Is this the tackiest FE gift ever or what?

[SeaSpray]

If the gifts come from the person's heart, no matter the cost, then I would never consider any FE gift as being tacky.

I know many people are FE Snobs and would disagree with me, but frankly, I don't give a clam And I think that being classless enough to post on a forum how people should *never* give this or that type of gift, is tacky in and of itself. JMHO

 

[Ensusieasm]

Hello-

This will be our third venture with the FE program. In the past, we have given to each participant (not cabin) a drawstring bag red/black with "cruisin' with Mickey" on it. Just too expensive now though received some nice feedback. The last time, we gave Iwallets to each participant over age 12--the little ID and credit card holder that sticks to your cell phone (Stay calm and cruise on). Didn't get any feedback on this FE.

So, this time around, would like to go "native" as in local stuff-it may look like it was free but I will need to actually pay for some of them--local company's fans (cardboard/wooden stick), microfiber cleaning cloths, alligator clips with magnet, sticky notes, & hand sanitizer sprays. I would place items into clear bags and give two bags of goodies to each cabin.

My question is--too tacky?

Thanks for your input.

????? What? I was on the Fantasy for a week and I never heard of this. Am I understanding this correctly? Um....you hang little bags on your door so folks you don't really know will put trinkets in them for every individual in a cabin? You spend precious cruise time running all over the ship with this stuff? Then you second guess yourself and others about if the stuff is good enough? Tell me I'm just not understanding this, because it can't really be true. What am I missing here? What's the point?

 

[Pinkgirl]

OMG give me the glowsticks!!!!!! We never go on holiday anywhere without a box of 100! As a family with an only child, they are a friend magnet.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

????? What? I was on the Fantasy for a week and I never heard of this. Am I understanding this correctly? Um....you hang little bags on your door so folks you don't really know will put trinkets in them for every individual in a cabin? You spend precious cruise time running all over the ship with this stuff? Then you second guess yourself and others about if the stuff is good enough? Tell me I'm just not understanding this, because it can't really be true. What am I missing here? What's the point?

No, it's not "hang out your bag and you'll get gifts" thing. You must sign up with a Fish Extender group on your Cruise meet thread. Gifts are exchanged between those on the list.

HOW MANY CABINS WILL BE IN MY FE GROUP and WHO PARTICIPATES???
That depends on your cruise meet group. They range in average from 10-15 sometimes even 25 and up. Most do the smaller groups with the option to join more than one. It makes it more manageable.

This is typically a whole cabin event. You usually may not just sign up the kids. There are some cruise meet groups that have Adult Only groups. But not Kids only.

If you are signing up more than one cabin to participate, you should not combine them. It’s not fair for people to make items for 2 cabins and receive from 1 of them. They should be counted as 2 separate cabins.

DO I HAVE TO BUY FOR EVERYONE? DO I NEED TO GIVE PER CABIN?
Sort of…You have to do something for EVERY CABIN PARTICIPATING, You choose whether its adult gifts or kids gifts or cabin gifts or a combination.YOU CAN NOT LEAVE A CABIN OUT IF THEY HAVE SIGNED UPAt the very least, 1 cabin gift, per cabin. Some do a cabin gift, and then do a few items for the kids. Some do individual for each member of the cabin. Some people are crafty and make gifts, and some are store bought. Some gifts are to be used on board and some are to be used at home.

DO WE PUT GIFTS IN EVERY DAY OF THE CRUISE? WILL I HAVE TO WALK ALL OVER THE SHIP TO DELIVER?
That's up to you. Most deliver ONCE.Most do one gift, some do multiple gifts.

ANYTHING ELSE I NEED TO KNOW?

• It has been pointed out that some TAs are giving wrong info. They are saying you can hang a FE holder outside your door and expect gifts.
• Cast members are not walking around like Tinkerbelle handing out gifts.
• You cannot just show up on a cruise with gifts to randomly pass out (well you could but that would be “pixie dusting” not participating in a FE).
• You have to find your Cruise Meet group and join a FE group to know how many people are participating, how large your group will be and all other info.
• This is a voluntary program and is not sanctioned by Disney.

 

[Ensusieasm]

No, it's not "hang out your bag and you'll get gifts" thing. You must sign up with a Fish Extender group on your Cruise meet thread. Gifts are exchanged between those on the list.

HOW MANY CABINS WILL BE IN MY FE GROUP and WHO PARTICIPATES???
That depends on your cruise meet group. They range in average from 10-15 sometimes even 25 and up. Most do the smaller groups with the option to join more than one. It makes it more manageable.

