Goodies for the trip....

[thelittlemermaid]

With our trip slowly, but quickly, coming up I am starting to figure out what kind of goodies to get my kids as surprises for the trip.

We are driving to WDW and would like to have some things for each day.

My DS is 8 and my DD is 4. I have some activity books with crayons, but not really sure what else to get.

Any help would be apperciated! My mind is coming to a blank trying to think of things to get. Of course my mind goes blank quite a bit. LOL!!!

One more thing, is anyone having problems with their countdown? We'll be at WDW Aug 9 and at one time my counter says I have 80 some days to go and then it goes to the correct time and now it says I have 10 days left I wish our trip was that close, but only if I had things ready. LOL!!!

TIA!!!!

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

Your timer seems to be working okay right now, but I have no clue why it goes crazy.

We are flying to Disney in 3 weeks but in 6 weeks we are driving to Myrtle Beach (12 hour trip). I have 3 kiddos (DS 6, DD 4 & DS 2). I am trying to buy stuff for the drive and here is what I have.
We have a portable TV/DVD player, I picked up 2 movies they haven't seen yet.
I just bought DS 6 a Gameboy (expensive but I have wanted one forever LOL, he calls my games boring!).
I picked up 3 invisible ink books at Wal-Mart. I think I got Disney Princesses, Nickelodeon characters and SpongeBob. I stopped by the $1 store today and picked up a few books for each kid along with some little pocket games (they had mini water games, mini pinball, etc).
I found neat little Atlas' at Wal-Mart for $1, I plan to highlight our route and see if they can follow along. They may be too young.
We also have rear audio in our van so the kids have headphones and some CD's to listen to. I bought snacks and special new spill proof sports bottles.
We had an 8 or 9 hour drive last year and I wrapped up little gifts to give out. I just bought a bunch of stuff at the $1 store and wrapped it in tissue paper. The kids LOVED that. After about an hour the newness and the fun of the gift wore off and they got another one. It brightened up the crabby "Are we there YET?" moments.
If you are traveling at night maybe pick up some glow sticks. We are bringing some to the parks!

That's all I can think of right now! Good luck and happy trip planning

 

[imsayin]

I've done this, and I wrap the items so the kids get excited having a present to open.

 

[meeshi]

I would get washable markers instead of crayons, then you won't have to worry about the crayons melting.

What about a map for your 8 yo? I know my kids liked to look at a map to see where we were and how much farther we had to go.

How about books or books on tape? Etch A Sketch or MagnaDoodle. Have travels sizes of those or at least they used to.

Wow, I'm drawing a blank too.

I guess it's been a while since my kids were those ages. I'm sure there will be plenty of people with great ideas for you, though.

Have a great trip!

 

[ceecee]

How about a gameboy with some Disney games OR if you have a dvd/vhs player in the car, some Disney movies OR portable CD player (with headphones) and some Disney music. Coloring in the car doesn't last long for DD who is 8. Reading seems to give her a headache. So she loves listening to music when we go for long drives.

 

[mrsboz]

A couple of days before we go on our trip I take the kids with me to the bookstore and to the market to pick out surprises. I figure out how long the trip will take and then I give them one of their prizes every hour or half hour depending on how long it takes. I also have a few that they don't know about and if they are being extra good I give them something else. I always say (like my father said to us) it pays to be good you never know when someone will notice. This actually works pretty well.

 

[bunny66]

I would suggest going to the Disney store in your town if one is available. I was just in ther and what a sale!!! I got each of my kids Disney t- shirts for 4$ each. We're putting them away for our trip. They had all kinds of things for really good prices. You can also surf the net for car games for the kids. I hope your trip is wonderful!!!!

 

[beaglebiz]

Sams club has individual sleeves of trail mix. a whole big box of these is about $6. great for the munchies, and to take into the park too....I found at Walmart, near the front of the store where the dollar stuff is, spiderman wallets for a dollar and spiderman waterbottles with a belt clip for a dollar. great tie in if you plan to visit Universal. (my kids love spiderman),
Also, dont forget "mad libs" for the kids for the drive down. Cute word game I remember from my youth

 

[frannn]

mad libs
princess radio from DS (2.50 on sale)
coloring books with crayons attached and word book(dollar store)
mini fans (2.50 on sale at DS)
Wiggles books (2. Kmart)
PVC Princess figures in a purse (2.50 DS)
Fanny pack
Trading pins (ebay & DS.com)
Princess costumes (ebay, Target, Walmart)
Tshirts, hats, flip flops (DS)
Light spinners (DS, on sale)
Princess hair clips (Payless)
Mickey 2004 white Tshirt to get autographs on-DD11 (DS)
Bubbles (Party city)
Clearance pocket toys (Kmart)
Disposable cameras (Costco)
Special snacks....not yet chosen-can't find the Wiggles fruit snacks
How about the maps from the free WDW planning video?

