Why Autograph Books?

[Pir8girl]

Something I've never understood is how & why the autograph book craze is so popular.
I'm a scrapper and see that having an autograph next to your pictures is a fun idea, but what do you do with the autograph books?

 

[The LK 4]

We use our autograph books as a mini-scrapbook. The kids get an autograph on the left hand side of the page, and on the right side, I put a picture of them with the character.

 

[Pir8girl]

That is a cute idea, and am considering it. But I'm wondering what people do with just the books? Do they save them or incorporate them into a scrapbook? Are they acid free?

I'm in a clean out the basement phase and I just don't want to add anymore clutter to my already loaded craft area.

 

[DisQueen]

My DL is almost 4 and she loves looking at her autograph book over and over and over... Each page has an autograph on one side and a photo of her with the character on the facing page. She can tell a story about each picture - how Minnie kissed her book, Cinderella thought it was cool that we had her movie, etc. Since she's 4, the family (my) scrapbooks aren't for her to look at whenever she wants, but the autograph book is hers alone. The book may get gooey fingers, but the scrapbook pages will be preserved forever.

 

[DisQueen]

Oops, I mean DD. I really to have Disney on the brain!

 

[jemilah]

I love the idea of pictures in the autograph books ! I will steal that idea THANKS!

 

[amw]

My DL is almost 4 and she loves looking at her autograph book over and over and over... Each page has an autograph on one side and a photo of her with the character on the facing page. She can tell a story about each picture - how Minnie kissed her book, Cinderella thought it was cool that we had her movie, etc. Since she's 4, the family (my) scrapbooks aren't for her to look at whenever she wants, but the autograph book is hers alone. The book may get gooey fingers, but the scrapbook pages will be preserved forever.

I did the exact thing with my 2 DDs. One copy of each pic went into my scrapbook, and the other copy went into each of their autograph books. In fact, autograph books were a god-send to me. My at-the-time DD3 was afraid of characters before going down to WDW the last time. But, I explained to her the concept of her autograph book, and sure enough she loved "collecting" and had no problems with the characters. She would walk up to them, hand her book and pen, and then say to them "now, smile for picture." She was quite the little pro!

I used mini-scrapbooks from the dollar store for their autograph books. Each DD decorated the cover with Disney stickers of their choice -- one was Winnie-the-Pooh, the other Princesses -- this was an ice-breaker for some of the "talking" characters.

 

[RangerPooh]

We don't use the autograph books but purchase a postcard and have the characters sign them. I then cut out a hole that's slightly smaler than the postcard and attach it to the scrapbook pages. On one side you can see the postacr and on the other side the signatures.

BTW, It's cheaper than having to buy a new autograph book each trip.

 

[Pir8girl]

RangerPooh, that is a great idea! Very clever. I like the idea of autograph books, but I can just see more stuff piling up in my ever growing craftroom/basement.
Do boys like to get autographs too? Or is this more of a girl thing?

 

[lilpixie]

We have girls, but definately saw boys getting autographs, too. The boys seemed to love Buzz Lightyear, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto, Woody from Toy Story and in DCA they had the Incredibles, Chicken Little, Sulley from Monsters Inc. My girls loved the princesses, of course.
My girls just love their autograph books (we got the 50th Mickey and Minnie one from the park). We printed off our digital pictures and put them on one side and had the characters sign the page. They are small and just the right size for little hands. I am also compiling scrapboks for us as well. My girls just keep theirs in the drawers of their nightstands. They don't take up too much room and are sooooo much fun. I am a character fanatic, so I had fun too!
One tip -- use a black ink pen. The pen that came with my girls autograph book was gold and in some of the autographs, it didn't turn out too well. So if you make your own or buy one -- I would definately use a dark colored pen.
Have fun!!

 

[mAlien13]

The first time we took our DS's to WDW when they were 5 and 2 1/2, we made the autograph books their countdown. I printed out pages with outlines of the characters and they colored them in the weeks before we went. They finished on the plane ride.
We had the characters sign the page with their image on it. It may have been more novel then, because the characters made a very big deal over the colored in pictures. When we got home, I had the books lamenated.

