jtanddolly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2008
- Messages
- 3,826
JKuglin started a thread about "Mickey's Grand Welcome" and between JKuglin, padisneyfour and a few things I added...the thread has lots of great ideas for things you can do to create your own "Grand Welcome". Here is a link to that thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2342599
Well I didn't get to go to Disney for Christmas but I did go to the Gaylord Texan, which had a Grinch theme this year. Thanks to JKuglin and Padisneyfour, I decided to make my very own "Grinch Grand Welcome". Hopefully this will give Disney travelers some ideas for things to make on your next trip...but even if you aren't going to Disney...this is proof that you can use these ideas for any trip your family may take.
Here is a Welcome Note that I posted on the hotel room door. I had different quotes from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on each door as we had three rooms! The nicest things about posting something on the doors (even if it doesn't have names) is that it helps you to find your room quickly and all the other rooms if you are traveling in a group. Even though we were supposed to have adjoining rooms...we ended up all the way on the other end of the floor and it was nice not having to remember everyones room number. If you are looking for Disney Welcome letters for your trip...Natalie has lots of great ones in her 4shared file:
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5978989/a06aa930/Natalies_DISigns.html
I also made a Grinch door hanger. Someone in our hotel liked it so much they stole the one I made from my in-laws door. Milliepie makes great Disney door hangers that you can find in her 4shared file:
http://www.4shared.com/dir/19077581/4fa6c900/sharing.html
Next came the footprints! I made a stencil and used baking soda (as it wouldn't harm the carpet) to leave "snow" tracks all over the room where the Grinch walked as he left gifts. If you check out the "Grand Welcome" thread above there is a printable outline for Mickey's footprints that you can use for your Grand Surprise along with his handprints and balloons:
Then came the "welcome banner". This looked much better when I first hung it in the room but I forgot to take a picture and my 3 year old went barreling out onto the balcony and nearly tore it apart. I haphazardly threw it back up to get a picture. I wish this was a better picture...it really was cute when it was originally hung! You can download a Mickey welcome banner at this website:
http://tv.disney.go.com/playhouse/grown-ups/celebrationcenter/decorations/mmch/index.html
Of course the most exciting thing were the gifts that the Grinch left for everyone! In the boxes, I had pajamas, slippers, the Grinch DVD, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" book, and Grinch T-shirts. In the green bags, I had the kids favorite candy treats, Christmas things from the Dollar Stores like crossword puzzles, coloring books, crayons, etc. and autograph books. I also found a fun Christmas blanket in Grinchy Green that I left for each child. You can do a similar gift by looking for a fleece (or any type) blanket in a Mickey color like (red or yellow) and have it embroidered with their name, Walt Disney and the year, or use an iron transfer to personalize it.
I think tags really make a gift special! There is a cute one on the "Grand Welcome" thread at the beginning of this post that you can add to your gift bags/boxes.
Here are the autograph books I made. If you want to make autograph books for your trip...check out these DISigners:
http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd181/Chaos1Cent/?start=0
http://s345.photobucket.com/albums/p379/ljcollins_2008/
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5978989/a06aa930/Natalies_DISigns.html
http://s143.photobucket.com/albums/r132/donatalie
Here is the Grinch t-shirt (front and back) that my SIL had made for everyone in the group...of course the boys didn't have "bling" on their shirts.
Now normally you would have mints or chocolates on the pillows but the Grinch decided to leave a Grinchy candy cane on each pillow:
The Grinch also left gift baskets in all of the rooms with wine, water, soda, candy, gold fish, nuts, granola bars, popcorn, hot chocolate packets, etc. and a small Christmas tree:
I made these snowmen candy bar wrappers for family and friends and stuck them in the baskets as well...they were just so cute I had to show you! The hat is made out of chidrens mittens:
I also made sucker and mint wrappers for each event that we went to so the kids would get to play Santa and see the smiles on workers faces as they gave them Christmas treats. Mel (Bababear) has lots of great candy wrappers and candy pockets in her thread that you can make for your trip:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1980430
Here is a picture of just a few that I made:
I also made invitations to all of the events that we planned to go to like Gingerbread House decorating, the Ice Sculpture Exhibit, Cookies and Milk with Ms. Claus, and Breakfast with the Grinch. These are great to "slide" under the hotel room doors late at night so that your family will find them first thing in the morning to let them know what fun things you have planned that day. They are also fun to add to scrapbook pages! If you want to make invitations for your Disney trip...check out Wendypooh's and Natalie's DISigns:
http://www.4shared.com/account/dir/14841499/b6ebdce5/sharing.html?rnd=41
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5978989/a06aa930/Natalies_DISigns.html
Another fun idea is to leave a note from a disney character in a "Disney" frame on the nightstand!
The only hard thing to making this happen is getting in the room before your family does, making sure that they don't see what you made before you leave it, and coming up with an excuse of where you have been so they don't realize that you were the one decorating the room. Have a plan with the adults that you are traveling with before you get there so that you can maybe let your husband or other adults go roam the hotel with the kids and you can check in and use the bell hop to get all of the luggage and goodies up to the room. You will need around 20-30 minutes (at least) to check in and get the room decorated. If you are smart...have a hotel scavenger hunt ready to hand to the kids and they can work on that while you work on the room. Just an idea!
I couldn't get into all of the rooms before my group got there so I decorated after everyone checked in and while the kids were decorating gingerbread houses. Don't feel like you have to decorate before they see the room...Mickey and the gang can come to the room at any time. This is also something you can do if someone is celebrating a birthday or anniversay while you are there...for the kids you can decorate after they fall asleep so that they will wake up to some Disney "magic".
