Pens to use for autograph books

[SilSprBea]

This is a really silly thing, but I've heard so many people say sharpies work best for autograph books than pens. I've bought two Disney Parks autograph books for my kids, and neither came with pens. I was planning on buying some retractable sharpies by someone's recommendation, but am wondering if that is a good idea. I had been told that the sharpies were easier for the characters to hold than pens.

Will the sharpies bleed on the books (even though I have the books, I don't want to test out right now). Also, they have colored extra fine sharpies, but then I wonder if that might be too hard for the characters to hold.

Thanks!

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes, some sharpies will bleed through the paper some. But they have still been our favorite pens, all other things considered. We have a collection of many colors of sharpies we keep in a bag with our autograph book.

 

[Sandi]

We liked the retractable Sharpie's when DD was little. They worked great and the characters could hold them. They did kind of bleed through the pages of the book, but we just had them sign on one side of the pages and it wasn't horrible. Where it bled through a lot, we just went onto the next page. Then, when we got home, we tried to insert photos with those characters next to their autographs in the books for the keepsake. (This was well before iPhones and everything being digital.)

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We use a big fat Sharpie. Easier for Mickey to hold,

 

[kangamangus]

We are another family who loves sharpies but we sign a picture mat with them.

 

[showers2flowers]

We use a big fat Sharpie. Easier for Mickey to hold,

Bingo! Yes, the Sharpies will bleed a bit at times, but most autograph books have enough pages that you can skip one or two if the bleed is really bad. Those fat sharpies are just the easiest thing for the 'fur' characters to grip.

 

[burberryplaid]

I recommend Crayola markers...they won't bleed & you can get the fat ones that are easier for characters to hold

 

[bryanb]

As with any permanent marker, just be careful when you hand it to the character. Some of them wear white gloves or have furry paws.

 

[crazylady]

We bought a retractable pen at Disney. It was. Little thicker than a sharpie and about 8 inches long. Works great and it is cute too.

 

[TristiK]

We used the fat Sharpies and didn't have any bleeding issues.

 

[mstephen87]

We use the big pens they sell at the parks by the autograph books. They are really large pens, don't bleed through and are really easy for the characters to hold. They have a cool princess one for girls or mickey one for boys. Under 10 bucks each. (That IS a lot for a pen, but at disney an extra 10$ isn't going to break you. My girls share one)

 

[Gruff320]

Sharpies are great for the characters! Not only to hold, but to see what they're writing. They do bleed, but more than once I saw families that used a small piece of cardboard to keep it from bleeding to the next page. They just stored the piece of cardboard in the front or back of the book and then placed it behind the next clean page while they were waiting in line.

Retractable sharpies/pens are great, too. So many families hand a character a regular sharpie with the cap still on it. Slows the line for the character to remove the cap or ask the kid/parent to plus it ups the chance for a character to get sharpie on their hands/gloves if they do remove the cap and that just causes more work for the costuming folks. Nothing wrong with having a pen with a cap, just try to remember to remove it for the character

The crayola marker listed above is also a great idea! As long as it's a bold enough color for the character to see. You'd be surprised how many people use light colors like yellow. Haha!

The large pens Disney sells are great, too! They are the most common in my memory and easy to hold but sometimes hard to see what's being written depending on which character it is (some have much worse vision than others ---> LOL!).

 

[skysmom99]

Another vote for the clickable Sharpie. We don't use regular autograph books, though. I made some using advice from the DISigns board here. We have individual autograph cards printed like photographs.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Another vote for sharpie. I had the bright idea to get the small one on a chain to make it easier for me. But the characters with gloves found it hard to hold! Doh! So I now use restractable type. Watch they don't keep them! Stitch likes to run off with the bright coloured ones lol.

 

[Jennasis]

FYI I've heard they won't use a green sharpie. Allegedly the green ink won't wash out of costumes.

 

[Belleandtinker]

Retractable Sharpie! Yes vote. And have personally used them for years. No problems with bleeding. I still store the pen and book in a ziplock in case the sharpie ink gets out - I don't want the ink on all my other backpack items. Plus with water rides the books doesn't get wet and then the ink bleeds.

Have fun!

 

[Hans Olo]

We used retractable sharpies as well. They worked great! You can see in my pic how much they bled through. We used a piece of card stock behind the page as well.

 

[SilSprBea]

We used retractable sharpies as well. They worked great! You can see in my pic how much they bled through. We used a piece of card stock behind the page as well.
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Thank you for visual, Hans Olo! That is super helpful. The one book I bought for my daughter has picture slots on the opposite side, so maybe the bleed won't be so bad. My son's book doesn't have the slots for pictures but I could always attach a picture to cover up the bleed. I love the idea of using a cardboard as well.

 

[SilSprBea]

Thank you everyone for so many wonderful replies! We are super excited for our trip and will be bringing retractable sharpies with us based on the wonderful feedback

 

[jenniy122]

The metallic sharpies don't bleed through at all. I've done a whole book with silver and another all copper.

that just causes more work for the costuming folks

The satisfaction of watching ink come out of white gloves... best part of costumings day! LOL!