Professional tradeshow attendees know that one of the top reasons for attending is the swag they’ll walk away with. Some is useless, some is fun for a minute and other swag is useful for weeks, months, even years. Your purpose for setting up a booth at tradeshows is to have as many attendees walking out the door with your useful swag in their hands as possible. Of course, you probably have a budget to keep in mind. For these reasons, plastic pens are the way to go.

Plain Plastic Pens

Any plastic pen will always stand out against blasé paper handouts and free AOL CDs. They won’t necessarily stand out against other plastic pens, foam footballs or handy highlighters. They can be enjoyed more often than either the football or the highlighter, it’s at that point you can make a big impact without spending a fortune.

Consider the popular Slinky plastic pen, starting at £0.21 each including a single imprint color. You have a number of color choices when you choose the Slinky, including red, blue, black and silver. Sometimes a brightly colored pen is all you need to stand out in the bag of swag that will go back to the office and be doled out.

The Elegance Pens are inexpensive plastic pens, starting at £0.15 each, great for promotional events. The plunger action makes the clicking easy and enjoyable. These also come in various plastic pen barrel color choices including red, blue, black, green and orange.

Grippy plastic pens are relatively plain on the outside but offer a softer writing experience with a rubber grip on the lower half of the pen. Starting at £0.29 a piece, these pens come in four colors and include a single color imprint. Additional color imprints are available for a few pence more.

Fancy Plastic Pens

You can say a lot more about your business without spending a whole lot more with fancy plastic pens. Protus pens, for example, look like colored metal on the outside barrel with drilled metal clips – great for technological clients. For just £0.34 each, these are reasonably priced to boot.

Planeta ball pens are funky printed plastic pens that come in bright colors – green, yellow, purple, red or blue. Not only are they fun to look at and easy to find, they are a joy to use thanks to the larger-than-normal barrel.

Springo manufactures a couple styles of visible spring pens that catch and hold the attention of any pen-pusher. The clicking action, controlled by a spring, can be seen through the transparent upper barrel. Starting at £0.34 each, both the satin and frosted plastic pens are sure to hold the attention of anyone who takes it home.

Go with a super fat or oversized pen to create buzz around the tradeshow. The Mega ball pen, starting at £0.37 each, offers a fatter barrel than most other plastic pens which equates to more room for your message. The Giant ball pen is a steal at £0.22 each.