Printed Pens

Printed Novelty Pens

In my early days, before printed pens were ever thought of  we had the debate about fountain pens versus biros. At school we were even banned from using biros, so I ended up having ink blots all over my writing books. As far as I can remember there were no printed novelty pens although I may be wrong, it was a long time ago. My father had several real quality fountain pens that he would use to write his personal letters with and we were not allowed to touch them on pain of death, well not quite as bad as that, he was a kind man really.

Times have changed and so have pens to the point where we now have a bewildering choice of novelty pens for those quirky promotions. The old fountain pen, still a thing of beauty with its assortment of nibs to create italic or fine writing, is now a rare sight. In its place has come an amazing array of almost futuristic writing implements alongside the common ballpen; and a huge industry has developed from the supply of all kinds of printed novelty pens for just about every occasion.

Let's look at a few examples to give you an idea or two. It may be that using promotional pens is going to be part of your advertising campaign or that you are a collector. Firstly we can split them into three very distinct types

Practical Pens

These types are not so much novelty items but are often sent as promotional gifts, with branding on the clip or barrel. They comprise pens that serve a specific purpose. To give you an example, I use fine line permanent ink pens to do sketching and any form of freehand drawing as they don't scratch the paper. Architects use ones that are also fine but have a metal barrel on the nib. It makes drawing lines with rulers very neat. Fine liners, luminous pens and disk markers could also come under this heading. I am sure you could think of a few more.

 Funny or Weird Pens

These come in all shapes and sizes from multi light-up faces on springs to bendy straw ones. I don't intend explaining this category here because it would make a web page all of its own. The whole idea of these types of novelty pens is to bring a smile to your face.

Functional but Modern

This is the group that I am going to concentrate on because it represents both value for money, practical application and can be the ideal postal or give away gift at trade shows and exhibitions.

We have a wide range in this group, some are just for show, and they look good or have an unusual mechanism or a space age shape. Others work in unusual conditions conditions that would ruin other pens and some are really technologically advanced.

The novelty Galileo Space Pen, obviously named after the early space flights, is able to function not only in hostile weather conditions but also in zero gravity. To do this they have pressurized the ink and it comes encased in an aluminum tube for presentation. This would be an ideal promotional gift for high flyers, sorry about the pun.

Another pen is the Transformer Pen that unfolds when the button is pressed - just watch the video. This outstanding novelty promotional pen can also have your branding printed on it and is made from a type of plastic that has additives that control any micro biotic contamination. The manufacturers state that this will continue to protect for the full life of the item.

Other types are more geared toward form over function. The Mag Clip multifunction pen incorporates a clip that you can attach to a pad for taking notes and it can also retract when the clip is opened. This pen could be attached to a surface such as your fridge for convenient note taking. There are other multifunction pens that contain magnets and still have ample space for branding. These days the quality of printing is so good that in addition to your logo you can also add small digital photographs for a unique finish

There are one or two more I want to mention, but first some general advice. It is easy with so many choices to forget exactly what you require. Not only does cost come into it, but these pens represent an image of your company to the general public. You need to consider which best does this for you and also if it is suitable in terms of printable area. It would seem that too little information on the barrel rather negates the intention, but too much and the pen starts to look like a bit of overkill. The best thing you can do is talk to us because our experience of supplying novelty pens spans many years and many promotions.  Assisting in making your marketing campaign a success is an accolade to our products and experience so take full advantage of the free advice we are able to offer you.

OK, back to a few descriptions. Another type of novelty or promotional item is the double ended or even Quad Ball pen. The first is able to write from both ends and the second can retract each colour when not required. When I was a teacher one of these would have come in very handy, for marking all over the pupils' essays and there is no doubt that these pens would be welcomed in any educational establishment as really useful promotional gifts.

Other types include the Flip Ballpen that can swivel its barrel a full 180 degrees. The Kite pen that can act also as a bookmarker and has a surface that is good for printing on. The Reflex pen with its rubber grip handle and silver finish can open like a penknife when its button is pressed.  The list goes on and on and designers are coming up with more weird and wonderful novelty pens all the time that can be customized to your exact specifications and requirements.  Because these pens have special features or unusual properties it does not mean that they are expensive as you will find by exploring the comprehensive range available in the novelty section of our website and remember we actively welcome your questions.

So if you are in the market for printed promotional pens and in particular novelty pens, I hope that this information has given you some ideas that you can now follow up. I may be typing this now, but all my notes are scribbled all around me, using as it happens a printed novelty pen.