Looking for a fun 'countdown' idea

[katiesmom2]

Last time we went to WDW, we made a paper chain and ripped of a chain daily to count down the days to our trip.

Does anyone have any other fun ideas for counting down?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Esteri]

We did the same thing. Though I think the boys enjoyed making it more than taking off the rings. They'd go for days and forget to take off a ring.

Curious about what other ideas you get.

 

[grumpy's fan]

I created a large countdown board. I bought a large poster board. Using clipart on the internet picked out 9 her favorite characters and tinkerbell and the castle. I enlarged each clipart to about 6" tall. Printed out and cut out shapes. I used sticky velcro (one for the clipart and the other for the poster board) and set it up for 3 characters on a row for a total of 3 rows. I put the castle near the bottom of the poster board. I also cut two sheet protectors, cut them in half and put each taped each one to bottom of poster board.

Starting 10 days before we leave I hang up the board and she gets to put up one character each day (except for Tinkerbell). On the last day before we leave is the day she puts up Tinkerbell up over the castle.

She really enjoys this as she gets to decide which character every day and it gives her a real idea of time in "how many more days..."

I can email you a photo of the completed board if you'd like.

Leanne

 

[bnf2]

We made a calendar from one of the blank ones at the school supply store. Each day of the month had a post-it with the date on it; under each day I had a Mickey head shape with the number of days remaining until we left. Each morning we'd pull off the date and see how many days left. Many of the days I had trivia questions listed or "look here..." for a treat kind of thing. The week before we left each day revealed where in WDW we'd be the next week on that day.

Not sure what I'm going to do this time as we are telling them earlier we did for our last 2 trips- 9 months out instead of 1!!! Sorry the pic is so big- I tried to reduce the image size, but was having trouble.

 

[cour10ee]

we used the mickey head paint chips from home depot. wrote the countdown numbers right on them and taped them on a posterboard on the wall.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We did a "countdown caterpillar" - similar to a paper chain, but flat circles gently taped up on the playroom wall. That way, we could write on various days before the trip, when there were other, minor, things to look forward to. Close to the trip, we had big circles and took off one a day, furthur out (and we started re-e-e-ally far) they were strips of smaller circles that we removed by the week. And of course, the caterpillar wore Mickey ears! Will try to insert a picture -

 

[katiesmom2]

Wow! Y'all are very creative. Love your ideas - and thanks so much for the pictures. We are still over 2 months away, so it's a little early to start for us, but I'm filing away your ideas for when the time comes - thanks!

Keep the ideas coming.

 

[TigerCheer2009]

We made a calendar from one of the blank ones at the school supply store. Each day of the month had a post-it with the date on it; under each day I had a Mickey head shape with the number of days remaining until we left. Each morning we'd pull off the date and see how many days left. Many of the days I had trivia questions listed or "look here..." for a treat kind of thing. The week before we left each day revealed where in WDW we'd be the next week on that day.

Not sure what I'm going to do this time as we are telling them earlier we did for our last 2 trips- 9 months out instead of 1!!! Sorry the pic is so big- I tried to reduce the image size, but was having trouble.

This is an EXCELLENT idea!!! Where did you find the calendar at?

 

[COmomof2]

We left for Disney on 9/23, so I made a calendar for each of my boys on a piece of 12 x 12 scrapbooking cardstock for the month of September. We decorated the calendars with pictures from a WDW brochure. They got to put a Disney sticker on every day of the month until we left. They had fun picking out their own stickers, and because I made 2, I didn't have any fighting over who put the sticker on each day! Have fun counting down!

 

[jpeka65844]

Hmmm...I"m looking for some ideas too, but for my big kid: DH!!!

Here's what we did last trip: I created slips of paper with Disney clip art and font, beginning at 30 days out. I would leave them in strange places around the house, in his lunchbox, taped to his steering wheel, etc....he never knew where they'd be next! I even got one on the inside of the toilet lid so when he raised it to....well....you get the idea. Then, at 10 days out, I created a trivia quiz. If he answered the question right, he got something for the trip. BTW, the final slip had Minnie and Mickey in a car and said "Disneyworld, here we come!" I taped it on the back of the b'room door while he was showering before leaving for the airport. He REFUSES to take it down; it's STILL THERE, 2 years later!!!!

I think this year, I'll do a paper chain in black, white, red, and yellow (Mickey's colors) and either do a trivia question or the "where we'd be in Disney right now" idea! I loved that one! Thanks for the tip!

I'm loving these ideas! Keep 'em coming!

 

[nettii]

We are making a paper chain instead of taking it apart we are making it day by day then sticking it in our souit case to decorate our room! We used Mickey colors red blk yellow looks cute!

 

[missdramaqueen]

My family used a paper chain also but we also had a list of our top 10 favorite disney movies...10 weeks in advance we started watching a disney movie every friday night, that night we would also have a pizza party...my mom found a great sale on disney party supplies i.e. plates with characters on them...we would watch the movie, eat pizza and salad on the plates, read disney stories/guide books, and share tips and advice

 

[bnf2]

This is an EXCELLENT idea!!! Where did you find the calendar at?

TigerCheer2009- I purchased the blank calendar at our local school supply store. Ours is "Holcomb's", used to be called "Central School Supply"; I'm sure there would be something similar in your town or nearby. I also purchased the punch out glittery letters there. I used my "Paper Shaper" Mickey head punch to decorate it.

Good luck with your countdown!

 

[tadamom]

Love all these ideas!! We did the Disney chain as well when we took DS for the first time! He loooooved it! Haven't decided what we are going to do yet for the this trip - better book the vacation first! haha

 

[pormouse]

This is our crazy idea started 93 days before our first trip to WDW. We add a mickey head paint chip each day and add numbers every 10th day. When the outline of mickey's head is done we are going to the world. this is about a 5 1/2 foot tall mickey outline.

DH knows i am nuts!

 

[lovesdumbo]

I printed a calendar page off my computer. I wrote the numbers of days til the trip on each day then every night we taped a thumb nail size photo (from past trips but it could be Disney clip art or stickers) over the current day so the next days count was the last one showing.

I've also done the paper chain and find that it helps to write the date the link should be removed on the back of the link. That way if you forget to remove the links for a few days you know exactly how many to remove.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, I didn't read through them all.
But when we were couting down with dd 3.5 at the time. We filled a jar with Hershey Hugs. Just enough to countdown the days left until our trip. We started counting down at a month to go. So 30 hugs went into the jar. And everynight before Bed we took out another Hug and she new that when they were gone..we would be flying to disney.

 

[nettii]

The hug idea is very cute! Im sure she loved it!

 

[disneyfanfamily]

Great ideas! Love that a PP does it for her husband! My husband enjoys WDW VERY much, but not near as much as me. So, DH would not get very excited about leaving notes around...... . Wish he'd do it for me!

We have 163 days left. Too early to start. But I like a combo of the hugs idea in cateripillar form! Make the bug, tape on the hugs/kisses, and take them off every day until THE day!

DD would get into this much more than my boys. But by adding the candy, they will also "get into" it.

 

[almburr]

On our trip i made a little book. I used index cards that are spiral bound and they were the bright colored ones. I cant remember how many cards there were. On each card I wrote how many more days and that days date. Then i put a Disney sticker on it. Example little mermaid said see my show at MGM. Or one of the Cars said Pump the gas and kick the tires (used this one closer to time) I just made up little things to go with each sticker.
Everyday one of the kids got to flip the page and one of them would read it.