What were your best & worst Fish Extender Gifts

[RedSox68]

I agree with several of the comments regarding the candy - there was just TOO MUCH. Also cups...some were custom and adorable and others were just inexpensive ones. I appreciate the thought but my family of four literally got a cup each for a 7 day cruise. Just overkill....

My favorite items have been: hand sanitizer that I can strap onto my bag, cute keyfobs/keyrings, an adorable mickey necklace and a hotpad with our family name and a cute Mickey glove on it with a recipe for cookies.

Yeah, and then you have to pack them and hope they don't break.

One of my favorite gifts we received: (the nautical flags on the anchors spell our names.)
View attachment 329937

This is a truly unique and beautiful gift!

 

[daedelus]

Best gifts:

• Handmade wooden ballpoint pen (absolutely beautiful - adult FE)
• Small character gifts (you can tell they paid attention to your fav's list)
• Candy / snacks from giver's home country / region

Worst gifts:

• Can coozies - seriously?
• Water bottles - too many - too big
• Foam "crafts"
• Cheap dollar store earbubs

 

[anjuan]

I haven't participated in FE for a while but one of my favorites that I still remember from our first cruise was a hand-knitted Disney coffee cup sleeve.

 

[DerangedChipmunk]

LE PUB FE GROUP SPOILERS

If you're in the LE PUB group sailing on the DREAM, don't read





Everyone else,

this is my first FE exchange. Do you think a gift of hand-tied sailor's knot/macrame keychains would be fun and appreciated? Or cheesy and tossed before we reach land? I was thinking of doing some simple ones in a unisex style, but wasn't sure if they would be seen as a cute memento or on the level of kids' crafts

 

[Chemist]

Worst gifts:

• Can coozies - seriously?

Once again, one persons trash is another's treasure. I used mine ALL the time for months!
(I leave work every day with a soda.)

 

[MomOTwins]

LE PUB FE GROUP SPOILERS

If you're in the LE PUB group sailing on the DREAM, don't read

Everyone else,

this is my first FE exchange. Do you think a gift of hand-tied sailor's knot/macrame keychains would be fun and appreciated? Or cheesy and tossed before we reach land? I was thinking of doing some simple ones in a unisex style, but wasn't sure if they would be seen as a cute memento or on the level of kids' crafts

If it were a disney themed handmade keychain I would keep it (is it possible to do a mickey ear pattern in the knots, or use a disney themed ribbon in the sailor's knot?). If not, I kind of think people tend to have their own keychains for the most part and wouldn't really care to add another one if it was just generic and not linked at all thematically to the cruise vacation. Now if it were a handmade luggage tag or suitcase zipper pull I might use that regardless of disney theming because those things aren't something i have for all my suitcases already.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Worst gifts:

• Can coozies - seriously?

Once again, one persons trash is another's treasure. I used mine ALL the time for months!
(I leave work every day with a soda.)

Yep, we seem to wear ours out on a regular basis, or forget to bring them somewhere ... I think it's a cool idea, especially if it's something Disney or a location during your cruise.

 

[TestingH2O]

Now if it were a handmade luggage tag or suitcase zipper pull

That's a good idea. I'd love to get either of those. Anything to help easily identify my bag on the carousel.

 

[soniam]

Best:
- Disney swim bag: We have a blue one like it and absolutely love it. It was nice to get another, especially as a backup. We got a ton of other reusable bags that were mostly cloth, but it was just too many.
- Thank you cards/envelopes with a Mickey head stamp: I used these for gratuities. It was great, because I forgot to hit the paper store before our cruise. I love giving personalized notes with our extra gratuities. I thought our assistant server was going to breakdown and have an ugly cry
- Inflatable pirate sword: It was a great pirate night addition. We didn't really bring anything. I wish we had gotten an inflatable parrot too.
- small Kleenex packs
- hand sanitizer
- Sun burn cream: We didn't need it. My husband can't use it because of skin allergies. I took it home and ended up using it as lotion and sunburn cream on a different cruise.

