When I told my 5-yr-old's preschool teacher that we had a vacation coming up and he'd be missing a couple classes, she told me about another one of her students who brought back a signature book from her Disney World trip that all the characters signed. She thought it was really cool but thought you could totally make one yourself. It's been decades since I was there as a kid, and we aren't planning a Disney World trip for a few more years. But, I thought it might still be a fun thing to do on our Disney cruise!
I haven't seen any of these books myself that you can get at Disney but I had a lot of fun making up my own for the boys. I had no idea if the characters on a cruise ship were able to sign or stamp books like they do at the theme park, so I decided to make it like a miniature scrapbook for their trip. If the characters can leave a mark, great! If not, we'd just have fun filling them up!
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| Sammy's "passport" with stickers |
I made the book out of random scrap paper that I had around my studio. You can see my complete step by step process by checking out my SnapGuide.
I always have some full-sheet adhesive-backed inkjet printer paper in my studio, which I used to make some customized sticker sheets for the boys. I imagined them using stickers along with their markers to document what they did each day, and maybe even glue or tape in some found objects.
For the sticker sheets I pulled images off of Google Images and placed them on a page in Photoshop, laying them out in such a way that I could cut a full sheet into fourths. I found images of flags for the places we'd stop, images to represent the various forms of transportation they'd be taking, images to represent the weather that day, etc. I also had images that could correspond to the day's activities...beach images, pirate images (they have a pirate night on the cruise), and all of the characters we expected to see on the ship. I planned to just leave some pages empty to attach photos later. I also printed out some maps of our stops...the port at Galvaston, TX, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. My son LOVES maps so I also put a US map on the inside cover, and a map of our ship's floors inside the back cover.
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| Inside front cover! I put a US map in the cover and a passport-like photo & info page. |
Inside the first page I put their photo along with some information on the trip, and information in case they lose their passport so that it hopefully finds it's way back to us. (our home contact info, as well as our stateroom on the ship)
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| Passports packaged in Ziploc baggies for each boy, and Mommy's bag of supplies to help them fill their book |
I found some great little 6-packs of Mickey markers at the dollar store which were the perfect size. Then each kid got a small ziploc bag that held their passport, markers, and a smaller bag with the stickers inside. I made sure to bring along some small scissors (in the checked baggage of course), tape, and tiny baggies for found items.
Each day the boys got a sticker with the date, a weather sticker (only used sunny or partly cloudy!), a transportation sticker (whatever we did that day...taxi, plane, ship, etc), and then whatever other stickers I had that went with what we did that day.
Each day the boys got a sticker with the date, a weather sticker (only used sunny or partly cloudy!), a transportation sticker (whatever we did that day...taxi, plane, ship, etc), and then whatever other stickers I had that went with what we did that day.
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| We collected sand from Texas, Grand Cayman & Cozumel! |
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| Toby coloring in his book while waiting for a table at a restaurant |
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| First character signature: Minnie Mouse! |
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| Goofy signing their books |
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| "Captain Robert" Signing Sammy's book |
After we got home from the trip, I printed out miniature photos of the boys with each character on adhesive-back paper so they could add them to each signature page.
In the end I'm SO glad that I made these books!! I went in thinking that I'd end up doing all the work sticking stuff in their books for them. But, I couldn't have been more wrong. They were so excited to add to their books every day and it was so fun watching them make these books their own! It's even more fun watching them flip through them now, reflect on the fun they had, and show them to their family and friends!
In the end I'm SO glad that I made these books!! I went in thinking that I'd end up doing all the work sticking stuff in their books for them. But, I couldn't have been more wrong. They were so excited to add to their books every day and it was so fun watching them make these books their own! It's even more fun watching them flip through them now, reflect on the fun they had, and show them to their family and friends!
Thanks for this!
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