Is this the tackiest FE gift ever or what?

[wilkeliza]

Best FE we have gotten to date was the plastic bottles that are flat when empty. We ended up with two sets from different cabins and up until our puppy discovered the stash we used them for excursions, WDW trips, and ball games. It was nice that I could flatten and toss it in the travel bag and just know they were there.

We still use the coasters we got one year. Pretty sure they are just pieces of tile but we didn't care and we got a set of crochet Mickey and Minnie coasters as well. We used those up until we moved and then they somehow didn't make it to the new place.

I still have one of my travel emergency kits we got in a FE as well. The gifters used cheap fishing/make-up boxes and put a few things in there like band-aids, neo, advil, clothes pins, and other bulk purchase but great things. I took the kit home and refill it and it is now in our medicine cabinet.


I do have to admit we did go over board our first cruise. We made everyone individualized key chains with their favorite character and the dates of the cruise. We also bought NYC exclusive vinylmations. We only did those because Disney Store was having the buy any Vinyl get the exclusive free and since my fiance and I collected them we bought what we wanted and got a ton of the NYC ones completely free. The next time we gave stickers, playing cards, and note books. Very last minute we decided we were going to splurge a little and we bough anyone who was celebrating something a pin to mark the occasion. So anniversary got one and birthdays. I can't remember for the life of me what we gave last cruise. I remember the engagement more than the FE.

 

[Joanne Harvey]

I am doing drawstring bags for all the kids on our cruise and "bare-necessity" packs for mom and dad. I hope they like it.

 

[luckylady131]

We are doing our first Disney cruise this summer....12 nighter in the Norwegian fjords. So first time doing a FE group as well! Really wasn't sure what to get, but I think i will mainly do cabin gifts. The first one is a little trip review notebook that I got from Etsy, specifically for Disney cruises. I will handmake these (you cut them, and put together as a little book). I may end up doing one notebook per person - or possibly one for parents, and then one for each kid, depending on how much ink I use to print them! Having enough pages for a 12 night cruise goes through a lot of ink! I also purchased frig magnets from where we are currently living (Europe), and from where we are from originally (the Us). I also purchased magnets that are also bottle openers for each cabin. I was also thinking about doing a little wooden shoe key chain per person as well (since we live in holland). Haven't decided.

Because it's such a long cruise, I was planning on dividing our gifts into 2-3 separate deliveries throughout the cruise. I think my girls will enjoy helping me find the cabins and making deliveries.

Do those gifts sound okay?

Forgot to say, I plan on giving out the notebook the first night.

 

[BigredNole]

We have not been on a cruise and we will participate on our first cruise. What we will do will depend on the number of people in the group. Depending on the amount of time we have, we will either make handcrafted bracelets with craft supplies we have. If time is not on our side, we will resort to purchasing.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

The Fish Extender exchange isn't supposed to be a "who can give the best" exchange.

I love the items that are local treats, local recipe cards, something thought out as important to give. We've gotten small bottles of hand sanitizers; a personal size first aid kit (small band aids were extremely useful); postcards/information cards about the givers local history. All is appreciated, and doesn't have to cost anything.

I agree Shmoo. It is not a contest........everyone just enjoy the fun!

AKK

 

[Nutsmom]

the heck with little kids!!! I'm filling up the hot tub!!!!!

We've done glow baths for our 5 y.o. and she loves them! I think they'd be especially cool in a bubble bath.

 

[Laundress]

Everything we receive is given with much thought, time, and effort. I appreciate it all.

 

[betrent75]

This thread returns my faith in humanity! We just returned from a trip a few weeks ago and the FE group was made up the worst people of all the cruises we've been on. They were controlling (assigning times), people were demanding no dollar store gifts (and sometimes the $ store has really cute stuff, or disney ziplocs!) and it was a Pinterest competition for who could give the best and most expensive gifts. My sister and I were kinda heart broken and embarrassed about our hometown gifts, handmade mickey soaps, and other cute stuff (typical FE gifts; magnets, candy, and clothespins etc) b/c we didn't spend as much and have everything custom designed. it was terrible. we love the thoughtfulness of the gifts and i think there was one other family that did the hometown gift? we love seeing the other FE's, and just seeing the creativity that goes into some of the really thoughtful stuff. Some people are really clever! I'm glad to see so many people on here agree it's the thought, time, and effort. It always just brought us joy.

