When it comes to Christmas, you may not think of office supplies.  But doesn’t it seem like pens all grow feet and walk away?  There never seems to be one handy when you need one!  Since everyone needs them, they make great stocking stuffers.  One of our favorites is Pilot.

We were sent some samples of several different Pilot pens, and can I just say I. love. these.  Every one of them.  Despite the fact that there are several different ink types represented here, every one of them has smooth, beautiful, amazing ink flow.  I hate it when a pen is scratchy, or when you have to really dig in to lay down a solid line (makes my hand tired); I like for the ink to just flow smoothly with the movement of my hand.  These do not disappoint.

The G2 Gel Ink Pen is (duh) a gel pen.  Pilot says it’s proven to last twice as long as other gel pens.  I don’t have any good way to test that, but I don’t have any reason to disbelieve it. 😉  Independent third-party consumer studies back this claim.  It definitely writes better than most gel pens I’ve tried.  (No wonder it’s the best-selling gel pen in the US!)  Choose from four different point sizes, depending on your preference.  And these appear to be are refillable.  (Yay!  It’s not just more budget-friendly, but also more eco-friendly to not keep throwing pens away.)

The FriXion is an erasable pen.  When I heard that, I was dubious.  My experience with erasable pens in the past has been that their ink is lousy (that is, they don’t write well), they don’t erase very thoroughly, and you pretty much tear up the paper as you (sort of) erase the ink.  Much to my surprise, I didn’t have any of those issues with the FriXion.  It wrote just as beautifully as all the other Pilot pens.  I did not shred up my paper erasing.  And it erased as thoroughly as a pencil.  Quite impressive!

Even more eco-friendly than the G2, the B2P is made from recycled water bottles.  (Hence the name.  Like “bottle to pen.”)  It’s kind of cool-looking, ’cause it’s actually bluish plastic – just like looking at a water bottle shrunk down to miniature.  To the best of my recollection, it is not refillable.  (I can’t double-check it, though.  It has been confiscated by someone else in my house who loves great writing utensils.)  [Update: This is refillable.  The gel version actually uses the G2 refills.]

about $1.50+ (sold in multipacks)

Disclosure: We were sent the pens mentioned above, as well as one included in another post, to facilitate my review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.  Incidentally, Pilot also manufactures my other favorite pen – the Varsity fountain pen.