Has anyone made a Fish Extender like this?

[Merryweather11]

I was reading a long thread here about people's stuff being stolen from their fish extenders and I thought--what if I made it a little harder for them to steal by using a zippered pouch?

I looked online and found lots of cute zippered bags--this one is 9.5"w x 7.25"

What if I got two or three of these and sewed them (who am I kidding--glued them) onto a piece of felt or fabric and did the dowel thing like normal. Do you think it would work?

Not that people can't just unzip and grab--but the extra step might make them think twice... Whatda ya think? Do people do this already and I'm way behind the times?

 

[kcashner]

Well...sometimes people steal the whole FE, not just the stuff in it! And this wouldn't work for stuff that was too big to zip the pouch. Well, I guess it would but it wouldn't zip.

It could be a step in the right direction to prevent theft though.

That said...theft hasn't been a problem on most of our cruises. There have been a few with issues, but it is not the norm.

 

[Merryweather11]

Too small, eh? Okay, how about something like this:

These come in three to a set: from 7" x 5.5" to 8" x 10".

Maybe I'm paranoid--that thread I read were worst case scenarios, I guess.

 

[woody73]

Well...sometimes people steal the whole FE, not just the stuff in it!

This happened to a family on one of our cruises. They were heartbroken, since the FE was expensive and personalized with their names.

Woody

 

[kcashner]

This happened to a family on one of our cruises. They were heartbroken, since the FE was expensive and personalized with their names.

Woody

That is a real bummer. What could someone do with an item that is personalized with someone else's name???? That's just to be mean! I made one with a favorite character on each person's pocket--having that stolen would bother me, but at least someone else could use it on a future cruise.

 

[Merryweather11]

This happened to a family on one of our cruises. They were heartbroken, since the FE was expensive and personalized with their names.

Woody

That is so sad. Did they have it zip-tied to the fish? I read where even those got stolen.

 

[Stinkerbe11]

I used my kids' pirate duffel bag from Halloween for our FE. It had a drawstring closure with a toggle button that you have to push to loosen the string in order to open it. You had to hang out for a minute and make an effort to get it open, thus (hopefully) preventing access for the thieves who grab and run.

 

[Merryweather11]

I used my kids' pirate duffel bag from Halloween for our FE. It had a drawstring closure with a toggle button that you have to push to loosen the string in order to open it. You had to hang out for a minute and make an effort to get it open, thus (hopefully) preventing access for the thieves who grab and run.

That is a great idea--I think I'm making it too complicated. Did you just hang the drawstring over the fish or did you attach it with a zip tie?

 

[Stinkerbe11]

That is a great idea--I think I'm making it too complicated. Did you just hang the drawstring over the fish or did you attach it with a zip tie?

It had a strap on the back that I zip tied to the fish.

 

[DisneyOHFan]

If you catch the room steward outside of the recipients cabin, can you ask them to put it inside their cabin rather than putting something in the FE to prevent it from getting stolen?

 

[designertravels]

Yes, the stewards will put gifts in your room for you.

Someone mentioned they sew jingle bells to the holder so it makes a noise when touched. I thought it was a great idea.

The OP zip pouches are too small, cute gifts though.

Jill

 

[AnotherPrincess]

I bought 3 travel sized pillow cases at Bed Bath and Beyond, which had zippers. I sewed them together and sewed a ribbon at the top to hang. I added a Mickey head and our names to each pillow case. I don't know how to post pics or I would. The pillow cases were plenty large to hold stuff and I at least felt that the zippers were a deterent even if they really may not have been. I did zip tie it to the fishy thing, too. Worked beautifully!

 

[Merryweather11]

I bought 3 travel sized pillow cases at Bed Bath and Beyond, which had zippers. I sewed them together and sewed a ribbon at the top to hang. I added a Mickey head and our names to each pillow case. I don't know how to post pics or I would. The pillow cases were plenty large to hold stuff and I at least felt that the zippers were a deterent even if they really may not have been. I did zip tie it to the fishy thing, too. Worked beautifully!

That sounds perfect--I didn't think of the zippered pillowcase idea! D'oh! I just ordered a variety of zippered pouches in various sizes--one is as large as to hold a pair of shoes--and I was going to see what I could do with them.

Let me ask--how big do you think the pouches need to be? Inches--wise. What are some of the bigger gifts you have received? Or is it that they just accumulate?

Designertravels--jinglebells are a great idea too--will be adding those.

 

[pluto1979]

Bells would work as well as either a zip tie or a very small suitcase lock also works well. Sad but sometimes it has to be done.

 

[k3chantal]

Mine was beautiful and did not get stolen. I put our family's name and individual names on it. In addition, I put the fish extender on the door, placing the hanging part over the door and put the magnets hooks on the inside of the door.

Everyone else on the cruise had beautiful fish extenders and no one seemed to have theirs stolen on our cruise. (I passed out our gifts the last day) Only one family wrote a note saying they were worried about theirs and put a bag out to receive their gifts.

 

[inhousemouse]

I was going to make a traditional fe but I think I've decided to use an pair of my son's mickey overalls that he's grown out of. I am thinking of just sewing up the foot holes. That way instead of 4 small pockets I will just have one deep one with 2 legs.