 

[belac]

I must have had the best FE exchange ever because the only thing that was so called restricted was if people had an allergy or religious items.
We had a quite few allergies so most people didn't give candy, unless it specifically said nut free (we got one chocolate bar that had the nut with a slash through it) it was really good chocolate. I loved, and everyone loved their gifts. Yes some were dollar store but DS loves all those trinkets, and they actually played with them. some practical and yes came in handy, one was a hand painted picture frame done by the children of a family, so perfectly imperfect, wouldn't ever give it up. Tumblers that we use all the time. I had made a door knob organizer and one family wrote to me they still use it. (Shocked it held up) It wasn't very expensive to make but it took time and they appreciated it.
That is what I always thought the FE was about. That was my only experience with FE so I guess I was lucky. I would drop it, if it turned into The Real Housewives of Disney Cruise Line competition thing.

 

[betrent75]

Real Housewives of DCL I'll have to use that again! We are doing a FE for our next cruise this summer/fall and I'm pretty sure it will be another great one. I think we just had a lousy one this last time. I was a bit nervous that I lost touch with the FE intent but I'm glad I found this thread. I feel better knowing there are more kind and thoughtful people out there than there are not.

 

[belac]

I call 'em like I see 'em
seems too many rules, wanting to rule the roost, and outdoing each other 'comon that's an eposide of RHODCL, which translates to too many people with too much time on their hands so let's have something that only we can control and pretend we have a life and are the bestest Evva!!!

 

[betrent75]

testify! so silly to me! this cruise we are doing what we normally do. something handmade (because i just think it's kinda cute) and other fun stuff. i always do the hand san from bath and body works. this year they have cute sea themes and cruise themes. i'm torn between the halloween ones and those (we're doing halloween on the high seas). i hope that decision is my biggest drama.

 

[belac]

Biggest Drama, too funny! we have gotten HS before and love. DS takes them in backpack for school, always says I used my dcl HS. I think it is great. We always misplace or lose them too so getting them in FE was great.

 

[rkwier]

So glad to read this! Last cruise I apparently ran into a "Real Housewife." I asked her about FE since she said that she participated in them and we never have. She complained because she had spent so much money and one cabin had "only" given one homemade something that I would have gladly taken off of her hands. I thought that if this is how these are, I do not want to participate. Glad to know that they can be otherwise.

 

[betrent75]

oh yeah! I was worried that maybe this was the new norm for the FE but I was wrong (and I've never been so relieved to be wrong haha). There are a just a few ladies out there that seem to want more. The women I heard from were saying very similar things. They wouldn't participate anymore because of dollar store gifts, they'd buy their own children FE gifts so they wouldn't be disappointed etc...it was really unbelievable and hurtful to those that just care enough to share stuff. I've never gotten a homemade gift that was awful. We have a lot of home made magnets on our fridge from the FE that we really treasure! And all kinds of other cool things! People are so creative and talented! I think these folks are really missing out on that.

 

[Alice Royal]

This thread returns my faith in humanity! We just returned from a trip a few weeks ago and the FE group was made up the worst people of all the cruises we've been on. They were controlling (assigning times), people were demanding no dollar store gifts (and sometimes the $ store has really cute stuff, or disney ziplocs!) and it was a Pinterest competition for who could give the best and most expensive gifts. My sister and I were kinda heart broken and embarrassed about our hometown gifts, handmade mickey soaps, and other cute stuff (typical FE gifts; magnets, candy, and clothespins etc) b/c we didn't spend as much and have everything custom designed. it was terrible. we love the thoughtfulness of the gifts and i think there was one other family that did the hometown gift? we love seeing the other FE's, and just seeing the creativity that goes into some of the really thoughtful stuff. Some people are really clever! I'm glad to see so many people on here agree it's the thought, time, and effort. It always just brought us joy.

That's HORRID. My last cruise, I was still in college and happened to be going with my parents, who paid for everything. I wanted to do my own FE gifts despite being pretty darn broke...but guess what? Dollar Tree literally made the difference between being able to give one small/probably tacky and crappy gift and being able to give each cabin an adorable beach bag (I hand-painted Mickey heads on them) filled with goodies and treats for the kids and a 'cruise survival bag' for the adults with hand sanitizer, pocket tissues, etc. Our local store had 3-packs of Disney hand wipes for a dollar, as well as small dry-erase boards with characters on them. I felt a lot better giving people stuff they could actually *use* on board, too. We got some expensive-looking stuff from other cabins, which we profusely thanked them for, but we also got plenty of candy and glow sticks and other useful items which I GLADLY took back to college with me since I didn't have to fly with it!

