27 of the Best Guest Book Alternatives

If you’re in market for a unique guest book, this list of 27 guest book ideas covers everything from wooden oars to a guitar. Guest sign in books are a fun addition to any event and a great way to personalize a graduation, wedding, or baby shower. I also love that a guest book can often double as an activity to encourage guest interaction.

*This post contains affiliate links.

What is a guest book?

A guest book is a place for party guests to write well wishes to the guest of honor. A typical guest book would be a bound book with lined pages inside. This is a list of non traditional guest book ideas. When considering a unique guest book for, ask the question:

What does the guest of honor love to do?

Does she love playing scrabble or going to the lake? Have guests sign an oar, anchor, or buoys! If you have a game lover on your hands, have guests sign the back of a game board or a Jenga set.

Wedding Guest Book Alternatives

I divided this post up into 3 sections, but you can adapt most of these guest book ideas for any event. For instance, a quilt guest book is under the wedding guest book ideas list, but it would also be adorable for a baby shower. Just make the quilt baby sized. A t-shirt quilt guest book would be super fun for a highschool graduation party. The graduate could take her sign in book/quilt to college!

1. Jenga

I love the idea of making a giant backyard Jenga set that way you have more room for guests to sign and what a fun backyard game!

2. Sign our quilt

Jennifer and Clayton had the quilt already pieced together and ready for guests to autograph with fabric markers. Talk about a wedding guest book you will cherish and use forever? This is the winner! See more wedding and quilt details at The Plunge Project.

3. Rocks

I write on rocks as souvenirs from vacation, but it works just the same as a guest book! All you need is a bowl full of smooth river rocks, a white paint pen and a glass vase to toss the signed rocks into.

4. Calendar Guest Book

I love the birthday calendar as a wedding or graduation guest book! When the event is over, the guest of honor has a calendar filled with all of his or her friends birthdays! Here is a gorgeous wedding calendar guest book from Etsy.

5. Champagne Bottle

For the champagne lover, a magnum bottle of champagne or wine could be used as a guest book. A magnum is double the size of a standard 750 mL bottle of champagne. Have a few gold paint pens available for guests to sign the bottle. Another fun idea, is to have guests sign an extra large wine glass to later be used as an ice bucket or wine chiller.

6. Game board

Scrabble, Clue, Monopoly, or Life would all be great game boards to serve as a unique guest book. Have a few permanent markers handy and let guests sign any where on the game board. (Image via Pinterest.)

7. Turn photo strips into a scrapbook

This idea works great if you have a photo booth or even a Polaroid camera on hand for guests to use. Have a basket full of a props and a hand full of markers and this interactive guest book will make itself! Another great option is downloading the Simple Booth app and have an iPad set up on a tripod!

8. Fingerprints

All you need for this guest book is ink pads and a pre made drawing. Check out this Etsy seller for fingerprint guest books. There is everything from a simple family tree design to a lion complete with a finger print mane for a zoo themed wedding.

9. Metal Letter & Paint Pens

I have folks email and ask me where to find metal letters all the time! You can find most metal letters on Amazon. Here is a very similar letter “S” on Amazon and all the letters of the alphabet here. See more details from this beautiful wedding at Style Me Pretty.

10. Guest Log

This print screened guest log was oringially created by Baumbirdy, but no longer sold on Etsy.

11. Plates

Grab a few plain white plates in varying sizes to have guests autograph with metallic paint pins at the party. After the wedding, hang a plate collage in your dining room. These plate hangers from Amazon are the best.

12. Wooden Oars

Just add permanent markers and you’ve got yourself a unique guest book that’s perfect for the water lover. You can find inexpensive solid wood oars on Amazon. For more details from this gorgeous wedding, check out Style Me Pretty.

13. A wooden bench

The wooden bench wins most functional wedding guest book award! But, it a bench isn’t practical for your life, consider a small end table or even a chair? You can get the solid pine bench seen below on Etsy.

Baby Shower Guest Book Ideas

Many of the guest books above would work for a baby shower too, like a game board! How fun would a Candy Land or Clue guest book be for a baby shower?

14. Wooden blocks

This was the guest book used at my baby shower for Maxwell. We had each person decorate one block for each letter of the alphabet. The best part? My son still plays with these blocks today! We used 2 in. wooden blocks and paint markers. You can find similar blocks on Amazon.

15. Personalized note cards

If you’re hosting a baby shower, the mom to be note card is perfect for giving the new mama baby advice like favorite children’s book, but can also doubles as a guest book. After the shower, punch a hole in the corner of each card and use a ribbon to string them all together. Print the free printable personalized mom to be note cards here.

Unique Guest Book Ideas for a baby shower

16. Thumbprint guest books

I used this at my best friend’s baby shower. The little note read: Please “leaf” a Thumbprint and sign your name! After the event, you could frame the print and mom to be can use it as nursery decor.

17. Mad Libs

Get the free printable baby shower Mad Lib C.R.A.F.T.

18. Doodle in a person

I used this guest book at a book inspired baby shower I hosted for a friend. I had it on a desk as guests arrived and it proved to be a fun ice breaker activity for everyone. Each guest personalized a simple doodle character with colored pencils. Since the shower I was hosting was book themed, I had each guest add their favorite kids book in the flag above.

19. Baby’s 1st Alphabet book

My sister in law had this adorable Baby’s First Alphabet book set up at her baby shower and it proved to be such a fun activity for everyone. Here is the free printable template we used.

20. Favorite Book, Bible, Atlas, or Dictionary

A dictionary would be perfect for a graduation or wedding. Invite guests to circle a word that describes the couple or graduate and leave a note. I love the idea of a favorite kids book for a baby shower guest book. Here are few of my favorite baby shower guest book ideas:

Graduation Guest Book Ideas

21. Matted Picture Frame

You can’t go wrong with having friends and family autographing a matted picture frame. It’s classic, inexpensive, and a beautiful memory that can hang on your wall. You can find an 11×14 black frame matted to fit a 5×7 picture on Amazon. That means the mat has enough rooms for signatures!

22. Chalkboard Messages

A photo booth doubles as a fun activity for guests at an event, but it can also be turned into a guest book.

23. Guest Log

If you’re looking for an inexpensive, unique option guest book option, this guest log is perfect. All you need is a tree slice and You can use a real tree slice from your own back yard or buy a 13in slice on Amazon.

24. Guitar

Or any musical instrument for that matter! What about a banjo, ukulele, or a violin? As you can see the guitar guest book was used at a wedding, but would make such a fun guest book for a musical graduate. For a baby shower, I love the idea of guests singing a child’s ukulele with the thought that one day the child can use their baby shower guest book! (Image via Full Bouquet)

25. Collaborative art peice

Divide a canvas up into squares and encourage each guest to paint or color a square to make a large art peice the guest of honor can use in their home.

Spray bottle painting and syringe painting

26. Globe or map

If the guest of honor loves to travel consider a globe, map, or atlas as a unique guest book idea. Here is a white 8 inch globe that would work well as a guest book.

Which guest book idea is your favorite? What did you use at your wedding or baby shower? The ideas are seriously endless. What about baseballs, records, a surf board, wooden tree swing, or a picnic table!

If you’re in party planning mode, here are 3 more posts you don’t want to miss:

What is a guest book?