Autograph Tags or book?

[iu97alum]

I want to create something for my girls to use for Autographs (and add photographs after) for our trip in January to WDW. I'm torn on what to do. Many of the threads say that the more decorative your book/pages are, the more interactive the characters will be with your child. Given that, do I do an autograph page scrapbook style and carry two books around with me? or do I do the tag idea and just carry those around? I really want a memorable experience for my girls and I'm willing do whatever it takes to make it that way! Even if that means being a pack rat!

so, can you guys/gals tell me your thoughts? Pros/Cons? other ideas?

Oh, my girls will be 2 1/2 and 4 at the time of the trip.

(Mods, feel free to move this if it would better belong somewhere else!)
thanks!
dana

 

[Faerie]

I carried around a 7x7 CM book one year and I wouldn't do it again. I'm doing colored tags this year - specific to the characters (Red for Mickey, Green for goofy & Buzz, Pink for Sleeping Beauty, Blue for Cinerella etc.). I'll do my book around who I get (I plan on some generic ones too for unplanned characters)

Of course this is all for myself at 28

 

[MazdaUK]

How will they be with the characters do you think? It would be dreadful to put a lot of work in and carry them all round the park to have the kids refuse to line up, or not to want to play with the characters. When we went to DLP younger DS was 3 1/2, and would not get autographs at all. In fact he wouldn't even go near characters most of the time (though it is a bit of a free-for-all in Paris) and we only got a couple with Pooh and Eeyore right at the end. In WDW he was 5 1/2, wouldn't go near them the first day, started well at MK (Crystal Palace) but once we left Cp posed for only one more pic then wouldn't go near characters again til nearly the end of the fortnight He even refused to pose with Mickey - I've got a typical pic of him looking grumpy while Mickey stands behind posing

Someone (AWM?) made decorated clipboards for hers, with their names on, which might be a good compromise (you could clip the autograph book open ready and it makes it easier for the characters to sign - you could even tie on a pen!)

My elder boy (then 11) liked to choose his book, carry it around and pose with every character he could (as long as they weren't girls )younger one refused to have one!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I did the clipboards and used tags.

I have 4 kids so carrying 4 books around was not an option for me. Some people carry just the pages around if you wanted a compromise.

pros/cons
Book
pros - character interaction, mostly finished just add pics

cons- heavy, if you lose it your out of a whole book.

tags
pros - easy to carry, can leave the used one behind in the room

cons - if you are unorganized rifling through to find a blank one takes time, smaller autograph (depends on the size of the tag), some head characters had trouble signing (I needed bigger tags)

Some tips:
the characters will take up the whole space, the larger the paper, the larger the siggie and any personal notes.
If using the clipboard put 5 - 8 tags on the board, then just slide the signed one to the back while waiting in line for the next character.

that's all I can think of for now, I'll think about it more.

 

[iu97alum]

Thanks for all the tips! We took DDs to a Beach resort (with the sesame street characters) and they were great with them. (baking cookies with cookie monster, bday with elmo, dancing with zoe, etc) so I expect that Disney would be ok (once they got past the inital shock of seeing them!!)

Hmmmmmm.. I REALLY want a great experience for them....

 

[bobcat]

A few years ago we made autograph books out of unlined spiral notebooks, around 4x6 in size, and decorated the pages with character stickers and clip art. The kids really had fun making these and the reponse was great when they met the characters. The green army men even took the pose each kid had in their book. We grouped the characters together but even so it was hard to sometimes find the page we wanted for the correct characters. My original thought was to use these decorated autographs in their albums but the kids decided they wanted to try and get all the characters they had made pages for and the books have made 3 trips so far.

This upcoming trip I am going to do a small clipboard with tags. The kids are getting older and while they still like to see the characters they aren't so into getting autographs. This way we can get one autograph for their favorite characters, ok and even mine, and add them to our book after the trip. I plan on at least matching colors for the characters I know we will want to see and have some blanks for the unexpected meetings.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Yes, that was B&MB who made the clipboards, not I.

But if I can talk my DH into going back, I will do the clipboard & tags and make the books afterwards.

 

[happycampers]

I loved the clipboard with tags system. It fit nicely into the backpack. I had the same style clipboards as B&MB. The clippy part is made in a way that I was able to tie ribbons on it and put a ring on that held lots of tags. I removed signed tags at night and added new ones, if needed. This was so easy to use, and I'm loving the layouts. The characters interacted plenty with my kids.

 

[party of 3]

i am also doing the tag with clipboard thing this trip. last trip, when ds was 3 we did the autograph book and it's just sitting on the shelf. so this time i'm thinking i will do the tag and put them in the scrapbook with the pics of him and the characters. i can not decide if i want to do white tags or colored tags to match the character....... but i do have a great sizzix tag that i will be using!

 

[calanniebu]

My best friend made my DH & I an autograph book for our honeymoon using a simple 4 x 6 spiral artists sketch book. She made specific pages for every character she could think of and then filled the rest with generic pages. The character interaction was amazing. Goofy just about jumped out of his costume when he saw his own picture on a page. The other "real" (not sure if that's the correct term) just gushed over them ... and we're 28 and 29 years old. We were on a mission though and went NUTS trying to find all of the characters she managed to get into that book. I think the only ones we couldn't find are normally VERY hard to find anyway so we don't feel so bad.
Two questions for you:
1) Are you hoping to give each DD their own book or each have their own?
2) Are you hoping to take pictures of them together or individually with the characters?
If you were thinking of just one for the two of them, you could get a smaller (6 x 6) album and have it set up for a two-page layout per character or set of characters as appropriate. That way you could decorate one page and then have the other page ready to go for the autograph part. The pages wouldn't be that big and then you could easily carry it around in your backpack or stroller in a large zip lock baggie.

 

[iu97alum]

I love the idea of tags but what kind of clipboard are yall talking about? I guess the clipboard is beceaset to give the CM a flat hard surface, right?

As for number, I really want each girl to have thru own finished product. Both now love looking at thru own baby books and the ABC books I made so this won't be any didferent. I'm surer ill have picsthat has both girls but hope to get separate ones too

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

small clipboards, either from Walmart or an office supply store. Not the 8 1/2 x 11 but more like 5 x 6.
Here's a link to the ones I altered.
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1497522

 

[4greatboys]

Im going to make a chipboard autograph book for our next trip, 4x6 spiral bound.

 

[iu97alum]

small clipboards, either from Walmart or an office supply store. Not the 8 1/2 x 11 but more like 5 x 6.
Here's a link to the ones I altered.
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1497522

Amazing link!@ THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

 

[myramsy]

I am pre making my autograph book...8X8 with tags....I was wondering how big the tags have to be for the characters to be able to sign easily?? Any suggestions??
Thanks fellow disers for all your help!!!
me ; DH ; DS

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

no less than 4x4 the head characters have the hardest time. Eeyore needs at least 5x5 - 6x6

 

[myramsy]

Thanks for the info! Guess I have to make new tags...the ones I made are way too small!!