With Christmas on the horizon and many families planning vacations for 2022, I thought it might be fun to give some ideas of how to either surprise, or tell your kids about your upcoming Disney vacation. For some trips, we create countdowns and others we wait until the last possible minute to tell our kids, so that we don’t get asked a million times when we are going. It’s all about balance, right?
- Gift them something under the tree! You could put together a box of essentials for your trip that includes, Magic Bands, a Disney gift card, a shirt or two, a pair of ears, princess dresses or character costumes, toys/activities to keep them entertained during the car or plane ride or in line at the parks. I have also seen really cute pre-made boxes on amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Surprise-Vacation-Accessories-Including-Autograph/dp/B07RJVYLJR/ref=sr_1_2?crid=NRRTIQIWPZBZ&dchild=1&keywords=you%27re+going+to+disney+world&qid=1628699406&sprefix=you%27re+going+to+disney+%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-2
- Make them work a bit and purchase one of these puzzles from Etsy that will give away the surprise once they complete it.
https://www.etsy.com/search?q=we%20are%20going%20to%20disney%20puzzle - Have them open small gifts along the way, on the drive or plane and see how long it takes them to put it all together. My sister and I did this when we drove with our kids to Disney last year. We found Disney Hot Wheels cars for our boys at Target and Kohls. These also gave them some small toys to play with in the car and then the hotel room once we arrived.
- Make a scavenger hunt for the to go on with the final clue revealing the upcoming trip. You can find affordable Disney toys, treats, activities at Target, Kohls, Walmart, Tj Maxx, pretty much any dollar store, Amazon.
- Create and send an “invitation” to the trip From Mickey (or their personal favorite character) and mail it to your child(ren). Who doesn’t love a little snail mail and this will allow you to be creative and add your own personal message from Mickey!
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Create a homemade count down like this! For a little who doesn’t have much of a concept of time, this was great because it gave a visual aid to how far away our trip was. It was also a fun activity for us to make together, he helped decorate the paper with stickers and then was excited to take rings off based on which characters were on them! - Write “We’re going to Disney” on their bathroom mirror for them to read when they first wake up in the morning!
- There are princess services that will call or FaceTime your child and creatively tell them about their trip. If you are curious about services like this, I will gladly point you in the right direction!
- Gift them a Disney picture frame or photo album for them fill with memories from the trip! We love picking out pictures after our trip to display in our house or put in albums. It’s a fun way to relive the memories of your trip even when you are back.
What are some ways that you have told your kids about an upcoming trip?!
What A Whimsical World 