How We're Telling Son About Christmas Day Surprise Trip!

[dcforbreakfast]

Hi guys! We've been, I'm sorry, ha, I've been planning our family trip since about May and our plan has been to surprise our six year old son on Christmas Day, and we are LEAVING Christmas Day! So exciting! Anyway, I often see posts here on how to surprise the kids, so I thought I'd share mine.

Our flight leaves around 8:45 on Christmas morning so this is going to be kind of tricky, but I think it will work. Couldn't plan anything too involved because our son moves like a snail.

We will get up first and get ready, then if son is not up yet, we'll wake him up. There will only be a few presents from Santa (hey this trip is expensive!), but we will direct him to one box and inside will be a letter from Santa. (I can post them if anyone is interested)

But the short version is that it will say that today he is going on a SURPRISE VACATION! Before he can find out where he has some jobs to do (get dressed, brush teeth), open other presents, then he can go look in his desk drawer for another letter.

The next letter will say that he needs to tell Mom and Dad they must to go to the airport right now! Then it says there is another letter and a clue in the car about where he is going.

On his carseat will be a gift bag with a Goofy ears baseball hat and another letter telling him where he's going.

I can't wait you guys, I'm so excited to tell him! I am going to videotape it all and make him read the letters out loud. He loves surprises so I hope it turns out great!

Merry Christmas!

 

[tadamom]

I'm all tingly thinking about it. Just curious, what time are you going to have to wake him up to make it to the airport on time?

 

[dcforbreakfast]

That is the hard part! Fortunately the airport is about a 15 minute ride from our house and there will be no traffic that day.

I'm thinking 5:45 or 6am? I think maybe he'll move faster when he figures out what's going on. We need to leave the house at 7am.

 

[WDWNicole]

How exciting. Have a wonderful trip. Christmas is a magical time at Disney. We flew down on Christmas Day in 2004.

 

[FatElvis]

That sounds SO fun! I took my 6 yr old daughter on a surprise trip there in October. I seriously don't think she got it till we got to the airport!

Have a ball - can't wait to hear how it goes!

 

[lynetteSC]

oh my goodness how EXCITING!!!! i could not contain myself if i were you!!! enjoy!!!

 

[dcforbreakfast]

I can't believe it's just a couple days away....I can't believe we've been able to keep our mouths shut!

 

[FatElvis]

Are you all packed? How have you been able to do that on the sly?

Luckily for my surprise trip, I'm terrible at putting laundry away - great at washing, drying and folding, just not putting it away. So my girls are used to seeing laundry baskets in my room. I just had everything in a basket for a few days, with some folded towels on top.

I bet you are just bursting with excitement, huh?

 

[dcforbreakfast]

We are packing today and tomorrow. It kind of works out well because our son is with his bio dad this weekend and we pick him up Christmas Eve. We will pick him up in one car and have the other one packed with all our luggage! We're wondering if he's going to notice the dog is gone (went to his doggie grandma's!).

 

[A's Princess]

I got the chills reading your post - what an awesome way to surprise him! I'm sure it will be an amazing trip! Happy Travels!

 

[FatElvis]

So, how'd the surprise go?? Hope it (and the whole trip) was as awesome as you imagined!

 

[dcforbreakfast]

Thanks for asking! It was sooooo awesome and I was so glad we did it this way.

We woke up at 5am Christmas Day, showered and got ready then went to wake him up. We told him he needs to see if Santa came. Our son went out to the tree and looked a little disturbed. I videotaped everything. He was immediately concerned because there were no presents, just an envelope. Eek!

He opened the letter and it was from Santa saying all the good things he did this year and how because he was such a good boy his present for Christmas was a SURPRISE VACATION! And he gets to leave TODAY as in RIGHT NOW! Then it told him to get dressed etc and there is another letter for him in his desk with more info.

He was a little confused and not sure yet if this was a good thing or a bad thing. When he started to read the second letter, that's when he started to get excited. It said he had to take us all to the AIRPORT RIGHT NOW! It also said that Santa and Rudolph packed all his bags last night. It then said there is a final letter and a clue on his car seat. He knew when it said airport it must be something good.

When he read that letter in the car, he really flipped out and was so excited. That really made not telling him worth it. The reaction was priceless. His 'clue' was a Goofy hat that Santa said he had to wear all day. He ended up wearing it the whole trip. He didn't care that he didn't get any presents and now proudly tells anyone who asks what he got for Christmas!

If you can keep it a secret, at this age, it was really wonderful.

 

[A's Princess]

It sounds like you "pulled" the surprise off perfectly! So glad to hear you had a great time.

We are getting ready to surprise our kids Sunday - I can hardly stand it!

Are you doing a TR?

 

[liznboys]

Thanks for asking! It was sooooo awesome and I was so glad we did it this way.

We woke up at 5am Christmas Day, showered and got ready then went to wake him up. We told him he needs to see if Santa came. Our son went out to the tree and looked a little disturbed. I videotaped everything. He was immediately concerned because there were no presents, just an envelope. Eek!

He opened the letter and it was from Santa saying all the good things he did this year and how because he was such a good boy his present for Christmas was a SURPRISE VACATION! And he gets to leave TODAY as in RIGHT NOW! Then it told him to get dressed etc and there is another letter for him in his desk with more info.

He was a little confused and not sure yet if this was a good thing or a bad thing. When he started to read the second letter, that's when he started to get excited. It said he had to take us all to the AIRPORT RIGHT NOW! It also said that Santa and Rudolph packed all his bags last night. It then said there is a final letter and a clue on his car seat. He knew when it said airport it must be something good.

When he read that letter in the car, he really flipped out and was so excited. That really made not telling him worth it. The reaction was priceless. His 'clue' was a Goofy hat that Santa said he had to wear all day. He ended up wearing it the whole trip. He didn't care that he didn't get any presents and now proudly tells anyone who asks what he got for Christmas!

If you can keep it a secret, at this age, it was really wonderful.

Oh that got me all teary-eyed!! Sounds like it was wonderful!

 

[dcforbreakfast]

It sounds like you "pulled" the surprise off perfectly! So glad to hear you had a great time.

We are getting ready to surprise our kids Sunday - I can hardly stand it!

Are you doing a TR?

I hope it goes great! It will be so much fun and something they'll remember for a long time

Not sure about the TR.....

 

[jazzmine]

That is so great - I'm sure he'll remember the trip for the rest of his life. VERY COOL!!!