[Pen/Pencil Review] Nightmare Before Christmas Rerun–Because

I’m doing another rerun post deliberately and not because I just didn’t get something done (that, too), but this is the only “Christmas” themed pen set that HASN’T been repeated since I first wrote about it. And even though it’s a repeat, I’m doing my best to get back on track. Holidays are busy and stressful, and this is fun and frivolous. There’s a bunch of plans for next year – including organization and streamlining (you can stop laughing now). So I should find all kinds of things to catch up on. But until then…
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** NOTE ** I made a mistake – Sarah didn’t give me the below pens, Rie Sheridan Rose did. Not to belittle Sarah or FenKids – but credit where credit is due. Rie is an awesome writer. Go check her out.
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For the next couple of Mondays I’m going to do Halloween (ish) novelty pens, because, well, I can. And novelties are fun. Today’s novelties were a gift from the awesome Sarah Brigdon who works with FenCon’s FenKids program – this is a whole programming track for children to help them grow into our next generation of Fans. God Bless her and her crew.

This is a duo of ball point pens are plastic and decorated with the primary characters. One is Jack Skellington only. The other has Jack and Sally in a heart – both with black backgrounds. The ball point writes on a finer point – I’m thinking about 0.7mm – in black ink with a brass point. The action is smooth and the ink fairly dark for a novelty – which is a nice surprise. They run about 5.25″ capped and 6″ with the cap posted. The cap doesn’t post securely, so be careful of accidental flinging (something I’m prone to). The clip is plastic as well. Seems sturdy at first, but I have a feeling if you’re a fidgeter with it, it’s going to fail.

The pens were packaged in a coffin shaped box which was fun, but difficult to remove the pens without destroying – the box also bangs up quickly in transit. The box notes that this year is the 20th anniversary for the movie, so get ’em while you can. These pens are distributed by Walgreens (according to the box) so they’re not going to be expensive, but they are licensed Disney, so they might not be as inexpensive as you might like. Out of respect for the gift, I’m not going to go look. But for something fun (and useful) for the Halloween – or Tim Burton – lover in any family.

The numbers:
1. How does it work? – 1 It’s a decent ballpoint pen for an inexpensive novelty pen. The action seems smooth. The ink is decent, and the point is a nice diameter.
2. Grip and feel – 0.5 – It’s inexpensive plastic. It’s wider than your average ball point and has a ridge that can dig in. The cap seems loose when posted which could lead to loss.
3. Material – 1 – It’s an inexpensive novelty pen. It’s plastic. It is what it is.
4. Overall Design – 1 -It’s an inexpensive novelty two-pack, what else can I say.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – It’s a Walgreens/Disney collaboration. I have a feeling these are in the $3-$5 range (see the note about them being a gift). Which might price them out of silly impulse buys, but aren’t awful.

4 out of 5 Bronze Pencils

Tags: black ink, Christmas, gift, Nightmare before Christmas, pen, Pencil, review, Rie Sheridan