Oh my gosh. I am so excited to share with you my weekend at the Chicago Pen Show. So, I’ve actually been to the Chicago Pen Show two years ago (2023). When I went, I didn’t know anybody and I was with my little family. It was a quick day trip and I remember circling the venue 2-3x. There’s a lot to see, and not knowing much about the whole thing, made me feel overwhelmed. Fast forward to now… I decided to go, since I knew a few friends will be there and Marylyn, said yes. I was so excited to see her again and to just experience the whole thing again with a whole new perspective.
We had planned to just do a Saturday-Sunday, but since we arrived earlier than expected on Friday, we decided to just go ahead and go that day. So we attended the Pen Show on Friday & Saturday.
Friday didn’t open to the public until noon, but as soon as we were allowed in, we ran over to Papa J Studio‘s table. Thankfully, the exact one I had wanted was there. I am in love! It’s my first “maker pen.” -I must say, I had inked it with Wearingeul Purgatorio first and it burped/didn’t write well. I’ve since cleaned it out and inked with with Sailor Ink Studio #373 and I have been loving journaling with it.
At the show, I got to see a lot of maker pens and met so many wonderful vendors, met new friends and saw limited edition pens, that I’ve been fawning over online. End of the day, I took home a total of 3 fountain pens. I loved every bit of our first day.
Saturday, Day 2
Got ready and headed to Atlas Stationers x Esterbrook breakfast featuring Coffee Monster Co. -as I had an invite, which I thought confirmed but I guess didn’t. Thankfully, they were cool enough to let us join anyway. The breakfast event was fun. Got to play with pens and inks and met so many pen/journaling lovers. It was a good start to our day.
I honestly was just there to browse since I already got the pen on my wishlist haha. But yes, I still ended up purchasing a handful of things. Inks, stickers, pen pouch -my weakness lol. There are two pens that I still think about (not really a regret I think). One is I believe from Delta Pens and one from Zodiac Pens. But I will say, I am happy with what I did haul for both days.
For lunch, Marylyn, Lao and I, ventured over to the Fashion Outlet Mall because it was the closest POPMART store. So we ate, then we hunted for some labubus, we were not successful, but, we did get crybaby, which I actually love more.
For the rest of the show, we just hung out and tested some inks. They had 100s of inks to try at one table. It was pretty cool. I kinda wish I brought my ink journal for that. We ended our night at a brewery for dinner with other pen lovers. It was pretty fun!
We all headed home early on Sunday, which was nice. My 3 hour communicate went so smoothly (6 am – 9 am). No traffic, barely any cars… ahh, I wish it’s like that all the time. Marylyn, Lao and I, all got home safely. I really hope to see them again soon. It was truly a lovely weekend with both of them.
The Chicago Pen Show is small compared to other shows, but to me, it’s pretty big. It’s definitely bigger than when I went two years ago though. But yes, I think it’s a good size for my “first pen show.” I can’t imagine going to a bigger one because I must admit, I did get overwhelmed half way through on our first day, Friday. I would go to this again for sure. It’s close enough for a weekend trip.
So that’s it, I don’t know what else to talk about haha. I loved my experience this time around and am thankful for my friends for making it so much fun and memorable. Stay tuned for my next pen show adventure 😉 haha.
