»»June 16, 2012 Father's Day Cruise on the Fantasy!««

[Docjason2]

With your gift. Say Ssanders79 is in charge of it since he has the FE info. He would randomly assign a SM to everyone -- PM you with who you get to deliver to. You get the gift, deliver it, and it says who it's from on the gift tag. I have heard that some people have the stateroom attendant put their SM gifts in the room (especially if it's something that can't go into an FE). I have heard that a lot of people even wrap them like a gift, with wrapping paper and everything. I read a trip report that one family received a Lenox ornament for each member in their family! (I saw the orrnaments for $3.99 at Marshalls, so albeit a nice gift, they didn't spend a fortune).

That sounds like a great idea. We'll have to keep that in mind as the dates get closer and people decide on how many gifts they want to bring.

 

[mousemom11]

We aren't interested in participating in the FE, but would love to participate in the SM.

 

[WarEagle03]

The Secret Mickey sounds like a lot of fun!

 

[thegales]

Regarding the 63 cabins...

As our FE list was growing, the main organizer kept asking if folks wanted to split it. Only a few did, so we kept the big group. Since it was a small number who wanted to split, I think we told them to just distribute the number of FE gifts that they were comfortable with. Everyone still gave them a gift. It was Christmas, so most of us were in giving moods.

 

[thegales]

I probably should have added that many folks did bring an extra FE suitcase. We brought a couple of plastic crates for our FE and other odd sized items and Christmas presents. We stored the crates on the veranda, so they were out of our way. And at the end of the cruise they were very nice for packing stuff to go home.

 

[Silverfox97]

We always fill, and I mean FILL, a large duffle with our FE gifts, and then we usually only get a gift bag size full of gifts to take home, which leaves us with space to take home souveniers

 

[quirty30]

I haven't quite wrapped my arms around the whole Fish Extenders concept; I think it might fall into "biting off more than I can chew" but I'm still trying to decide. But the Secret Mickey is definitely something I could commit to!

 

[justakid@heart]

I'm pretty excited about the FE exchange. I "googled" fish extender gift ideas and it lead me to several DISboard posting about what folks received. Several people recommended Oriental Trading for "goodie bag" type items. The "sale" section had some reasonably priced goodies. Mini-white boards for the doors, picture frames, scrapbook items and themed goodies that are state specific seem to be popular gifts. I probably spent more time than I should have researching this; but since we have "time" to prepare....why not!

Secret Mickey sounds pretty cool!

 

[justakid@heart]

Hi Quirty30, heard you guys got hit really hard with the snow storm. How are you making out?

 

[Silverfox97]

I haven't quite wrapped my arms around the whole Fish Extenders concept; I think it might fall into "biting off more than I can chew" but I'm still trying to decide. But the Secret Mickey is definitely something I could commit to!

Don't make the Fish Extender exchange harder than it is - it can be as easy as buying a few bags of candy, popping them into "treat bags" and passing them out (with a tag on who it's from, of course!!). You will get stuff from home made scrapbooks and journals, all the way down to a few silly bands - all very fun and exciting!!! Seriously, the kids really love it - DD LOVES coming back to the room to check the FE Worth it just for her!!!

 

[3dmykids]

We really enjoyed the FE on our last cruise, especially since the kids did. They loved handing them out. I did find it a bit overwhelming though because I wasn't sure what to buy or give away. I felt we did okay but we were also stressed financially because our car had just broke down ($2000) and had to finish paying for the cruise and still had the shore excursions to pay for. We haven't decided if we want to do it yet but I know the kids would love it and it makes you feel involved. Dan isn't sure we could hide the FE from the kids, they are so nosey. I love using my cricut to make homemade gifts.

 

[GoHerd1028]

We really enjoyed the FE on our last cruise, especially since the kids did. They loved handing them out. I did find it a bit overwhelming though because I wasn't sure what to buy or give away. I felt we did okay but we were also stressed financially because our car had just broke down ($2000) and had to finish paying for the cruise and still had the shore excursions to pay for. We haven't decided if we want to do it yet but I know the kids would love it and it makes you feel involved. Dan isn't sure we could hide the FE from the kids, they are so nosey. I love using my cricut to make homemade gifts.

Tammy your FE gifts were great last time!!! We were like you that we had no idea what to buy. I think we "overthought" it. I am sure that Shari will try some cricuit things...can you believe she has still not used that??? I hope you guys decide to do the FE....I liked the marshmallows LOL

 

[Silverfox97]

C'mon - all of you Ohioans can just load up some Buckeyes Choc + Peanut butter = good............No peanut allergies in our house!!!

