the autograph (or just with the kids) and matted it matching the color of the autograph card. I scrapbooked the pages on 8 by 8 papers. Each 8 by 8 page is just big enough for a picture, the autograph and a couple of small stickers.

Just a couple of notes- the first trip I only made one. My DS was only 17 months old and didn't get it yet. But our last trip he was 3.5 years old and he loved collecting his autographs. I only have 2 kids and cutting the mats 10 per color was just enough to cover our 5 days. We met 38 characters- times 2- so we used 76 out of our hundred, plus a few that we gave away or got greasy waiting for characters at meals. If you go this route you might want to cut more than 10 sheets.

My kids helped me this time with stickers and the glue runner. They are extremely proud of their scrapbooks, love looking through them and showing them off. They love telling grandma which stickers they put down The scrapbooks are on the bookcase in the living room and get looked through at least once a week. My DD has already decided that her goal for our next trip is 50 different characters. I just hope she doesn't want to do them all in 1 day like Kenny the Pirate

 

[kkandaj]

We are trying the pillowcase idea this time. I found them on etsy. I just got an embroidery hoop and some fabric markers.

We did this in May of this year. We had the embroidery hoop already set where we wanted it on the pillow case (remember to only put one side in the hoop or the marker will bleed through) so it was easy for the characters to sign it. As soon as they signed, we would move it to the next spot so it was ready for the next character. If Minnie and Mickey or Jasmine/Aladdin were together, the hoop was big enough for them to sign in the same circle. We kept them in a gallon ziploc bag, with the markers in a quart ziploc bag inside the gallon bag. (Hopefully that makes sense.) We used the clickable sharpies so we wouldn't have to worry about the lids, but I should've set it somehow before the kids slept on it. One of the colors has smeared--cant remember which one--but my kids LOVE their pillowcases and use them all the time. Much more than they've looked at the autograph books from 3 years ago.

Cinderella asked us what they were and after telling her, she looked at my daughter and said "You'll have such sweet dreams on this!" DD was thrilled!

 

[DisneyEater]

We always take a backpack to Disney with us so last year we decided to make a Disney backpack for our trips by getting a plain backpack and some fabric markers.

 

[jvorhis]

We did this in May of this year. We had the embroidery hoop already set where we wanted it on the pillow case (remember to only put one side in the hoop or the marker will bleed through) so it was easy for the characters to sign it. As soon as they signed, we would move it to the next spot so it was ready for the next character. If Minnie and Mickey or Jasmine/Aladdin were together, the hoop was big enough for them to sign in the same circle. We kept them in a gallon ziploc bag, with the markers in a quart ziploc bag inside the gallon bag. (Hopefully that makes sense.) We used the clickable sharpies so we wouldn't have to worry about the lids, but I should've set it somehow before the kids slept on it. One of the colors has smeared--cant remember which one--but my kids LOVE their pillowcases and use them all the time. Much more than they've looked at the autograph books from 3 years ago.

Cinderella asked us what they were and after telling her, she looked at my daughter and said "You'll have such sweet dreams on this!" DD was thrilled!

Thank you for the tips!

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

I ordered plain white hats for my kids for our last trip. They wanted to wear hats in the sun anyway, so there was nothing extra to tote around. The sharpies were easier than having to use those big pens that always seemed to run out of ink when you needed them! My two younger boys still wear their hats here at home.

Sadly, we just returned from WDW and my kids all felt they were too old to do autographs at all. As sad as it is to see my kids grow up (way too fast!), it was so nice not having to worry about it! Plus, we did our first no-stroller trip. I guess growing older does have its advantages!

 

[mrudman]

We did bucket hats for my daughters for their first trip, and they turned out awesome. Used clickable sharpies in about 12 different colors. And a nice perk, it was mostly sunny when we went (early December), so they just wore the hats around the majority of the time. Made for some very cute pics as the hats got full of autographs, and no need to drag them out of my backpack if they happened to see a character.

 

[My3Princez]

For our upcoming trip, I made 2 plain canvas pillow covers for 16x16 square pillows. I got small (about 5"x7") dry erase boards at the dollar store and binder clips and will use those to make a hard surface for the characters to sign - similar to the embroidery hoop idea). Each of my boys will have a pillow cover to get signed - one for our house, one for grandma's. I'm going to get this Mickey apron when we get to DTD http://www.disneystore.com/kitchen-...e-apron/mp/1254701/1000352/?CMP=KNC-DSSGoogle and get it signed for myself!
I got Crayola Fabric Markers and plan to use those.

 

[delmar411]

We did this in May of this year. We had the embroidery hoop already set where we wanted it on the pillow case (remember to only put one side in the hoop or the marker will bleed through) so it was easy for the characters to sign it. As soon as they signed, we would move it to the next spot so it was ready for the next character. If Minnie and Mickey or Jasmine/Aladdin were together, the hoop was big enough for them to sign in the same circle. We kept them in a gallon ziploc bag, with the markers in a quart ziploc bag inside the gallon bag. (Hopefully that makes sense.) We used the clickable sharpies so we wouldn't have to worry about the lids, but I should've set it somehow before the kids slept on it. One of the colors has smeared--cant remember which one--but my kids LOVE their pillowcases and use them all the time. Much more than they've looked at the autograph books from 3 years ago.

Cinderella asked us what they were and after telling her, she looked at my daughter and said "You'll have such sweet dreams on this!" DD was thrilled!

If you use fabric markers you won't have to set them. Just use the ones that don't require ironing.

 

[Ccann]

I love reading all of these great ideas!

We are going on a trip soon so I might try one or two of these.

Someone mentioned their kids felt they were to old. We went 2 years ago with 12 of us. My sister kids (12, 11, and 10) felt the same way until dinner one night they were looking through my daughters and sons books (4yr and 18mo) saw that they had 20 autographs already. They decided they wanted them too, so much they had to park hop the rest of the trip to get caught up.. I knew we were a competitive family but didn't realize it branched out to WDW!!!

 

[chimilady]

We're bringing books. Our kids read the Disney books each night, so we're bringing them so each character can autograph their own book. That way every time we read them the kids can relive that memory. Since you know who to expect in each park, they can have them ready.