We went last year and a month beforehand with all the "When are we leaving?" questions I had the kids design their own autograph books. We picked up foam mini-theme books, perfect autograph size at Michael's. One was pink the other green (boy/girl) My daughter picked out foam princess pieces along with multi-colored foam letters. Many had feathers and rhinestones on them (castles, tiaras, sceptors, etc). My son picked out dragons and castle foam pieces with green, black, purple, and yellow foam letters (he's a villian fan!). They spent hours designing and decorating the fronts (get the self adhesive kind, NO GLUE!). We then took peel and stick clear shelf liner (available at most hardware stores) and put a piece on the back of each page. We used Sharpie click pens (the big ones) hence the backing so nothing would bleed through. A hint I had heard that they like big fat markers as most frilly pens were too hard to grip for some of the characters in their costumes. Also the click action - no lost cap! We used bungee like coil keychains and attached the pens to the books. So many characters told us they loved their homemade books and could see how much work they put into them. The kids brought them to show and tell several times and kids always ask to see them again! Have fun!