 

[quirty30]

Don't make the Fish Extender exchange harder than it is - it can be as easy as buying a few bags of candy, popping them into "treat bags" and passing them out (with a tag on who it's from, of course!!). You will get stuff from home made scrapbooks and journals, all the way down to a few silly bands - all very fun and exciting!!! Seriously, the kids really love it - DD LOVES coming back to the room to check the FE Worth it just for her!!!

See, I would feel guilty if I gave out simple bags of candy and in return, got lovely handmade gifts. I don't want to do it if I can't do it really well. But I'm in a really stressed time in my life and maybe if things calm down, I'll feel like I have more time to create something thoughtful to pass out (I know DD will help - she is very creative and crafty and it would probably be a great little project for us to do together.)

Hi Quirty30, heard you guys got hit really hard with the snow storm. How are you making out?

Thanks so much for asking - to be honest, we have been very lucky this year compared to those in the Northeast. So I can't complain. Snow just makes me wish our cruise weren't so far off in the future! I think we ended up with about 2 feet of snow here; I am just north of O'Hare Airport. I have an ancient snow-blower that I rarely use, but it came in handy. And thank goodness my employer had decided the day before to close our office. So once I got home Tuesday night, we hunkered down and waited for it to stop. And even though I thought it would take me all day to clear the snow yesterday, we finished the job in 2 hours. Here are some pictures:

 

[GoHerd1028]

C'mon - all of you Ohioans can just load up some Buckeyes Choc + Peanut butter = good............No peanut allergies in our house!!!

Mmm that does sound good but I bet they would not make it to the port...Mmmmm

 

[Silverfox97]

Best FE gift we've ever received - I don't know how she got all of these to the port - there was one for each member in every family.

http://firecrackerbakery.blogspot.com/search/label/cruise/travel

 

[Juls2989]

Best FE gift we've ever received - I don't know how she got all of these to the port - there was one for each member in every family.

http://firecrackerbakery.blogspot.com/search/label/cruise/travel

Wow!! Those are awesome!! We did the FE exchange on our cruise and it was so much fun!! I brought 2 extra suitcases full of gifts.. my husband thought I was nuts. He sure did have fun though! Still trying to decide if we are going to participate this time...probably will...it's so fun!

 

[Juls2989]

Thanks so much for asking - to be honest, we have been very lucky this year compared to those in the Northeast. So I can't complain. Snow just makes me wish our cruise weren't so far off in the future! I think we ended up with about 2 feet of snow here; I am just north of O'Hare Airport. I have an ancient snow-blower that I rarely use, but it came in handy. And thank goodness my employer had decided the day before to close our office. So once I got home Tuesday night, we hunkered down and waited for it to stop. And even though I thought it would take me all day to clear the snow yesterday, we finished the job in 2 hours. Here are some pictures:

Right there with you! That looks like my driveway. It took us about 2 hours to shovel out also. Luckily a friendly neighbor came by with a snow blower and helped us out. We are in Plainfield, south of Chicago. We all head back to school tomorrow . Was kinda nice having a couple of days all comfy at home.

 

[quirty30]

Right there with you! That looks like my driveway. It took us about 2 hours to shovel out also. Luckily a friendly neighbor came by with a snow blower and helped us out. We are in Plainfield, south of Chicago. We all head back to school tomorrow . Was kinda nice having a couple of days all comfy at home.

Kids had cabin fever today...and it was too cold to play in the snow. I agree, it was nice to be home...that car hasn't left the driveway since we dug it out! One day of work/school and then the weekend - not half bad!

 

[Docjason2]

I hope people don't get too stressed out about FE gifts. I know we didn't really have a lot on our first cruise, maybe a dozen, but it was still fun. I think having even more would make it a blast. I tell you what, the best time our kids had on the cruise, aside from the characters and the oceaneers club, was checking the FE every time they heard someone outside the door. It was like Christmas too them! Well maybe more like Halloween since they had trick or treating on our cruise and the kids went around in their costumes. Nonetheless we loved walking around the whole ship, just to see everyone's FE and doors.

So hopefully we don't get too many people out of it. It'll just make the "loot haul" home for the kids, that much better. They still have a ton of the silly bands and trinkets that we received on the trip. Some of them were especially good for the long boring plane rides for them.