Members' Showcase of Disney Talents

Scott's Disney Buttons

As I was cleaning out our cluttered garage, basically shipping all the things I’ve collected over the years over to a storage facility, I found a cardboard box I hadn’t seen in probably 12 or 13 years. It was a button-making kit I had bought in high school. I had last used it during my first years in college and had then put it away. I had been looking for a project that would both help my two kids maintain their enthusiasm and that would help us to stand out to the Cast Members. This was it!

The first thing I had to do was create a template for the buttons. Luckily the kit still had some unused button inserts. I used this as a basis to make a page full of button templates in Microsoft Publisher. Then was had to settle on a design for our buttons. I wanted them to all have the same basic design, because I thought the buttons could double as a means of identification if someone got lost (Garrison, our four-year-old, likes to run off whenever he can). We used a Disney Signature font and went to disneyclipart.com to find a character that would represent each member of the family. In order to really get the kids involved and make this fun, no one was allowed to choose his or her own character, and madness ensued.

Julia probably should have been Cinderella or some other princess, but I was outvoted and she ended up as Minnie Mouse. My wife received Tigger. Somehow (and with embarrassingly little debate) I was dubbed Goofy. And after some discussion Garrison became Piglet (though he was nearly Pooh).

It’s a cheap, fun, family thing to do. It will help you to be recognized by Cast Members, and it will also let you know what your family thinks of you! Plus, I’d have to say that each button cost us less than a dollar each to make.

Incidentally, the company that behind this button-making kit, Badge-a-minit, is still around, and the kits are fairly cheap. In fact, I think they’re about the same price they were when I bought mine in 1987. If you have any questions about this, feel free to e-mail me at ryfun@earthlink.net.