Help decorate plastic beach pails

[MondaysChild]

Hello Crafters! I picked up a bunch of beach pails on clearance from Michaels today for only 25 cents each! I plan to use them as the goodie bag for my daughter's birthday party this weekend. I would like to decorate each pail with the children's names. I purchased a sharpie oil based paint pen but it does not go on well and it scratches right off!

I know there must be a secret to writing on plastic with marker pens. I am almost 40 and I still have a little personalized plastic jewelry box I received when I was just a little girl and it looks perfect!

So is it the surface prep? spraying something on it to lock it in? maybe the perfect marker?

Please help! I don't want to ruin a perfectly good bucket with less than nice personalization.

Thank you!!

 

[JohnsonsLoveDisney]

Try cleaning the area with rubbing alcohol.

I'd use a paint pen vs s sharpie.

 

[sschmidt]

I have decorated water bottles for my boys' baseball teams for several years. I used to use Paint Pens from the craft section of any craft store. After the paint dried, I sprayed the bottle with varnish - However, recently, my tactics have changed. It is way more time saving to get things cut out of vinyl. It stays on well and goes way faster. Most people use a Cricket or Silhouette to cut out their vinyl, or you can purchase pre-cut vinyl stickers.