Help with FE packing question

[lbgraves]

Our cruise is in 2 weeks and we have a FE group of 30. Out of that 30 there are about 45+ kiddos. I made adult gifts, boy and girl child gifts, and now I feel I'm leaving the teens out (only about 10)! My two teenage sons and I are going to be putting the teen's bags together this weekend. I'm at about 85 gifts for the exchange! I've got a box that is full and pretty heavy.

I don't want to check it due to the cost, plus, each bag has glow sticks for the pirate party and I don't want them smooshed into activation. Will I be able to have one of the kids carry it on the plane?

P.S. How do you secure your fish extender to make sure it doesn't fall off or 'walk' away?

I doubt that you will be able to take the glow sticks onto the plane. You might want to check out UPS.com's rates and see if you can ship it down to the warehouse.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Kelly - we are giving them out on day 1. ?

Now that's an important piece of information!

Definately build them at home!

.

 

[Kwalters]

Kelly - we are giving them out on day 1. We also have to pay for luggage so checking another box in at the airport just doesn't make sense. Probably cheaper to ship it ahead of time.
I guess we will make them ahead of time and see how big the pile of them winds up being. I'm hoping maybe we can fit them all into a carry on bag?

That's what we did. We had them in a carry on bag so we could give them out right away. We also assembled them all ahead of time.
I broke down my FE list by deck and in order of rooms so it flew by, no running back and forth to get to rooms.
Remember, this is all supposed to be FUN!!

 

[kerickson]

13 adults and 8 children? Really?
we are 33 cabins, 56 children and 70 adults.
I never expected the totals to be so high when we decided to make some of our gifts. We only made 34, and we leave in 3 weeks. Looks like the adults might not get the hand made stuff, and will only get the store bought things.

Yep, we have 13 cabins participating, 8 of which have kids in them. I'm making one bag for the adults in the cabin and one extra bag for the subset of cabins that have kids in them. My problem is that I just realized my kids gift is wider than 8"! It's actually 8" but unless you have and 8" pocket with pleats it wont fit. I'm going to have to figure out a way to tie it to the FE, or give it out during our meet the first day. Any suggestions?

 

[MMitchell29]

Can someone help me get this straight? I can prepack all my FE, label them then box them up have them delivered to the hotel i'm staying at. Then once we make it to the port I can check my box in along with my luggage correct?

Is there anything special I need to put on my box?

 

[Tneah]

Yep, we have 13 cabins participating, 8 of which have kids in them. I'm making one bag for the adults in the cabin and one extra bag for the subset of cabins that have kids in them. My problem is that I just realized my kids gift is wider than 8"! It's actually 8" but unless you have and 8" pocket with pleats it wont fit. I'm going to have to figure out a way to tie it to the FE, or give it out during our meet the first day. Any suggestions?

Maybe some you could bring some laundry clips and slip them to the FE.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Can someone help me get this straight? I can prepack all my FE, label them then box them up have them delivered to the hotel i'm staying at. Then once we make it to the port I can check my box in along with my luggage correct?

Is there anything special I need to put on my box?

Yes, and I'd call your hotel for recommendations on how to have the package labled.

Also, if you plan to have any kind of food in the package, you should really carry it on the ship. Don't want to alert the 'sniffer dogs'.

.

 

[lmhall2000]

I don't have an opinion either way (can't muck up a couple's dilemma!)...but I wanted to say how thoughtful and amazing your gestures are for each of those families! I know for our first cruise we plan on participating and it will probably be something our children look forward to each day...we've had a rough 2 years and those gestures just make a vacation...so thank you both for taking the time and giving!

Tara

 

[Anal Annie]

I was really shocked at how long it took us to do 11 cabins - but they were scattered ALL over the ship. From the Roy & Walt suites down to deck 2. Forward to Aft. Having the ship deck plans with every cabin # marked helped A LOT. I also made a door sign for each & every cabin in our group & had everything organized by deck & in order. I put the signs on their doors as I delivered. It was a lot of fun but I was glad I only had 11 cabins to do!! We also were each assigned a night so that everyone got spread out throughout the week. Some people also elected to dribble little things outside of their assigned days. Most everyone dropped their items in loose. There were only about 3 of us I think that made bags. I did 1 bag per cabin and my items were more genericly family oriented than specifically kids vs adults. Pens, magnetic picture frames, frig. magnets, stickers, luggage tags etc.

