Hand Over That Pen

Every year, in a handful of countries, Starbucks releases a planner. This is a review of one of the 2017 designs for the Philippines. The planner can’t be purchased, and can only be redeemed by buying 18 drinks — or eBay, but prices there seem pretty crazy.

When you redeem the planner, everything is in a sealed box — a pouch, an erasable pen, the planner itself, a magnetic bookmark & a sheet of stickers. Additionally the planner has two pages of coupons in the back, but they can only be used in the Philippines.

The planner starts with a year overview.

Then there’s a cover page for each month — each with different art. All in this watercolor style — some have goals to write in or space to stick pictures, and some are just art.

Then a monthly calendar spread.

Then a page per week, with a blank page facing for notes. Philippine holidays are marked, conveniently many of these (but not all!) overlap with US holidays. Many of the pages are also decorated with small illustrations that match the theme for that month. (February is full of delicate but not too cheesy pink hearts)

The cover of this design is foiled. And there’s the magnetic bookmark — supposed to look like the top of a coffee cup, I guess? This picture was taken in bright lighting, meant to caption the foil.

I tested some pens — overall, the paper is pretty good. You can see there’s a little bit of feathering with the wetter pens (Pelikan BB, MT Swan) but overall it’s usable with most pens. The paper allows for shading, but I haven’t seen any sheen on it at all — even with heavily sheening inks like Akkerman Shocking Blue and Diamine Lapis.

Here’s the opposite side — basically no show-through.

I initially thought the planner might be made by Moleskin, but upon comparing closer with another Moleskin notebook I own, the paper doesn’t look the same. And this paper holds up to ink better — though not quite as good as the Tomoe River I’ve become used to.

I’m really excited to use this planner going into the New Year. I really like the layout of having an area for each day then a section for notes for that week. That’s the same layout I used to use in my Midori Traveler’s Notebook.

Anyone else using a Starbucks planner?