This is typically a whole cabin event. You usually may not just sign up the kids. There are some cruise meet groups that have Adult Only groups. But not Kids only.

If you are signing up more than one cabin to participate, you should not combine them. It’s not fair for people to make items for 2 cabins and receive from 1 of them. They should be counted as 2 separate cabins.

DO I HAVE TO BUY FOR EVERYONE? DO I NEED TO GIVE PER CABIN?
Sort of…You have to do something for EVERY CABIN PARTICIPATING, You choose whether its adult gifts or kids gifts or cabin gifts or a combination.YOU CAN NOT LEAVE A CABIN OUT IF THEY HAVE SIGNED UPAt the very least, 1 cabin gift, per cabin. Some do a cabin gift, and then do a few items for the kids. Some do individual for each member of the cabin. Some people are crafty and make gifts, and some are store bought. Some gifts are to be used on board and some are to be used at home.

DO WE PUT GIFTS IN EVERY DAY OF THE CRUISE? WILL I HAVE TO WALK ALL OVER THE SHIP TO DELIVER?
That's up to you. Most deliver ONCE.Most do one gift, some do multiple gifts.

ANYTHING ELSE I NEED TO KNOW?

• It has been pointed out that some TAs are giving wrong info. They are saying you can hang a FE holder outside your door and expect gifts.
• Cast members are not walking around like Tinkerbelle handing out gifts.
• You cannot just show up on a cruise with gifts to randomly pass out (well you could but that would be “pixie dusting” not participating in a FE).
• You have to find your Cruise Meet group and join a FE group to know how many people are participating, how large your group will be and all other info.
• This is a voluntary program and is not sanctioned by Disney.

Goodness! REALLY?

 

[jtba]

no, we just totally made it all up!

just kidding.

yes, really.

 

[Krissy22222]

????? What? I was on the Fantasy for a week and I never heard of this. Am I understanding this correctly? Um....you hang little bags on your door so folks you don't really know will put trinkets in them for every individual in a cabin? You spend precious cruise time running all over the ship with this stuff? Then you second guess yourself and others about if the stuff is good enough? Tell me I'm just not understanding this, because it can't really be true. What am I missing here? What's the point?

1. Some of us enjoy crafting and this is our chance to do it for like minded folks who will appreciate the little Disney touches that go into the crafts. Making the FE gifts, is for me, very relaxing.
2. Some of us have kids whose eyes light up when they come back to the stateroom and there is a little surprise in the bag, that's more than worth it for me.
3. Some of us actually enjoy "running all over" the ship. Gives us a chance to see the artwork, explore different decks, and also to enjoy the creative door decorations that so many folks do, we really appreciate the effort that goes into this.
That's the point.

 

[Ensusieasm]

1. Some of us enjoy crafting and this is our chance to do it for like minded folks who will appreciate the little Disney touches that go into the crafts. Making the FE gifts, is for me, very relaxing.
2. Some of us have kids whose eyes light up when they come back to the stateroom and there is a little surprise in the bag, that's more than worth it for me.
3. Some of us actually enjoy "running all over" the ship. Gives us a chance to see the artwork, explore different decks, and also to enjoy the creative door decorations that so many folks do, we really appreciate the effort that goes into this.
That's the point.

Thanks for that information. I understand it now.

 

[Deb T.]

We love, love, LOVE receiving glow sticks in our FE! They are great for nightlights in the cabin and in the bathrooms!

 

[Jennifer777]

This will be our first time doing FE and I struggled with knowing what to give as well. Now I'm a little nervous because we finally settled on giving the kids little pirate treasure boxes with (gasp) chocolate gold coins and glow sticks , as well as light up rings, tattoos and a pirate eye patch. It's supposed to be a kit for pirate night so I'm hoping the candy and glow sticks are received ok since they are part of a theme.

For the adults we're giving a few little practical things but all are store bought because I just did not have time to make anything. I think any gift you've put thought into like what you're considering would be great! Maybe tie it all together with some facts about where it all came from so the recipients understand they are local treasures? My kids love learning about new places so a gift like that would be great for them.

 

[Ensusieasm]

This will be our first time doing FE and I struggled with knowing what to give as well. Now I'm a little nervous because we finally settled on giving the kids little pirate treasure boxes with (gasp) chocolate gold coins and glow sticks , as well as light up rings, tattoos and a pirate eye patch. It's supposed to be a kit for pirate night so I'm hoping the candy and glow sticks are received ok since they are part of a theme.

