Surprise for kids at Christmas - ideas?

[teach65]

Hi everyone,

We're taking our first cruise on Dec. 26th. We are keeping it a secret! We plan on flying down on the 25th. I thought that after our daughters (ages 9 and 7) open their gifts from Santa, the girls could open a box or something surprising them with the cruise (and 2 days in Disney!)

Any ideas on what they could open?

Also, has anyone been on the cruise at Christmas time? I was wondering if there was anything special to look forward to.

Thanks!!

 

[Sunshine56]

I surprised my daughter with a trip to DL this last Christmas with 2 other families. I made Tshirts for all of us that said Disneyland or Bust, Spending Christmas with a Few Friends, etc. We gave the girls the T shirts at the same time. My DD also got a lot of Disney Dollars from family members.

Have a awesome time!!!!

 

[scrapbookingpro]

We have cruised around christmas time. They had tons of beautiful decorations (of course!) and on CC, the tram had giant reindeer antlers on it. They also had caroling and holiday story times. I'm sure there was so much more, but those are the things that came to mind.
Have a great trip!!

 

[poconoboatniks]

we've surprised our kids twice with DCL cruises. We didn't tell the kids they were going until we got to the airport. They thought they were dropping Dad off for a business trip. I wish you could have seen their faces. The second time, we didn't tell them where or with whom they were traveling. They only knew that they were going somewhere. The kids were 7 & 10 at the time.

Your kids will never forget this Christmas! Enjoy!

Poconoboatniks

 

[kris1973]

You could also do a scavanger hunt through the house and each box has a clue to the trip. If you could handle the waiting you could even have one of the clues say drive to the airport.

Kristin

 

[mrsfuzzmo]

I am a part time TA and for the past two Christmas' I have helped a few husbands surprise their wives withe trips. My favorite thing to do is to buy some of those Snow globes that you can insert your own photo into. On one side, a picture of the place where they are going (ie: DCL Ship or Micky) on the other side, the dates of the trip. Not only is it a fabulous surprise when the wives/kids open them up and think...."What in the world did he buy??" but it was a great remeberance once they got home. Your kids would probably get a pretty big kick out of it. I found them at Walmart around christmastime. I'm sure you can find them online somewhere or at a photo shop.

Mrsfuzzmo

 

[ivanova]

I'm similarly trying to figure out how to surprise our 16 year old with a 7 night cruise next March during her spring break (non-DCL though). I'll be using timeshare points this week to make the reservation, and we're wondering if we should make it a Christmas present this year, or if we should just wait until spring break. She'll be clueless since the cruise doesn't leave out of Florida (it'll be leaving from New Orleans), so we can pretty much keep her in the dark until we land in New Orleans and need to board the cruise lines motor coach to get to the port....

 

[tecdavidt]

Two years ago we gave our daughter, then 12, a 7 night DCL cruise with two days at the world staying at the Poly precruise. We left on Dec. 26th. What we did was wrap her homework since this cruise was the special 7 day Tues to Tues. She opened her homework and and had a terrible look on her face. "Why are you giving me homework?" (She was to miss two days of school after New Year's) Then we handed her an envelope with a letter we made on the computer telling her about the trip and that we leave tomorrow morning early! She didn't believe us at first until I told her that the luggage that had been sitting in the master bedroom was all packed and she could go up and try to lift the bags! She realized we were telling her the truth and she let out a huge scream of excitement. She had thought her father just hadn't bothered to put the luggage away from a trip we had taken in late October. Have fun with the surprise. Kathy

 

[teach65]

Great ideas!!!

 

[Doingitagain]

If you give the surprise in advance, order the DCL vacation planning DVD. My kids watched it over and over when it first arrived.

 

[JimV]

We surprised our kids (DD17, DS14, DS11) with a 7 day Eastern during spring break. We told them we were going to Florida, and had routes highlighted on a map, airline reservations, we showed the the resort at Sanibel Island, etc.

Since we knew we wanted to arrive the night before to avoid travel issues, we had one suitcase for the first night with everyone's Saturday clothes so we didn't have anyone breaking into the bags packed for the cruise. We went to Cirque Du Soleil on Friday night (which the kids loved) and Wolfgang Pucks in Downtown Disney.

They know I am a compulsive vacation planner, so we had a fake binder with false confirmation sheets, itineraries, etc.

We told the kids that we could not get a rental car in Orlando (it being break) so we were going to take a shuttle to the hotel at Cocoa Beach where we would get a car and visit Cape Canaveral for Saturday afternoon. But when we exited the hotel on Saturday, and were walking towards the shuttle buses, DS11 commented on the strech limo, "Dad, we should take a limo!". DS14 went a few more steps and saw the sign held up by the driver with our last name. They were thrilled with the limo ride and as we went East on the Beeline, we laughed about the ride, as well as pointed out the sites as we saw Kennedy Space Center in the distance. Then, our drive (in on the surprise) told the kids that this was the exit for the hotel (actually going to the cruise terminal). The kid's asked if we were going on a cruise as the saw the ships, and we said "April Fools!" since it was April 1. So they thought we were just joking, but when we pulled up the curb at DCL, we finally told them and they freaked.

All that to say, enjoy the surprise and perhaps consider using an alternative mode of travel to the cruise to hold off the reveal until the last possible moment.

-- JimV