Anyone here surprise your kids? How?

[***Tink***]

I figured it out first aunt terry!!! It was kinda funny how you did it! Now, we're leaving in a week! Thanks aunt terry! I love you for surprising me!

 

[glass slipper girl]

we're surprising my kids tomorrow!

They know they will be going for Star Wars Weekend but they think the trip is in July after my oldest DS's birthday. My Mom and I are taking them. She's spending the night with us tonight b/c DH and I are going to see Wicked tonight and she's staying with them. She'll be with us to drop them off to school then we'll come back and I'll pack (already have clothes sorted just haven't broken out the suitcase. We pick them up from school tomorrow at 1:00 (oldest is in kindergarten, youngest in preschool) and take them to lunch wtih Daddy and will tell them at lunch taht we have to hurry to get to the airport because we are on our way to Disney!

 

[sphmaz]

We're surprising our kids, DS(6) and DD(3), for our September trip. I do not plan to tell them until I wake them up the morning we leave. Can't wait to see THAT reaction. DH will be filming that one most definitely! Iwill ahve packed the kids stuff the day before while they are in school/daycare and I will have arranged with my son's teacher to get homework assignments. I can't WAIT! This is also going to be DS's 7th b-day present as he will turn 7 a few days after we get back.

 

[MayMom]

We are surprising our DS this September. He will think that we are going to St. Louis for Mommy's bday (9-23) just to stay in a hotel and swim. When we get up on the 23rd, and go to the airport, we aren't going to tell him ANYTHING. I am planning on having the flight attendant announce it on the plane if she/he will!!!! I am so excited!!!

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

We're surprising ours in 22 days!!

We made a custom photo book and had it printed (hardbound - only $20 at Wal-mart!) that talks about our son's kindergarten year and ends with "So Mommy and Daddy picked him up and said.... We're going to Disney World!"

You can see it here :

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1090565

It will only work if I manage to keep my mouth shut, though!!!

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

MouseearsJenny -- What a great book you put together! It is adorable. Do you scrapbook?

I would love to surprise my kids but they are 7 1/2 and 11 and I doubt I could keep it from them. That and the fact that my older one would be looking for her clothes if I packed.

 

[4lilpoohs]

I surprised my two year old and five year old. I wasn't sure how I was going to tell them. Then about a week before our trip my five year old was saying how he wanted to ride in an airplane, on a train and on a boat. That was perfect timing The morning of our trip we had to get up really early to get to the airport. I asked him if he would like to ride on a plane today. He was so excited!! When we got to the airport in Florida I thought I better tell them before we get on the bus. So while we were in line for DME I had the boys call Daddy to tell him about the airplane ride. I had DH tell them on the phone that they were going to DisneyWorld I have the best pics of them on the phone finding out!

 

[familyfirsttimer]

I am in the process of doing this now. We are going in Aug and I sis not tell my DD7 & dd4 yet. I wrote an intivation to lunch at CRT inviting them and their parents with our specific ADR info. We are going to give it to them in June sometime. I do not want to wait until the day of, I do think the planning and them getting excited is a lot of fun. This is only our 2nd trip!

I really cannot wait to see my DD7's face when she reads the letter and figures out what it means. I think she will be shocked. We told them we would not be going again for a few years since her Irish Dance group is have a trip to Ireland next year (really, really expensive!!!)

Good luck with whatever you decide! You could easily prints some cute pics from DIS design boards and print something quickly. Have fun!

 

[ECU Pirates]

In March we took our DD's (12 and 13) to Disney for their birthdays.

We told them that we were going to the beach in Florida. (We live in NC.) We were arriving late (got to the resort at 2:00am) so we knew they would fall asleep on the way.

They woke up when we got to the security gate at Port Orleans French Quarter and just about scared the security guard they were squealing so loud when they realizied where we were.

It is definitely a surprise we will not be able to pull on them again!

 

[3mickeys&me]

Reading all these are great!! Actually brought tears of excitment to my eyes

I would LOVE to surprise my boys but there is NO WAY I could contain my excitement. LOL I would be so excited myself they would definetly figure it out.