For the adults we're giving a few little practical things but all are store bought because I just did not have time to make anything. I think any gift you've put thought into like what you're considering would be great! Maybe tie it all together with some facts about where it all came from so the recipients understand they are local treasures? My kids love learning about new places so a gift like that would be great for them.

I wouldn't eat anything given to me by a person I only "knew" online

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I wouldn't eat anything given to me by a person I only "knew" online

I think, as long as it's sealed candy, it's OK. No different than Halloween. Obviously homemade food (cookies, cakes) that would be a "no".

 

[Jennifer777]

I wouldn't eat anything given to me by a person I only "knew" online

Not even if it's completely sealed in a wrapper? I don't see how it would be any different than Halloween candy. Thankfully that is only one part of the FE gift for kids so if a parent is uncomfortable with it, the kids will still have other things they can use.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Not even if it's completely sealed in a wrapper? I don't see how it would be any different than Halloween candy. Thankfully that is only one part of the FE gift for kids so if a parent is uncomfortable with it, the kids will still have other things they can use.

We've gotten all sorts of candy in FE exchanges. All of which was factory sealed. We've not gotten sick from any of it.

 

[Jennifer777]

We've gotten all sorts of candy in FE exchanges. All of which was factory sealed. We've not gotten sick from any of it.

I would think that if someone is that concerned about what may end up in their FE or who might be doing what to their gifts, they probably wouldn't sign up for FE to begin with. It's not anonymous. You know who is in your group, their names and their stateroom number. It's less anonymous than Halloween in that respect, in fact I even put our stateroom name and number on the tag so if anyone gets sick on our sealed, store bought chocolate gold coins, they know where to find me. ;-)

 

[mcd2745]

Hello-

This will be our third venture with the FE program. In the past, we have given to each participant (not cabin) a drawstring bag red/black with "cruisin' with Mickey" on it. Just too expensive now though received some nice feedback. The last time, we gave Iwallets to each participant over age 12--the little ID and credit card holder that sticks to your cell phone (Stay calm and cruise on). Didn't get any feedback on this FE.

So, this time around, would like to go "native" as in local stuff-it may look like it was free but I will need to actually pay for some of them--local company's fans (cardboard/wooden stick), microfiber cleaning cloths, alligator clips with magnet, sticky notes, & hand sanitizer sprays. I would place items into clear bags and give two bags of goodies to each cabin.

My question is--too tacky?

Thanks for your input.

The only things that are tacky are the people who complain about FE gifts they received, or the ones who before the cruise try to list things they don't want given to them.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The only things that are tacky are the people who complain about FE gifts they received, or the ones who before the cruise try to list things they don't want given to them.

Yes. As far as I know, the original intent was a "secret Santa" sort of gift exchange. It's supposed to be a surprise. The giver decides what to give, and the receiver is happy to get it. Period.

I think some Fish Extender exchanges have gotten too ..... controlling (maybe?)....in that they tell people when to deliver; minimum/maximum cost per gift; you must give to every individual; specifying what you can't give (I'm not talking about allergy issues); even requiring identification tags so that you can confirm that everyone gave to you.

 

[jacknsally19]

This will be our first time doing FE and I struggled with knowing what to give as well. Now I'm a little nervous because we finally settled on giving the kids little pirate treasure boxes with (gasp) chocolate gold coins and glow sticks , as well as light up rings, tattoos and a pirate eye patch. It's supposed to be a kit for pirate night so I'm hoping the candy and glow sticks are received ok since they are part of a theme.

For the adults we're giving a few little practical things but all are store bought because I just did not have time to make anything. I think any gift you've put thought into like what you're considering would be great! Maybe tie it all together with some facts about where it all came from so the recipients understand they are local treasures? My kids love learning about new places so a gift like that would be great for them.

I think that sounds awesome. My DD would LOVE that so I bet your recipients will love it too.

Honestly, I have no expectations in terms of what we get and I wouldn't turn down candy! I can't imagine being nervous about eating candy someone else provided. Especially given the fact that I'm going to be eating a massive number of meals during the week prepared by chefs that I will never see.

 

[Mrslissaaa]

I think your idea is great and has given me some ideas too.

 

[KingRichard]

The only things that are tacky are the people who complain about FE gifts they received, or the ones who before the cruise try to list things they don't want given to them.

Not complaining?

We just got 2 laundry pods(what ever they are called) and while a perfect gift for a 7 night cruise, not so much for a 3 niter. lol

We will how ever take them for our 8 nights in the world next month! Thank you!