Worst:
- Our own FEs: Someone from our group regifted some of our FEs to us. Although, maybe it was a hint that they didn't like them. I knew that some of these were ours, like the door magnets that I had made specifically for the cruise with the itinerary and date
- Cheap junky toys


What do people think about the following? Be honest. I won't be offended.
- Disney tea bags: They sell Alice themed teas in the gift shops at the parks. I know not everyone likes tea, and they have tea available 24 hours at the beverage center. However, these have kind of unique flavors.
- Honey sticks for said tea bags
- LED finger lights: They slip onto a finger with a little rubber band and have a switch that turns on the LED light. They come in multiple colors.
- Mini deck of playing cards
- Pressed pennies: of the ship design and of favorite park characters

 

[MelSpees]

Best:
- Disney swim bag: We have a blue one like it and absolutely love it. It was nice to get another, especially as a backup. We got a ton of other reusable bags that were mostly cloth, but it was just too many.
- Thank you cards/envelopes with a Mickey head stamp: I used these for gratuities. It was great, because I forgot to hit the paper store before our cruise. I love giving personalized notes with our extra gratuities. I thought our assistant server was going to breakdown and have an ugly cry
- Inflatable pirate sword: It was a great pirate night addition. We didn't really bring anything. I wish we had gotten an inflatable parrot too.
- small Kleenex packs
- hand sanitizer
- Sun burn cream: We didn't need it. My husband can't use it because of skin allergies. I took it home and ended up using it as lotion and sunburn cream on a different cruise.

Worst:
- Our own FEs: Someone from our group regifted some of our FEs to us. Although, maybe it was a hint that they didn't like them. I knew that some of these were ours, like the door magnets that I had made specifically for the cruise with the itinerary and date
- Cheap junky toys


What do people think about the following? Be honest. I won't be offended.
- Disney tea bags: They sell Alice themed teas in the gift shops at the parks. I know not everyone likes tea, and they have tea available 24 hours at the beverage center. However, these have kind of unique flavors.
- Honey sticks for said tea bags
- LED finger lights: They slip onto a finger with a little rubber band and have a switch that turns on the LED light. They come in multiple colors.
- Mini deck of playing cards
- Pressed pennies: of the ship design and of favorite park characters

I like Finger Lights. They are very "handy". Pressed pennies sound kind of fun too.

 

[MnkyGirl]

- Disney tea bags: They sell Alice themed teas in the gift shops at the parks. I know not everyone likes tea, and they have tea available 24 hours at the beverage center. However, these have kind of unique flavors.
- Honey sticks for said tea bags
- LED finger lights: They slip onto a finger with a little rubber band and have a switch that turns on the LED light. They come in multiple colors.

I would love the tea bags (but I collect tea) I once gave cold brew tea bags out as part of a FE gift. The ability to make iced tea (wherever I wanted) on a super hot day was so convenient. I could even take them on excursions and add them to a bottle of water.

 

[Heidi Astrella]

My favorite was a floating locket keychain with little charms of mickey, cruise ship, the year. It is still on my keys!

I think my favorite that I gave, and I think people liked it, was battery operated votive light with the ship name/logo on them so they glowed. They make great night lights.

 

[dalmatian7]

I am planning to give each stateroom a Disney-themed light card (the kind you can insert in the slot to turn the lights on and off so you can keep your room key with you),

I am curious, what would you make this out of. I am not brave enough to join an FE group for our first cruise but I think this might be cute to make for ourselves.

 

[MomOTwins]

I am curious, what would you make this out of. I am not brave enough to join an FE group for our first cruise but I think this might be cute to make for ourselves.

Homemade I think the easiest way to do it would be to get a really sturdy card stock, trace a credit card on it to get the right dimensions, decorate, and laminate with the kind of laminate you can buy in sheets and just peel off the paper to stick on.

