This year I decided to go to the Stationery Fest in Brooklyn, New York instead of the Washington DC Pen Show. Here is a recap of my day.

I live in South Jersey so I started out my day at 8 am driving to the River Line light rail. I took the River Line up to Trenton, crossed the street and hopped a train from the Trenton Transit Center to New York Penn Station. I then had to navigate my way to the subway to get over to Brooklyn. My Google directions told me which train to take but failed to inform me if I should take the Uptown or Downtown train. Luckily, I chose correctly and headed Downtown. I had to switch to a second subway train and finally made it to Brooklyn just after 11 am.

I found the venue, a block or so away and got in line to check in. There was a beautiful courtyard with picnic tables and tents for resting, a large ink swatching tent, washi tapes for decorating your journal as well as other activities. They had a few snack and beverage vendors in case you needed a nibble.

I headed inside the building and started perusing the vendors. There was a lot. It was a great mix of fountain pen sellers, journals, stickers, washi tapes, journal charms, rubber stamps, and a ton of other things that you never knew you wanted until just then.

Almost every vendor had a rubber stamp and I filled up six pages of my Hobonichi planner. They also gave away a lot of stickers which I will share with my many penpals.

If you are just focused on fountain pens and ink, this isn’t the best place for you but if you like to journal, share stickers, decorate with washi tape and all the other stuff you can do with fun and unique stationery goodies, this is definitely the place for you.

If you want to go to the next one, set yourself up for success with the following tips:

1.) Buy a ticket as soon as the event is announced. They did sell out this year. If you want to join a workshop, sign up for those as well. The spacewalk does require a separate ticket.

2.) Wear comfortable shoes. There is a lot of walking and standing. You don’t want to make yourself miserable with a poor shoe choice.

3.) Pack your favorite snacks and water. The courtyard menu options were limited and I don’t think you can get re-entry unless you have a VIP ticket.

4.) Carry a bag or backpack. It’s a great way to hold all your purchases and snacks, leaving your hands free to collect the rubber stamps.

5.) Bring your journal or a blank notebook for the stamps. There will be a lot of them.

If you went, please share what your experience was like!