Any ideas for making a countdown to Disney?

[OregonMinnie]

I was looking for something other than a calendar. More like counting down the days, but not sure what to use. I know there are plenty of Disney papers and stickers, but not sure how tout it all together. Has anybody made one?

 

[OregonMinnie]

I decided to do a quick search, and right away there was some adorable ideas on Pinterest. Because there are 10 & 11 year olds, it needs to be fun, and there was one that had Disney Trivia on the back of each number! It's a good start, but I still would love your ideas!

 

[Rubygoose]

Here's a pic of ours that is hanging in the kitchen (this was taken a couple weeks ago. We're at 70 days today.) i just cut the circles out of black construction paper and slipped 2 paper clips on it and taped them onto the back. I got a pack of Mickey "Snap" cards from the dollar store. I had to turn a 9 into a zero. The kids love changing the countdown. I made it last year and was so excited to use it again for our upcoming trip.

 

[tinkermomma]

We're going in 10 days and there are 10 letters in the word Disneyland. I am going to have my 2.5 yr old help me spell it out until the last day. She's really into letters so I think it will be fun.

 

[awdsmama]

How about a paper days chain, like we (or at least I did) made in early grade school around Christmastime when there were still mini-celebrations in classes

Put the # of days on each link, maybe a Disney sticker or something like that, and then remove each day as they pass until you're down to the end - and maybe put together a package of Disney stuff (pens, notepads, shirts, small trinkets etc) in a box wrapped up as a present and that gets to be opened on GO DAY (or night before to make it less chaotic)

 

[PoohsFan1]

This may or may not be something that you would like to do, but I wanted to share what DH and I are doing for our girls. We will be there in 27 days and we decided for this year's trip we would do something different for our girls, usually we do a basic countdown calendar using stickers and such. They are 11 (will be 12 on Saturday) and 9 and know everything and anything about Disney (I have trained them very well ), however since this is our first trip to DLR, they don't know as much about DLR trivia then say WDW (they have been on 9 trips to WDW so far). So DH and I came up with a game for them where every day they have to answer a DLR trivia question (we are not making it easy either, if they need to they will have to look it up with online resources or using our Disneyland Guide Book). After they get that question right, we will read them a clue to an item that is anywhere in or outside our house which will then provide them a clue to where a second clue is, and after they correctly guess the second clue, there will be a letter attached somewhere on that item, of course all of these items are Disney items that we have scattered throughout our house and even outside. Once they collect all of the letters, they will then have to unscramble them to find out what the one major surprise that DH and I have planned for them while we are on our trip. We started this at 31 days out and the girls are having a blast doing this. It allows them to learn something new each day about DLR and also do a scavenger hunt at the same time. BTW....our surprise to the girls is that they will each have a makeover at Disney Studio 365 .

 

[TinkFlies]

Don't have time to post a pic but we did a chain. One link is red with two white dots a la Mickey's pants while the next link is black with ears. Very cute. My BFF did it for us. I believe she found it on Pinterest. Very fun!

 

[Pesky]

Over on the family board, there is a countdown chain thread where you can request the file be sent to you. The chain itself has disney characters and the day and you make a paper chain and remove the links as the days pass.

 

[OregonMinnie]

This may or may not be something that you would like to do, but I wanted to share what DH and I are doing for our girls. We will be there in 27 days and we decided for this year's trip we would do something different for our girls, usually we do a basic countdown calendar using stickers and such. They are 11 (will be 12 on Saturday) and 9 and know everything and anything about Disney (I have trained them very well ), however since this is our first trip to DLR, they don't know as much about DLR trivia then say WDW (they have been on 9 trips to WDW so far). So DH and I came up with a game for them where every day they have to answer a DLR trivia question (we are not making it easy either, if they need to they will have to look it up with online resources or using our Disneyland Guide Book). After they get that question right, we will read them a clue to an item that is anywhere in or outside our house which will then provide them a clue to where a second clue is, and after they correctly guess the second clue, there will be a letter attached somewhere on that item, of course all of these items are Disney items that we have scattered throughout our house and even outside. Once they collect all of the letters, they will then have to unscramble them to find out what the one major surprise that DH and I have planned for them while we are on our trip. We started this at 31 days out and the girls are having a blast doing this. It allows them to learn something new each day about DLR and also do a scavenger hunt at the same time. BTW....our surprise to the girls is that they will each have a makeover at Disney Studio 365 .

This sounds really fun!!! I asked for her input, and she would like me to incorporate trivia, activities, and crafts, and she said "maybe a prize every few days" On Pinterest, I found some trivia lists and craft ideas to use, so now it's just a matter of deciding how to do it, which I also found some great ideas for.

We aren't going until the end of October, so I have some time to make it, but she wants to start it soon. I told her that would be a lot of trivia, crafts, activities, and prizes. She said "that's a good thing"! I am thinking 90 days at the most, but 60 sounds nice!

Thanks everyone for the ideas! Pinterest was awesome, and it looks like I will be making several things between now and our trip, like: decorating a coin jar, make pillowcase for autographs, make her a journal, decorating water bottles, luggage tags, and an m&m candy corn flavored Mickey wreath (since we are going for Halloween). That is the place to go if you are looking for ideas, and of course, the DIS boards thanks!

 

[Delilah1310]

We got a treasure chest-looking box from Hobby Lobby, put some small cute character stickers on plastic gold coins and filled up the treasure box.
Each day, our kiddo took out a coin from his treasure box.
It was a fun countdown. We didn't do anything special when we got to one, but that was my intention ... he was just happy with the coins!

 

[OregonMinnie]

We got a treasure chest-looking box from Hobby Lobby, put some small cute character stickers on plastic gold coins and filled up the treasure box.
Each day, our kiddo took out a coin from his treasure box.
It was a fun countdown. We didn't do anything special when we got to one, but that was my intention ... he was just happy with the coins!

So did the number of coins equal the number of days until your trip? I like the chest idea, and she could keep it and use for other things. And it wouldn't be hard for her to "turn" the coin in for a prize, activity, craft, or trivia question. Another good idea, and it would be easier to do for our longer countdown! Thanks for sharing!