Anyone who thinks that any kind of GIFT (key word!) is below them should probably not be participating in an FE exchange...

 

[betrent75]

That's HORRID. My last cruise, I was still in college and happened to be going with my parents, who paid for everything. I wanted to do my own FE gifts despite being pretty darn broke...but guess what? Dollar Tree literally made the difference between being able to give one small/probably tacky and crappy gift and being able to give each cabin an adorable beach bag (I hand-painted Mickey heads on them) filled with goodies and treats for the kids and a 'cruise survival bag' for the adults with hand sanitizer, pocket tissues, etc. Our local store had 3-packs of Disney hand wipes for a dollar, as well as small dry-erase boards with characters on them. I felt a lot better giving people stuff they could actually *use* on board, too. We got some expensive-looking stuff from other cabins, which we profusely thanked them for, but we also got plenty of candy and glow sticks and other useful items which I GLADLY took back to college with me since I didn't have to fly with it!

Anyone who thinks that any kind of GIFT (key word!) is below them should probably not be participating in an FE exchange...

All of that! Exactly right! I'm glad you got to participate. It sounds like you gave amazing gifts! The dollar tree has a lot of Disney stuff! And when someone on here said they would put the glow sticks in the hot tub...brilliant! That lady is just really missing out!

 

[TiggerBouncy]

This thread returns my faith in humanity! We just returned from a trip a few weeks ago and the FE group was made up the worst people of all the cruises we've been on. They were controlling (assigning times), people were demanding no dollar store gifts (and sometimes the $ store has really cute stuff, or disney ziplocs!) and it was a Pinterest competition for who could give the best and most expensive gifts. My sister and I were kinda heart broken and embarrassed about our hometown gifts, handmade mickey soaps, and other cute stuff (typical FE gifts; magnets, candy, and clothespins etc) b/c we didn't spend as much and have everything custom designed. it was terrible. we love the thoughtfulness of the gifts and i think there was one other family that did the hometown gift? we love seeing the other FE's, and just seeing the creativity that goes into some of the really thoughtful stuff. Some people are really clever! I'm glad to see so many people on here agree it's the thought, time, and effort. It always just brought us joy.

So sorry to hear that. I would have LOVED a handmade Disney Soap!

I think that's one of the reasons I have always advocated for "anonymous" gifts. If there is no name on it, then it can't really turn into a "who did the best" since no one will know who gave what. Everyone just gives what they feel like and there is no fear that someone will call your gift stupid (well I guess they could come back here and do it, but we would let 'em have it).

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So sorry to hear that. I would have LOVED a handmade Disney Soap!

I think that's one of the reasons I have always advocated for "anonymous" gifts. If there is no name on it, then it can't really turn into a "who did the best" since no one will know who gave what. Everyone just gives what they feel like and there is no fear that someone will call your gift stupid (well I guess they could come back here and do it, but we would let 'em have it).

The whole Fish Extender gifting idea was an anonymous thing originally. It was supposed to be a "pixie dusting" magical experience on the cruise.

It's only in the last 5 or 6 years that people (well, SOME people) have become obsessed with needing to know who gave what, and setting spending limits.

I always gave my FE gifts anonymously, even when the organizers started saying "it's nice to put your names on there".

 

[betrent75]

The whole Fish Extender gifting idea was an anonymous thing originally. It was supposed to be a "pixie dusting" magical experience on the cruise.

It's only in the last 5 or 6 years that people (well, SOME people) have become obsessed with needing to know who gave what, and setting spending limits.

I always gave my FE gifts anonymously, even when the organizers started saying "it's nice to put your names on there".

I only started putting our names (or "From Cabin #") on there because I bought we "should"? Everyone else did on our first cruise so I thought I wrong not to haha! I could see if it was to thank someone, or ask how you made something. The shaming is just plain too much.

I like the idea of pixie dusting. There was one family that was super sweet and pixie dusted everyone! That was lovely! I heart people sometimes.