Looking for Creative Ways to....

[The Packards]

Hello!

I'm looking for creative ways to tell my step children that we will be going to Disney World for 8 days in November.
DSS is 10 and DSD is 12. This will be their first trip to Disney World, DH's 2nd and my 4th. Unfortunately the kids do not live with DH and I so we only see them on weekends because they live over an hour away. Their birthday's have both passed and there are no gift giving holidays coming up either

I also want to think of ways to have them earn Disney Dollars. They currently live in a situation where they do not have to do chores and there is no way to change that or keep track of that even if they did. When they do come to stay with us, we don't have chores for them to do because we live in an apartment that we keep very clean and hate to have them spend their time with us doing chores since we don't see them much. Also, school is almost out and they will only be in school for 2 months before they go so I don't think getting good grades on report cards will be an option either (they are A/B students anyway). Any other creative ideas?

Thanks!

 

[beansmom]

You can mail them Disney Dollars from 'mickey'...and you can always have them do chores when they are with you. Also give for birthdays, etc.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Even though you say they are already good students how about for reading books or something like that or for sending their Dad a letter during the week?

 

[CajunDixie]

Does their school use the AR reading program? Have them read books in their level to earn DD. To show they've read the book have them write a quicky paragraph about the book. Maybe the DD amounts could vary depending on the level of the book and the pages.

 

[Deb T.]

How about doing a Disney Scavenger Hunt? You could pick up some small Disney gifts and Disney Dollars, hide them throughout your apartment, and then have clues for them to follow to find the goodies. You can tell them that you have a big surprise for them, and the clues will help them guess what it is.

 

[Deb T.]

As for earning Disney Dollars, you could set out two containers - one for each child. Then, reward them for each especially nice thing they do while they are visiting you, such as helping to set the table, being extra polite, holding a door open for someone, washing the car, taking the dog for a walk, etc. You wouldn't have to actually assign chores, however you would certainly get a lot of voluntary help that way.

 

[jennydep]

I just read a letter in Family Fun magazine about how one set of parents told their kids they were going to Disney. Before they went out for Chinese food one evening, Mom bought some fortune cookies at the grocery. She carefully removed the fortunes with tweezers and wrote her own fortunes and inserted them back into the cookies. When they got to the restaurant, she pulled their waitress aside and asked her to bring the cookies she had brought instead of the normal ones. The kids got fortunes like, "I see a mouse in your future", "You will be heading south soon", etc. Then after the kids had taken all the cookies she slipped one last cookie on the tray and they opened it to read, "The XYZ family is going to Disney World!" The waitress was ready with a camera to get a picture of the kids' faces when they read that and started screaming!! The 10 year old son wanted to know how the restuarant knew they were going to Disney!!!

 

[The Packards]

Thanks for everyone's input!!!

DH and I told the kids this weekend and they were so excited!!! I got a cake made at a local bakery and had it decorated with Disney stuff and had them write "The Packard Family is going to Disney World!" on the cake. After dinner, I told the kids to close their eyes because I had a special dessert and brought it out. It was so great to see the looks on their faces!!!

We told them about Disney Dollars and explained that we would think of ways for them to earn them. Both kids came up with some good ideas, so we'll see what happens.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Local_Girl]

Very cool, Packards! Hope you guys have a wonderful trip!

And thanks to all for posting some great ideas...we are planning to surprise the kids for next year's big trip and the fortune cookie and cake ideas are great!

 

[cats7494]

I ordered a Disney Princess cake that said "Surprise, we are going to DInseyworld!" and we showed it to DD10 yesterday afternoon! Oh. that was the absolute best! She was soooo excited and happy and surprised! It was so wonderful to be able to do that!
It is our first trip to WDW and we can not wait!

Yes, we definately got some pictures!