Question for those that have suprised children with birthday trips

[disneyfam]

How did you distract the child from a birthday party?

DS birthday is on Nov 17 which is a sat. Wed. Nov 17 we are going to surprise him with a trip to Disney. We are basically going to drive to the airport and say surprise.

He is constantly talking about his birthday party. We will still have a party for him with "family: on the weekend before. I call it family because it will be with the grandparents and our closest friends. Which in that circle of friends there are 7 kids. So we will have a cake and stuff.

With all of the money we are spending on the trip, I do not want to go to the extent of having a second party for his friends. He keeps talking about having a bowling birthday party and which friends he wants to invite. We're talking about an expense of $100 or more.

How do I go about keeping the surprise but distracting him away from a full blown party?

Thanks,
Cynde

 

[antree]

How did you distract the child from a birthday party?

DS birthday is on Nov 17 which is a sat. Wed. Nov 17 we are going to surprise him with a trip to Disney. We are basically going to drive to the airport and say surprise.

He is constantly talking about his birthday party. We will still have a party for him with "family: on the weekend before. I call it family because it will be with the grandparents and our closest friends. Which in that circle of friends there are 7 kids. So we will have a cake and stuff.

With all of the money we are spending on the trip, I do not want to go to the extent of having a second party for his friends. He keeps talking about having a bowling birthday party and which friends he wants to invite. We're talking about an expense of $100 or more.

How do I go about keeping the surprise but distracting him away from a full blown party?

Thanks,
Cynde

We took my DD to Disney for her 12 Birthday. I was going through the same thing, I didn't want the expense of a bowling party and a family party and Disney. So I gave in and had a bowling party I told her she could invite 10 kids only and her cousins had to be part of the list. It worked out fine. She had more fun bowling then if I had a family party. When you think about it the party is for the child so the family should understand that the party is for kids only, since you are going away too. At our party we had the parents drop off the kids and pick them back up. We ordered pizza and soda right through the bowling place and my husband and I were the only adults there.
The family understood and still gave my DD a gift, but it was no big deal that they weren't invited. I hope it all works out for you. We were very happy that we did the bowling party, it was nice seeing how much fun the kids had.

 

[Colleen27]

He is constantly talking about his birthday party. We will still have a party for him with "family: on the weekend before. I call it family because it will be with the grandparents and our closest friends. Which in that circle of friends there are 7 kids. So we will have a cake and stuff.

With all of the money we are spending on the trip, I do not want to go to the extent of having a second party for his friends. He keeps talking about having a bowling birthday party and which friends he wants to invite. We're talking about an expense of $100 or more.

How do I go about keeping the surprise but distracting him away from a full blown party?

We had a low-key party for DD on the Saturday before we left, but we have it easy because she's a summer baby. We pushed some picnic tables together at a neighborhood park, decorated with Dollar Store birthday tablecloths and a few balloons, got a grocery store cake, and got all her friends together to play at the playground for a few hours.

 

[PrincessasMommy]

We are doing a "Surprise Birthday Trip" too!!!

Our oldest willl be turning 12 on the Friday and we fly out of Buffalo on the Saturday!!

I just keep telling her that we really can't afford to do alot this year and that she can choose 3 friends to go to the movies or bowling or something and I will get them pizza, pop & treats.

As for the family....I told them cake & coffee on her actual birthday @ 6:30 pm the ones who can't come have already asked if it would be o.k. to just send a gift or come for a visit when we get back.

Good Luck!!

 

[3DisneyKids]

We have done several surprise trips! BTW, my dd's b'day is 11/17!

Since the b'day is close to T'giving, you can just say something like, "well, we may have to do something AFTER Thanksgiving...we can talk about what kind of party you want over Thanksgiving Break" and that might seem far enough away to thwart any more questions. And then since your trip is before that, you can just say--while at WDW--isn't this way better than a bowling party?

This also keeps your from lying to your kid. You are just saying "we'll TALK about it later" as opposed to "fake" planning a party. My girlfriend did this...her ds really wanted a particular type of party with his friends and all--so she said, "sure you can have a bowling party...we'll do it on Sat." knowing that they would be in Florida on Sat. Although her kid sure as heck didn't mind not having a bowling party in order to be in WDW, I don't advocate lying to your kids.

Or you can have a cake brought out while at a TS restaurant and have the CMs sing...and tell him this is his party--at Disney!

I think if you "break the news" that there will not be a friend party while you are IN Disney World, it makes it VERY easy for the kid to accept.

 

[disneyfam]

Thanks for the responses! I like the we'll Talk about it during Tgiving break. That might be a good response. Plus the family party consists of more friends than family. LOL. Our closest 3 friends each have 2 kids and one has 3. There is a party in itself.

Cynde

 

[ms_mckenna]

DS had a bday the weekend before our bday trip in July. DD was the one that actually had a bday on the trip but it was for both of them. For DS's bday we did a very small slumber party him and his 2 friends. They had pizza and the traditional cake for breakfast. It actually tided him over and nothing else was said about it.

 

[Siouxstone]

Have you considered telling him at the Family party? Maybe you could be all serious, tell him that the Family/Friends party is the only one he's getting, but maybe it would help if he opened a particular box. Then you could have that present be something Disney, or start a hunt through the house that ends in a "We're going to WDW" banner or card. That could be a lot of fun, and get him over the bowling party.

Good luck!