OP - I really think you should pack them in their own suitcase. You will NEED the empty bag for your return trip with the FE gifts you receive and souvies that you buy!! Chalk the luggage fee up as a cost of cruising.

 

[NJMomma]

Jeff,

Take good care of those FE gifts

I think prepackaging is a good idea as well. Especially since you deliver so early.

 

[uncw89]

Jeff,
I agree with everyone---you should prepackage and organize them by deck before you leave. I did that for my cruise and it did make it much easier for delivery purposes. I hit all of of the decks for my FE's. It was fun though. I too thought I would have extra luggage space for the trip home. NOT!!!! I totally didn't take into consideration that I would have to bring my gifts home!
Another thing I learned if you are giving out glow sticks, I would leave them in their hard packaging until you get on the ship. When I packed mine in the ziploc bags and then tried to pack them all in a box (which ended up being in a bag).....well, let's just say their were some casualties (ie---they got activated!!!!) and it was to late to get more. If you were on my cruise, sorry about that! Needless to say it was a learning experience and there are things I would do differently next time.
Pack and organize my gifts earlier (not the night before you leave!)

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

You could wrap the cord at the top of the FE a few times around the fish. But you have to make allowances for the extra cord length when you make your FE.

I have heard of others using a twistie tie to secure the FE to the fish. But I would think you would need very nimble fingers.

Or you can do what we did. We brought a plastic zip tie and attached the cord of the FE to the fish. But make sure you have clippers or really sharp scissors to cut the zip tie at the end of the cruise. Nothing is more embarassing than to have to explain to you stateroom host/hostess why you ripped the fish off the wall.

But if someone really wants your FE, then there is little you can do to prevent them from taking it. Hope this does not happen to you.

I had heard about the zip ties and I think that is what we will try. We have a pretty common last name, but I doubt many families have the same first names as we do, but you never know!

I doubt that you will be able to take the glow sticks onto the plane. You might want to check out UPS.com's rates and see if you can ship it down to the warehouse.

Are you not allowed to carry on the glow sticks? Please clue me in! I'll have to undo all the kiddo bags and put the sticks back in the hard containers I bought them in.

I just went out and bought goodies for the teens.

I am thinking I may just pack them all in a box wrapped up really well and then overnight them to SSR to have them wait for us to arrive before the cruise. But, they are a combination of things-glow sticks, candy, and the things I made for each cabin. Will I be able to?

 

[DLW8]

I brought glow sticks and necklaces with us to our trip to WDW in 2008 and had no issues. They were in a checked bag and it made it there fine...

Did something change with the rules?

 

[TinLizzy90]

I brought glow sticks and necklaces with us to our trip to WDW in 2008 and had no issues. They were in a checked bag and it made it there fine...

Did something change with the rules?

I think it was more the problem of carrying glow sticks on the plane - they are liquids, and subject to the ziplock baggie restriction.

Also, you are not supposed to put food in your checked bags at the port. Makes it all complicated!

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

I think it was more the problem of carrying glow sticks on the plane - they are liquids, and subject to the ziplock baggie restriction.

Also, you are not supposed to put food in your checked bags at the port. Makes it all complicated!

OH NO!!

I have around 80+ bags including food and glow sticks. I can't ship to the port because of the candy items, I can't carry on the box because of the liquid in the glow sticks! Yikes! What do I do, pay the $25.00 2nd bag fee for the one way transportation?

Any help will be appreciated!!

 

[lbgraves]

You said that you still have the hard tubes the glow sticks came in. I would take them out of the bags to keep from activating them before you hand them out and put the tub with the glow sticks inside of a big ziplock bag in your checked luggage and take the remaining bags & items in a carry on with you. You can put them together at the hotel the night before the cruise or do it on the way to the ship so that they are done for the first day distribution.

 

[mousemom11]

I plan to bag and organize all my FE gifts before we go. They should fit in a large flat-rate priority mail box, which only costs $10.35 to mail to the ship. I'll re-use the box to mail it back home to myself with all the FE gifts that we received on board.

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

I do still have the tubes the glowsticks came in, but after checking the postal rates and the size of the boxes it seems that it will be easier and less expensive to check them in as a 2nd bag for our flight to Florida. That way I won't have to undo all 80 bags and then redo them once we are there. I'll pack the box and maybe even include some extra items (like movie snacks and my boys' favorite goodies). Thanks everyone for your help! We're off in a few days!