 

[Kimmumum]

We surprised our DS8 and DS12 over spring break this year. We told them we were going to our cottage in Indiana for Easter. I packed everything, bought everything we needed, ordered tickets, got free samples in the mail etc and they NEVER had a clue. The cottage is about 2 hours from our house. The night we left it was raining and when they would ask if we were there yet we just said the rain was slowing us down. 2 gas stops and 7 hours later we finally told them. Although everyone (all of our friends and family) knew we were going they never caught on.

It was hard to contain our excitement but DH and I thought of it as a game.

We would do it again in a heartbeat

 

[Sneezie]

A few years ago I surprised my DD (then 10). Actually it was a surprise for all of us. My sister and I talked about going to WDW one Tuesday and by that Thursday we were heading out. I went to wake DD at her usual "time-to-wake-up-for-school" time. She sits down to iron her uniform and I ask her "What are you doing?" (imagine incredulous tone). She looks at me like I had just lost my last marble and says "I'm ironing my clothes for school." and I respond "But, why?" I can see her trying to come up with an answer that won't make mommy feel stupid. So I say "Oh, didn't I tell you... we're leaving for Disney World today!" She was floored.

Then, when she was 12, she was talking about a dance that they were having at her school and how she couldn't wait for it. She and her friends had been talking about it for days. They were ready to party The day before the dance (which happened to be the day that we were leaving), my brother tells her, "You're not going to dance." and she says "Oh, yes I am." HIM: "I bet you a shiny quarter, that you're not going to the dance?" and she pulled his finger (the international sign for an agreement to a bet). He says "I'm going to win this bet." She says, "No, you're not because nothing is going to keep me from that dance". He says, "Well, I guess you won't be coming to Disney World with us tomorrow."

My brother went to sleep one shiny quarter richer that night!

 

[Wickedmom75]

All of these are great !!! I am "Borrowing" another disbaorders idea for this trip.( Thanks MouseearsJenny) We surpised the kids last year during the free dining and it back fired a little bit. I drove down with my cousin and our kids (DD11 DD10 DS 7 DS4 cousins DS 7 and DD4) My husband flew down cause the "burb only holds 8
( lucky duck) we told the kids we were going to NC to go camping .We get to NC and say you know what maybe we should camp in GA.

We get to GA. and said once again maybe we should go camping in Fl , all the while thinking all the monkeys in the car would figure it out (well at least DD10 she is as big a disney nut as me) nope none of them , as we get into Orlando and are about 10 miles from the Disneyworld exit ,this huge gigantic dark cloud formation was off in the distance with awesome lightening going on.

We rolled down the windows to get a better look and as soon as we did that, a bolt came down about 10 feet away , all the kids screamed like a bunch of banshees and started crying.

Then it started pouring and all of a sudden we were stuck behind a van that is one fire and this woman, her friend, and a little girl and a tiny baby jump( ok tiny baby did not jump) out of the van and my cousin and I are freaking out 'cause no one will let us get out from behind her and no one will stop to let these people get on the side of the freeway. We were terrified . Finally we get over after seeing flames engulf the van, the kids are hysterical now, oldest DD says " of all the places to go camping why did we have to come here " so we say guess what we aren't going camping we are going to Disneyworld , they thought we were lying.

Then DD 10 says "wheres dad?" I told her he was flying , then she hit the roof , "he's flying in this ?? What is going to happen to him ? Is he ok?" I felt like the worst momma in the world.

To make it even better as we were checking in to PORR DH calls and says hey did you see that huge storm , I just said " uh huh " and I believe I also asked if he was on ME ,his plane should have landed 40 minutes prior. He said well I am at an airport . Turns out the storm was so bad the plane had to circle around MCO for quite some time and ended up landing in Jacksonville due to them being low on fuel. He eventually made it.

The 1st day was a nightmare ,glad we didn't plan anything for that day!!! The kids perked up when they found out their Aunt, Uncle,2 cousins , and their Nana and Popa were going to be there. This year I am going to make a booklet to present to them when we get halfway down there. Wish me luck and lots of Pixie dust

 

[pixie dust 112]

We told my 3 DDs that my DH was going on a business trip and that we were going to bring him to the airport . I put his trip on the calendar about a month before we left. I had planned to take off from work the day before we left to sneak everything into suitcases and into the car without DDs seeing. This was in January. DH and I had already snuck out to the stores to buy summer clothes and bathing suits, as we live in the Northeast and DDs had outgrown everything from the previous summer. As luck would have it, we got up that morning and the schools were closed for a snow day. I ended up sneaking things a bit at a time, into our detached, unheated garage, to pack so that the girls wouldn't catch on. Because of the snowstorm, DH and I decided we should drive to a hotel near the airport that night as our flight the next day was for early morning, and we had about an hour's drive through the mountains (This could easily be a very scary three hour drive in a snow storm ). So we all head to the Holiday Inn by the airport. Luckily the heavy snow held off until after we arrived at the hotel!