 

[MomOTwins]

Best:
What do people think about the following? Be honest. I won't be offended.
- Disney tea bags: They sell Alice themed teas in the gift shops at the parks. I know not everyone likes tea, and they have tea available 24 hours at the beverage center. However, these have kind of unique flavors.
- Honey sticks for said tea bags
- LED finger lights: They slip onto a finger with a little rubber band and have a switch that turns on the LED light. They come in multiple colors.
- Mini deck of playing cards
- Pressed pennies: of the ship design and of favorite park characters

Nice ideas! My thoughts below:
--Tea/honey sticks: I would LOVE this myself, though maybe consider adding a packet of hot cocoa along with the tea for the non-tea drinkers or kids in the room?
--LED finger lights: If these are what I think they are (mini flash lights) I would not like this one, personally because we got gifted a couple of mini-LED flashlights once, and my kids proceeded to play with them accidentally shined them right in my eyes over and over until I finally had to confiscate them. They weren't trying to do it, I would worry that on a cruise, they might annoy other guests with them.
--playing cards -- awesome, bonus points if they are Disney themed!
--pennies -- not a bad idea, but please check the ages if listed in your FE group list, because if there are any kids 3 or under, I would not get this. My some swallowed a penny once when he was 3 and it was huge ordeal--we are very glad he did not choke on it, but the consequences were still not pleasant for him.

 

[soniam]

Nice ideas! My thoughts below:
--Tea/honey sticks: I would LOVE this myself, though maybe consider adding a packet of hot cocoa along with the tea for the non-tea drinkers or kids in the room?
--LED finger lights: If these are what I think they are (mini flash lights) I would not like this one, personally because we got gifted a couple of mini-LED flashlights once, and my kids proceeded to play with them accidentally shined them right in my eyes over and over until I finally had to confiscate them. They weren't trying to do it, I would worry that on a cruise, they might annoy other guests with them.
--playing cards -- awesome, bonus points if they are Disney themed!
--pennies -- not a bad idea, but please check the ages if listed in your FE group list, because if there are any kids 3 or under, I would not get this. My some swallowed a penny once when he was 3 and it was huge ordeal--we are very glad he did not choke on it, but the consequences were still not pleasant for him.

You can put pressed pennies in small cardboard display envelopes made for displaying coins. The sides tape together. It's still small, but they are rectangular and bigger than a penny, bigger than a half dollar I think too. I know about choking on a penny; I did it when I was young. Luckily, I didn't need medical care. They could also be placed in the adults pockets, which might help.

The LED finger lights only have 1 LED, and it's not as bright as a flashlight. I have had one shined in my eyes, and it wasn't horribly blinding. But kids will always come up with ways to annoy or torture adults

 

[MSPeeler]

I may be pixie dusting on our upcoming cruise and this thread is giving me LOTS of great idea of what I should and SHOULDN'T do

I'm getting the feeling no body wants twizzlers or M&M's....

 

[PrincessShmoo]

What do people think about the following? Be honest. I won't be offended.
- Disney tea bags: They sell Alice themed teas in the gift shops at the parks. I know not everyone likes tea, and they have tea available 24 hours at the beverage center. However, these have kind of unique flavors.
- Honey sticks for said tea bags
- LED finger lights: They slip onto a finger with a little rubber band and have a switch that turns on the LED light. They come in multiple colors.
- Mini deck of playing cards
- Pressed pennies: of the ship design and of favorite park characters

Tea bags - good for me, my husband - not so much.
Honey sticks - don't use them myself
LED finger lights - no, not interested.
Mini deck of cards - can't actually be used, difficult to play with.
Pressed pennies - don't collect those.

I'm getting the feeling no body wants twizzlers or M&M's.

NOT! Twizzlers would be a really big hit in our room. M&Ms, also.

 

[Stratus22]

I have to say, there haven't been any FE Gifts I didn't like. I have too many favs though. Photo Books, Keychains, Magnets, Cooking apron, Cups, Luminara Candles, Bags, games, Sand Buckets, inflatable balls, Activity books, Glow sticks, Disney Themed toys, Coffee Cups, Ornaments, Foreign Chocolates......
I will say what I didn't like and that is those who signed up and never gave anything. Only did the receiving part.

 

[Christy B.]

This fall will be my first time participating in a FE merchants. I'm planning to give tubes of glow sticks and headbands that hold them in the shape of mouse ears.

My family wore them at night at Disneyland years ago and people kept stopping us to compliment us and ask where we got them.

Is that a fun idea or a dumb idea? (No offense taken if you wouldn't appreciate it!)