Magic Planning Party

[ALMinVA]

We are sailing November 30th. It will be myself, dh, dd13, dd's friend 13, and ds7. We are celebrating our 40th birthdays and our 15 year anniversary on this cruise so we splurged and booked the Roy suite. Since we really want to make this a vacation of a lifetime I want to host a Once a month Disney cruise planning party. My idea is to focus on one area each month ie excursions, dining rotation preference, etc. I also want to give the kids small surprises at each party ie trading pins, matching tees, lanyards?
Has anyone done this before and have any creative suggestions?
I'd love to do Fe with them but I'm a little hesitant right now that we'll have a group (turns out its a podcast cruise and we are not booked through DU) but in any case it will be advent so I'll be doing advent surprises for the kids, but Fe crafts would be fun to do during one party.
Any other suggestions?

 

[SunLuvr321]

I have read quite a bit about families wearing matching shirts, especially for their embarkation photo. I am thinking about making T-shirts with my grandkids before we go on the cruise. One of the options I am considering is a Tie-Dye Mickey head shirt. The directions are in this thread.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2028914

 

[AlmostAmber22]

We're thinking of doing something like this for sailaway this year as well! These are super cute!

 

[wcw57]

we had a planning party where my DGD and I cooked meals/snacks from Disney cookbook...(simple stuff) and then we discussed a couple of things...and then we had activities like draw mickey with eyes closed...draw the ship from memory....simple/silly stuff..

we had another meeting where everyone got a small disney figurine from dollar store as favor....

and. of course, the infamous countdown chain!!!!

 

[Goofy559]

We are sailing November 30th. It will be myself, dh, dd13, dd's friend 13, and ds7. We are celebrating our 40th birthdays and our 15 year anniversary on this cruise so we splurged and booked the Roy suite. Since we really want to make this a vacation of a lifetime I want to host a Once a month Disney cruise planning party. My idea is to focus on one area each month ie excursions, dining rotation preference, etc. I also want to give the kids small surprises at each party ie trading pins, matching tees, lanyards?
Has anyone done this before and have any creative suggestions?
I'd love to do Fe with them but I'm a little hesitant right now that we'll have a group (turns out its a podcast cruise and we are not booked through DU) but in any case it will be advent so I'll be doing advent surprises for the kids, but Fe crafts would be fun to do during one party.
Any other suggestions?

When our friends joined us on their first Disney cruise, I hosted a dinner party where each course was food from one of the islands we would be visiting - it was a lot of fun researching, and all the food was great!

 

[ALMinVA]

I have read quite a bit about families wearing matching shirts, especially for their embarkation photo. I am thinking about making T-shirts with my grandkids before we go on the cruise. One of the options I am considering is a Tie-Dye Mickey head shirt. The directions are in this thread. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2028914

Interesting! We actually did something like this as an activity pool side when we stayed at the Yacht Club last year. Great idea to run past the kids! Thanks for sharing!

 

[ALMinVA]

we had a planning party where my DGD and I cooked meals/snacks from Disney cookbook...(simple stuff) and then we discussed a couple of things...and then we had activities like draw mickey with eyes closed...draw the ship from memory....simple/silly stuff.. we had another meeting where everyone got a small disney figurine from dollar store as favor.... and. of course, the infamous countdown chain!!!!

The countdown chain! Thanks for the ideas and the reminder. Sounds like it was fun! I'm going to research some snacks. Too bad they don't ship Mickey bars!

 

[ALMinVA]

When our friends joined us on their first Disney cruise, I hosted a dinner party where each course was food from one of the islands we would be visiting - it was a lot of fun researching, and all the food was great!

Oh that sounds delicious! I'm dreaming of fried plantains! Forget the kids, dh and I can have our own party

 

[storknurse13]

We are sailing November 30th. It will be myself, dh, dd13, dd's friend 13, and ds7. We are celebrating our 40th birthdays and our 15 year anniversary on this cruise so we splurged and booked the Roy suite. Since we really want to make this a vacation of a lifetime I want to host a Once a month Disney cruise planning party. My idea is to focus on one area each month ie excursions, dining rotation preference, etc. I also want to give the kids small surprises at each party ie trading pins, matching tees, lanyards? Has anyone done this before and have any creative suggestions? I'd love to do Fe with them but I'm a little hesitant right now that we'll have a group (turns out its a podcast cruise and we are not booked through DU) but in any case it will be advent so I'll be doing advent surprises for the kids, but Fe crafts would be fun to do during one party. Any other suggestions?

Have you thought about ordering the kids Disney Dollars to spend on the ship? You have to search Disney dollars on the parks website and order them! It's a great idea for surprising the kids!

 

[storknurse13]

Have you thought about ordering the children Disney Dollars from the Disney Parks website? That would be a fun surprise for them!

 

[mmouse37]

We always have a pre cruise party and serve a pirate menu with all the foods renamed. Below is a cut and paste of what I posted in a similar thread last year:

We always try to have a pre cruise party when we travel with a large group.

Castaway Cay Chicken Parm
Buccaneer Burgers
Yo Ho Ho Hot Dogs
Walk the Plank Marinated Flank Steak
Pieces of Eight Pasta
Shiver Me Timbers Tomatoes
Gangplank Green Salad
Treasure Chest Chicken Wings
Captain Jack Black Bean Salad

I made these ship cookies and ordered a Bon Voyage cookie cake:

Some decorations

I have also ordered a Bon Voyage banner from Oriental Trading and got nautical flag streamers and other nautical decorations and paper goods.

And of course my Captain Mickey Big Fig

I used Nigella Lawson's sugar cookie recipe and her cookie icing recipe (and just colored the glazes with food coloring). I got the ship cookie cutter at a small country store but it can be found online as well.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/cut-out-cookies-recipe/index.html

MJ

 

[ALMinVA]

We always have a pre cruise party and serve a pirate menu with all the foods renamed. Below is a cut and paste of what I posted in a similar thread last year: We always try to have a pre cruise party when we travel with a large group. Castaway Cay Chicken Parm Buccaneer Burgers Yo Ho Ho Hot Dogs Walk the Plank Marinated Flank Steak Pieces of Eight Pasta Shiver Me Timbers Tomatoes Gangplank Green Salad Treasure Chest Chicken Wings Captain Jack Black Bean Salad I made these ship cookies and ordered a Bon Voyage cookie cake: Some decorations I have also ordered a Bon Voyage banner from Oriental Trading and got nautical flag streamers and other nautical decorations and paper goods. And of course my Captain Mickey Big Fig I used Nigella Lawson's sugar cookie recipe and her cookie icing recipe (and just colored the glazes with food coloring). I got the ship cookie cutter at a small country store but it can be found online as well. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/cut-out-cookies-recipe/index.html MJ

Wow! That's awesome!