Can you hang a paper banner on your stateroom door as long as it’s held up with magnets and not adhesive? It’s my wife’s birthday on this cruise, and I was thinking of hanging a banner or posterboard and some crayons by magnets and asking people to leave her a birthday note. Is this a really bad idea? 
I’ve never done DCL (or any cruise) before.
Here is our door from 3 years ago. This was quite tame compared to some decorations that were on our cruise. (We cruised over KY Derby weekend, so that’s the connection.) I had magnets on the back of the cutouts.
There were also elaborate Fish Extender hangers for trading gifts (if you signed up to be part of an exchange).
I would think the banner ought to be fine, but perhaps attach something with a cap versus a crayon so it doesn’t accidentally mark on the door.
Honestly? I think having a bunch of markers or crayons out is pushing it - way too much chance of mischievous kids grabbing them and creating their own “art” on walls, and if they can trace the markers/crayons back to you then you would be responsible for the damage. If you really want to I’d have one tied onto a magnet IF you do it.
BUT they are still not allowing the ugly and hallway-clogging fish extenders (thank goodness) because they don’t want congregating in the hallways, so I don’t know that what you want to do would be allowed.
Better to get her the birthday button on the cruise and one of those sash and tiara things if you want her to have attention.
What I think would be more fun (and what my sister and I did for our dad though they ended up changing their cruise) would be to do a “card shower” and have everyone she knows send a card to arrive while you’re on the cruise so that she has a ton of cards when she returns.
That’s good about the fish extenders! I was amazed at the expense some people went to on those gifts. I was glad I hadn’t signed up to join the exchange once I saw what was being posted in our cruise’s Facebook group.
I honestly hope they never come back. Not only do they look tacky and like something that would be a better fit in a college dorm (I honestly wonder if some people just don’t want to admit that they left college) but some of them extend so far it hinders the stateroom hosts’ ability to get through the hallway to do their job.
And yeah. On another forum, someone talked about a woman who bragged about waiting until the last day to distribute her gifts and she ONLY delivered them to those whom she deemed worthy based on their gifts - and she actually kept a spreadsheet about what she got from whom (like “If it was obviously bulk candy or from a dollar store, they aren’t getting anything from me”). WAY over the top.
Wow! I definitely would have been blacklisted! When I considered joining the exchange on our cruise, thinking it might be fun, I was thinking something like a small box of candies that are unique to our city would be good idea. Then I decided that since we’d never cruised before it would be best not to join and get a feel for what it was and maybe do it for a future cruise. Then I saw people posting what they were bringing—I will say some of the efforts were impressive, ie- hand made shirts for the whole family. But then those shirts were only part of a much larger gift! That turned me off for good!