 

[vmkids]

WE think it is fun to play guess who and they have to be characters from Disney. You can also find Dinsey UNO and other cards so they could play them on the way down. Print out some character clip arts and make flashcards or trading cards and see if they know the character and then they can use them later to see who all they have autographs from. Magnet games work well too, for the car. Never took mine when they were young. believe me regret it now) but think it would be so fun to have done so. How about some disney notebooks just for their own creations. If you don;t mind a mess get some Disney suckers at the dollar store. They are the really big spun ones. Also, disney fruit roll ups and Disney cereal for a snack.

 

[mjbaby]

We don't do game boys of in-car DVDs because we try to limit "screen time", but travel size the magnadoodle is a huge hit (I've even made stencils for tracing, which worked great). I also try to buy one or two new books that I know would be enjoyed, even if they aren't "brainy". Having something new to look at seems to do the trick.

If it's available in your area and depending upon how long you have to drive, I also recommend looking into a satellite radio rental (if you don't already have it). They have over a hundred commercial-free "stations" which you can pretty much receive all over the country with no breaks. So if you're listening, say, to a DISNEY CHANNEL program (yes, they carry Disney!) you can listen all the way through without worrying that you'll lose the station as on a traditional radio.

 

[Disney_1derland]

recently our McDonalds has been giving out palm sized video games in happy meals. If you go to yours and ask about them you can purchase the whole set for $7(although price may be different elsewhere). There are 6 of them. My dd's love them because they beep and make noise. They are really tiny and they get a big kick out of them. Burger king also recently had a shrek one. All of these toys can be purchased without meals, never hurts to ask!

We went to Cracker Barrel and bought those magnet boards where you put the hair on the bald guy they were like $1.99. Cracker Barrel has lots of good vintage travel toys at not bad prices. Also, kmart was carrying a magnetic game set that was travel sized that my four year old thinks is the most amazing thing. She doesn't lose the pieces in the car because they stick. I also saw these really great hard plastic lap desks at walmart with deep wells on the side for pens/pencils that were $4.99 and made to fit over a booster seat. They were in the regular plastic storage bin area of the store.

We also burn a disk of everyone's favorite disney songs and sing on the way and play the "Animal" Game. I tell them an animal and they tell me a Disney character that is that animal.

 

[Disney_1derland]

books on tape! We have the entire harry potter series on tape and my 4 year old LOVES to listen to them.

 

[carone0318]

A gift for the first day at the park might be the spray mister fans that you can get at WalMart (or the likes - I saw them on clearance at Target this past weekend.) My kids were 6 & 2 on our last trip and they loved them. Being that you will be there early Aug, they might come in handy.

I bought them for our trip the end of Aug, and I also bought the small portable fans (no misters) from TDS.

 

[MollyBelle]

I got folders for each child last trip and made customized sets of worksheets for each child!

For my 4 yr old: Dora, dot-to-dots, Blues Clues, etc.

For my 7 yr old: Barbie, madlibs, word games, crosswords, etc.

I printed out LOTS of stuff that they both love, and it kept them busy a LONG TIME...

I shopped garage sales and Goodwill for a month before the trip, buying little things for .25-1.00 and put them in Rubbermaid bins labled "going" and "coming home".... that way, they had new stuff to keep 'em busy ...I was amazed how little piddly stuff was keeping them sooo amused. It was fantastic.

They have those "portable tray-desks" at WalMart also...which are great for putting in kids' laps and some of them can house markers, pens, etc. on the sides.

The ages that your kids are, they might like to play "roadside bingo" also -- you can create your own from the internet -- go to google and type it in!

Good luck!

 

[thelittlemermaid]

Thank you so much to everyone for the great ideas!!!!

My DH read the posts and said that I am going to have a fun time going shopping this weekend. LOL!!! You bet!!!

TA!!!!

 

[SuzieQMomof3]

I always get my kids new pajamas for our trips. The Disney Store is having a sale right now.

I also get them matching shirts, which I would never do anywhere else, but it makes it easy to keep track of them.

We like to play the "liscense plate game" and see how many state liscense plates we can see. I copied a map of the USA so the kids can color in what states we see.

Don't forget a Sharpie marker to put your name on everything.

Have a fun trip!

 

[MontyMontyMOnty]

My babies are both under two, but we took our 5 year old nephew to wdw several years ago. The dollar store was great for this 8 hour drive--I did not let him see any of the goodies I bought, just doled them out over time. We also made a paper chain, and tore off one of the rings every 50 miles, it helped him tto visualize how much further we had to go.
I also gave him maps/brochures from each park to look t, he asked questions, and circled the things he wanted to do on our trip.
I will do the same when our girls are a little bigger, right now they are pretty easy to keep happy!

 

[pegster]

SO MANY GREAT IDEAS!!!!!
I am so glad this was asked!!!
thanks!!

 

[Pixie-Girl29]

We are also about to go on a trip with our kids. What I do is I buy a little box ( the kind for school supplies ) you can fit a bunch of little suprises in it, like mini m'ms crayons, stickers, bandaids ect What I do is pack it as their very own trip survival kit and they love it . Then I decorate it with their names and stickers . It is a really cute ideal and the kids love it, and its not very expensive.Make sure you get a box that zips. I hope this gave you a idea, I look for stuff that is the theme of the park we are visiting! I hope you guys have a great trip! Pixie-Girl