Any time I talk about our last vacation to Walt Disney World or show any pictures, I get a million questions about our autograph book. I have used the standard autograph books in the past, as well as our Free Printable Character Autograph Prints, but for this vacation I wanted something a little more unique.
We decided to create a DIY Autograph Book using the Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Characters. It’s the perfect book because there are pages for almost every character, great little descriptions, and fun animations.
Every character has a page to themselves (some of the bigger characters have a double page spread). You could easily use this book as it is. In fact, the newer version is hardcover, which will make it a bit heavier, but more durable than the old softcover version. I decided to add a spiral binding to my character autograph book to make it really easy to use in the parks.
How to Make the DIY Character Autograph Book
Purchase the Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Characters. You’re looking for an old version of the book that has a soft cover. I have had luck finding them on Amazon (you’re looking for the one that was published in 2009 – it should be less than $5 before shipping).
Cut off the binding of the book. I had my husband cut it off with a jigsaw, but you could also use a professional paper cutter. Our office supply store would not cut of the binding of the book, but they were happy to coil bind it after it was already cut.
Add any pages you would like. Since this is an older version of the book, not all of the current characters are featured. We were able to add some character pages to the back of the book using pages found on this forum.
Have the book coil bound, using a clear front page and a black back cover. This will give the book some added stability in your backpack.
Enjoy! I know you and your family will love using this character autograph books – we certainly did!
Tips for Using the DIY Character Autograph Book
- Bring clickable Sharpie markers. They are so much easier for the ‘furry’ characters to operate and you don’t have to keep track of marker caps!
- Turn to the character’s page while you’re standing in line. It’s nice if you don’t make the character wait for you to find their page. The autograph book is the first thing they reach for, so have it ready. You also don’t want to be fumbling with a book and miss those first interactions.
- Bring a backpack. If you’re not planning on carrying a backpack into the parks, this might not be the right autograph solution for you. This book fits perfectly in a backpack, but it might be cumbersome if you were to carry it around all day.
The result? It was amazing. Everything I could have asked for in an autograph book. The characters were brilliant in their interaction with the book and it gave them something to ask my daughter about.
I will say that my daughter was a bit hesitant at first because we have a strict “No coloring in books” policy, so she looked a little taken aback when Snow White started signing her name. She quickly caught on.
Since coming home, we have looked through the book dozens of times and talked about the time she met all of her friends. I would take this DIY character autograph book again in a heartbeat.
How does your family like to collect autographs? Share with us in the comments below!
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