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and this gives you inspiration for your next trip!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2342599
Well I didn't get to go to Disney for Christmas but I did go to the Gaylord Texan, which had a Grinch theme this year. Thanks to JKuglin and Padisneyfour, I decided to make my very own "Grinch Grand Welcome". Hopefully this will give Disney travelers some ideas for things to make on your next trip...but even if you aren't going to Disney...this is proof that you can use these ideas for any trip your family may take.
Here is a Welcome Note that I posted on the hotel room door. I had different quotes from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on each door as we had three rooms! The nicest things about posting something on the doors (even if it doesn't have names) is that it helps you to find your room quickly and all the other rooms if you are traveling in a group. Even though we were supposed to have adjoining rooms...we ended up all the way on the other end of the floor and it was nice not having to remember everyones room number. If you are looking for Disney Welcome letters for your trip...Natalie has lots of great ones in her 4shared file:
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5978989/a06aa930/Natalies_DISigns.html
I also made a Grinch door hanger. Someone in our hotel liked it so much they stole the one I made from my in-laws door. Milliepie makes great Disney door hangers that you can find in her 4shared file:
http://www.4shared.com/dir/19077581/4fa6c900/sharing.html
Next came the footprints! I made a stencil and used baking soda (as it wouldn't harm the carpet) to leave "snow" tracks all over the room where the Grinch walked as he left gifts. If you check out the "Grand Welcome" thread above there is a printable outline for Mickey's footprints that you can use for your Grand Surprise along with his handprints and balloons:
Then came the "welcome banner". This looked much better when I first hung it in the room but I forgot to take a picture and my 3 year old went barreling out onto the balcony and nearly tore it apart. I haphazardly threw it back up to get a picture. I wish this was a better picture...it really was cute when it was originally hung! You can download a Mickey welcome banner at this website:
http://tv.disney.go.com/playhouse/grown-ups/celebrationcenter/decorations/mmch/index.html
Of course the most exciting thing were the gifts that the Grinch left for everyone! In the boxes, I had pajamas, slippers, the Grinch DVD, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" book, and Grinch T-shirts. In the green bags, I had the kids favorite candy treats, Christmas things from the Dollar Stores like crossword puzzles, coloring books, crayons, etc. and autograph books. I also found a fun Christmas blanket in Grinchy Green that I left for each child. You can do a similar gift by looking for a fleece (or any type) blanket in a Mickey color like (red or yellow) and have it embroidered with their name, Walt Disney and the year, or use an iron transfer to personalize it.
I think tags really make a gift special! There is a cute one on the "Grand Welcome" thread at the beginning of this post that you can add to your gift bags/boxes.
Here are the autograph books I made. If you want to make autograph books for your trip...check out these DISigners:
http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd181/Chaos1Cent/?start=0
http://s345.photobucket.com/albums/p379/ljcollins_2008/
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5978989/a06aa930/Natalies_DISigns.html
http://s143.photobucket.com/albums/r132/donatalie
Here is the Grinch t-shirt (front and back) that my SIL had made for everyone in the group...of course the boys didn't have "bling" on their shirts.
Now normally you would have mints or chocolates on the pillows but the Grinch decided to leave a Grinchy candy cane on each pillow:
The Grinch also left gift baskets in all of the rooms with wine, water, soda, candy, gold fish, nuts, granola bars, popcorn, hot chocolate packets, etc. and a small Christmas tree:
I made these snowmen candy bar wrappers for family and friends and stuck them in the baskets as well...they were just so cute I had to show you! The hat is made out of chidrens mittens:
I also made sucker and mint wrappers for each event that we went to so the kids would get to play Santa and see the smiles on workers faces as they gave them Christmas treats. Mel (Bababear) has lots of great candy wrappers and candy pockets in her thread that you can make for your trip:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1980430
Here is a picture of just a few that I made:
I also made invitations to all of the events that we planned to go to like Gingerbread House decorating, the Ice Sculpture Exhibit, Cookies and Milk with Ms. Claus, and Breakfast with the Grinch. These are great to "slide" under the hotel room doors late at night so that your family will find them first thing in the morning to let them know what fun things you have planned that day. They are also fun to add to scrapbook pages! If you want to make invitations for your Disney trip...check out Wendypooh's and Natalie's DISigns:
http://www.4shared.com/account/dir/14841499/b6ebdce5/sharing.html?rnd=41
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5978989/a06aa930/Natalies_DISigns.html
Another fun idea is to leave a note from a disney character in a "Disney" frame on the nightstand!
The only hard thing to making this happen is getting in the room before your family does, making sure that they don't see what you made before you leave it, and coming up with an excuse of where you have been so they don't realize that you were the one decorating the room. Have a plan with the adults that you are traveling with before you get there so that you can maybe let your husband or other adults go roam the hotel with the kids and you can check in and use the bell hop to get all of the luggage and goodies up to the room. You will need around 20-30 minutes (at least) to check in and get the room decorated. If you are smart...have a hotel scavenger hunt ready to hand to the kids and they can work on that while you work on the room. Just an idea!
I couldn't get into all of the rooms before my group got there so I decorated after everyone checked in and while the kids were decorating gingerbread houses. Don't feel like you have to decorate before they see the room...Mickey and the gang can come to the room at any time. This is also something you can do if someone is celebrating a birthday or anniversay while you are there...for the kids you can decorate after they fall asleep so that they will wake up to some Disney "magic".
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and this gives you inspiration for your next trip!
I think we live near each other!
You are so creative. I'm always thinking I spoil my kids too much and then I see this and think well it wouldn't hurt just one more time. I so wish I would have ran upon the disboards when my girls were younger. 
