Disney Magic Bands

If you look in Pinterest for decorated magic bands you'll find a whole new way to express your Disney side.

For our trip to the great Mouse House I decided to use nail polish to decorate our bands and make them unique.

 If you are a huge Disney fan then you'll know just how exciting it is when these babies arrive.


For those that don't know, these are your ticket to everything.  Disney has changed over to a RF wearable wrist band.  Inside that little Mickey head is a chip that lets you into your room, has your park tickets and fast passes, photo package and even can be used as a payment method if enabled with your resort.  Basically the only thing you really need to carry to the park now is this wristband!


If you plan ahead you can choose your colors and they come with your family names on them.  I've changed ours to post here.  You can choose nicknames or the actual name of each traveler.

 To get started I found a sketch of the magic band online and stretched the dimensions to precisely match the dimensions of the magic band.  I then printed four copies and made a sketch for each band's design.  Erasing pencil is much easier than erasing nail polish.

I started with a clear coat on each band.  This was a recommendation from another band decorator that would allow you to remove the nail polish easier if you made a mistake.

Next I used a nail art pen to make the racing stripe detail on Lil' Boy's band and the swirls on Mommy's band.  I used a silver nail art pen to make the details on Lil' Girl's band.

I let them dry between each coat.  The racing stripe on Lil' boys and the color base on Mommy's eventually cracked from flexing.  Paint them in the shape of your wrist to reduce this (I used a bathroom cardboard tube).

Some other bloggers suggested using acrylic paints to avoid the cracking.  The final part was to put on a clear or sparkle top coat to seal the paint.

Here it is in process.  Lil' Girl wanted a frozen band so I had to add silver sparkles and shimmering nail polish.

Lil' Boy wanted a race car band.  His black details were done with a sharpie marker.  This does not like nail polish top coat and was left exposed.

Daddy wanted plain but I talked him into Tigger.

I went with a Tinkerbell inspired design.

 Many of the rides in Disney use black lights.  I found another great idea for using glow-in-the-dark nail polish so the bands react on the rides with black light.

Each band was decorated with "hidden magic".  Lil' Boy's checkered flag and stripe lit up.  Lil' Girl's had more swirls and dots.  Mommy's had hidden mickey's (an awesome scavenger hunt tradition in the parks).  Daddy's had stripe accents.

Besides reacting in black light (like pictured) they also glow in the dark.  This was a great distraction for Lil' Boy (5 yrs old) on the few rides where they shut out the lights completely.  He could look at his "magic" on his band and not worry about the dark.

After trip update:

How did they hold up?

I had to detail Lil' Boy's each day.  The pool erased the sharpie that was not sealed.  Thankfully I had some with us for signature books.  Mommy's band had paint cracks but held up well. Daddy and Lil' Girls were perfect the entire trip.

My two little ones are still wearing their bands as accessories some days.  It may be years before we go again but these little magic bands are still fun to look at.  Maybe eventually I'll get them back from the kids and put them in a shadow box with a family trip photo.