Last time we went, I put together sort of pre-scrap books. I made books for each child, my DS's and my neice, that were personalized. There were places for them to journal about their meeting with the character, places for a photo, each page was a different color and the characters were grouped by theme; villans, princessess, heros, toons, ect. These too are now lamenated, tucked safely in our souvineer trunk.

My DSIL scanned the autographs into her pc and printed them on blank labels and used them to adorn the photos of my neice with the characters in her scrapbook.

 

[mAlien13]

One tip -- use a black ink pen. The pen that came with my girls autograph book was gold and in some of the autographs, it didn't turn out too well. So if you make your own or buy one -- I would definately use a dark colored pen.
Have fun!!

Also...get one of those big huge Sharpie's...the costumed characters can manage them easily.

 

[hlbtimes2]

I guess its just one of those things you either get and enjoy or you dont get and dont see the point off. :shrug My daughter loves getting autographs, my son doesn't care. She's had 3- one for her first trip at age 2 in 2000, then one for the 2nd trip (which we can't currently find) and one that she used for trips 3 and 4. They make fun interactive souviner.

 

[IandGsmom]

Something I've never understood is how & why the autograph book craze is so popular.
I'm a scrapper and see that having an autograph next to your pictures is a fun idea, but what do you do with the autograph books?

I dont understand it myself but I dont need to when I see the kids running to the next character to have them sign it.

 

[Dukland]

My kids both loved the autograph books. We just bought them there, and got the ones that had a picture slot on one side, with a blank page for an autograph on the other side.

We went last summer, and it was our family's first trip. My dd (4.5 at the time) loved getting autographs, and when her book was getting full, made sure to save a blank page for each of the Princesses. When she was down to 2 pages left, she was saving the pages for Cinderella and Snow White. We went to Cinderella, and when we got up to her, DD was hesitant. Finally, I figured it out...Prince Charming was with Cinderella, and DD was afraid that Prince Charming would sign his own page, leaving no page for Snow White. Not to worry, though. Cinderella and Prince Charming signed the same page, and Snow White was absolutely thrilled when she heard that my DD was saving the last page in her book, just for Snow White.

My ds (at the time 19 months) loved the autographs, too. It didn't take him long to get the whole concept. He was thrilled to hold the autograph book on his stroller tray for Woody to sign. DS was almost in shock to see Woody "in person". And when we found Buzz Lightyear, that was totally a highlight for the trip for DS. Buzz was busy dancing at Club Buzz when we found him, and not doing autographs. That was hard for a 19 month old to understand, and DS kept getting his book from the stroller and trying to offer it to Buzz. Then Buzz took a break. We were told he would do autographs when he came back, but he came out and went off in a completely different direction. My DS was not to be diverted!! That boy, who could speak maybe 10 words total, said a continuous litany of "Buh! Buh!" as he dragged his Mama all over Tomorrowland! We finally caught up with him, and were told by the new CM with Buzz that he would be doing autographs in about 15 minutes. I tried to get DS to come back later, but he wasn't having it. The CM took pity on me, I think, and my DS got his autograph. With pictures, of course!

So, my kids each have an autograph book, with pictures. I also made them each their own 7x7 scrapbook. Then I made a huge family scrapbook, too, which includes most of the 280 pictures I took of our Disneyland trip. I bought a bigger card for my digital camera before the trip, just to make sure there would be enough room for our Disney pictures. This year, I may get really crazy and buy a fancy camera!

Sorry so long. I get crazy, talking about our Disney trip. It was so much fun, I can't wait to go back!

 

[Pir8girl]

What a great memory! It's so touching to see these little people with their autograph books, chasing down or waiting patiently to see characters.
We've never done autograph books as my daughter was not interested in having the characters sign anything. It's all I could do to convince her to get a picture.

 

[CalGal]

Do boys like to get autographs too? Or is this more of a girl thing?

Some do. MY DS loved getting autographs for many years. He has at least 8 books from different visits or years. His autograph book was always his favorite souvenier. As he got older, he became more shy about talking to characters, and he didn't like having his picture taken with them much, but the autograph book was still his in for interacting with them. And it was a game to collect as many different autographs as possible, or to collect an autograph from a character we had never seen before. Some of autographs are great memory joggers all by themselves.