We weren't going to tell the kids until we got to the airport the next day, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer. At dinner that night DDs started to complain that daddy got to go away and they had to go to school. So I asked them, "if you could go anywhere in the morning where would it be?" They all agreed that Disney would be the first choice. So we said ok we'll go to WDW in the morning, your bags are in the car. Two DDs were going crazy with excitement and the 3rd told them that we were obviously kidding that we would never plan something like this. We finally convinced her that it was true. It was truly amazing to see how excited they were! It was worth packing in the freezing cold garage!!!!

We had let their teachers know in advance and got their homework assignments to bring with us! Luckily they are all good students so this wasn't a problem. One daughter's teacher even called from her home on the snow day before we left to tell me that if a time ever came that my daughter had a choice between doing her homework or dancing with Mickey, she should most definitely dance with Mickey, that sometimes the dance is just more important. She knew my daughter was responsible to make up anything she missed.

 

[pixie dust 112]

We told my 3 DDs that my DH was going on a business trip and that we were going to bring him to the airport . I put his trip on the calendar about a month before we left. I had planned to take off from work the day before we left to sneak everything into suitcases and into the car without DDs seeing. This was in January. DH and I had already snuck out to the stores to buy summer clothes and bathing suits, as we live in the Northeast and DDs had outgrown everything from the previous summer. As luck would have it, we got up that morning and the schools were closed for a snow day. I ended up sneaking things a bit at a time, into our detached, unheated garage, to pack so that the girls wouldn't catch on.

Because of the snowstorm, DH and I decided we should drive to a hotel near the airport that night as our flight the next day was for early morning, and we had about an hour's drive through the mountains (This could easily be a very scary three hour drive in a snow storm ). So we all head to the Holiday Inn by the airport. Luckily the heavy snow held off until after we arrived at the hotel!

We weren't going to tell the kids until we got to the airport the next day, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer. At dinner that night DDs started to complain that daddy got to go away and they had to go to school. So I asked them, "if you could go anywhere in the morning where would it be?" They all agreed that Disney would be the first choice. So we said ok we'll go to WDW in the morning, your bags are in the car. Two DDs were going crazy with excitement and the 3rd told them that we were obviously kidding that we would never plan something like this. We finally convinced her that it was true. It was truly amazing to see how excited they were! It was worth packing in the freezing cold garage!!!!

We had let their teachers know in advance and got their homework assignments to bring with us! Luckily they are all good students so this wasn't a problem. One daughter's teacher even called from her home on the snow day before we left to tell me that if a time ever came that my daughter had a choice between doing her homework or dancing with Mickey, she should most definitely dance with Mickey, that sometimes the dance is just more important. She knew my daughter was responsible enough to make up anything she missed.

The planning was so much fun for me and DH. We bought them beach bags as carry-ons for the plane and filled them with activities and their favorite snacks. We also got them each disposable cameras for the trip.

 

[Pixiedust34]

We are surprising our kids for our Sept. trip! It's a trip for just me and the kids. Dh isn't able to come along.

We are going to tell them a couple of weeks before the trip. I think that they should get some anticipation because that's part of the fun. Plus, my kids have not flown since they were infants, so this is their first "real" flight. I want to get them ready for what to expect at security and during the flight itself, especially if we can't sit together.

Here is how we are surprising them:

The pool where we belong has a Kids Day toward the end of summer. The kids play all types of games and get tons of candy. When we get home, we are going to slip large-sized candy bars in their goodie bags, and then tell them to have some candy. They will go for the big chocolate. When they open the candy bar, they will find a Golden Ticket (think Willie Wonka) that'll have the Big Surprise Revealed! We are working on a draft.......Something like "You will soon be Soarin' to a big Expedition where we'll Pop into some magical places and see some elephants fly!"

I can't wait to tell them! They will be so excited. It's hard to keep a secret. I didn't even tell my friends, in fear that their kids would leak it to mine.