Surprising your kid for Christmas

[STLDisney_Freak]

What are some of the ways that you surprised your children with a trip to Disney for Christmas?

 

[tsd1202]

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[megs1313]

I was coming to ask the same question. I'm thinking about wrapping a WDW ornament with 2017 on it and giving it to each of them to open on Christmas day....my youngest won't get it, but my big ones will. Open to other ideas, though for sure!

 

[Vijoge]

I had a puzzle made complete with Disney characters and details about the trip. Once they put the puzzle together they'll know we're going.

 

[Erika Raymond]

We are telling them we are visiting a relative. After a few hours into the trip we will surprise them with presents. I had shirts made with there favorite Disney characters in Mickey Heads. They will open them and realize we are on the way to Disney.

 

[DaniMoon]

I am packing their travel bags with all their Disney themed clothes, Tsum Tsums, their Mickey Ears and some other Disney goodies and a piece of paper with the number of days til our trip (not til June). My kids are 8 & 9.

 

[goofytwo]

We are making a big box to fill with Disney themed items (ears, shirts, books, balloons, a milk crate filled with envelopes for an activity each day as a countdown, etc.). Placing a tag on the box that they can't open until a scavenger hunt/puzzle are complete and attach a clue. Plan to have each clue contain a few Scrabble letters in an envelope. The last clue will have an outline for the words so they know the first word is 2 letters, second word 3 letters, etc. The puzzle when solved will read "We are going to Disney". My kids are 12, 8 and 6.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

My cousin and his wife wanted to surprise their kids, and part of the surprise was that my husband and I would be going with them (as the resident Disney experts!) We made a collage of WDW pictures with the 6 of us photo-shopped into them, showing them what we would be doing come June. They loved it! They were 5 & 7 and had no problem deciphering what was going on.

 

[dwbrewster]

Our Christmas reveal was a video for the kids that we had a Santa record. We were lucky and had a Santa that was coming to visit our community and he was more than willing to help.

 

[chris31997]

We told the kids at Christmas they were going on an Alaskan cruise. For Christmas we gave them gifts that they might need or want on the cruise. Think binoculars, hand warmers, gloves, hat. Things you don't need when living on a tropical island. Last gift was a t-shirt. The look on their faces was priceless.

 

[npaige611]

We are going to get 4 gifts to open to lead to the big reveal. We just ordered the ornament that says Going to Disney and the date we check in. My son is 7 and is reading everything, so I can't wait for him to hold up the ornament and read it. Plus it will be a great family keepsake. The other gifts are a poncho, the Birnbaum guide for kids and then a gift card. My youngest is going to open disney little people, because she doesn't know one way or another. So excited!

 

[matt1979]

Did this a few years ago. I print out a Mickey Mouse face, pasted it on cardboard, then on the back wrote something along the lines of "We're going to Disney World" on it...then further cut that up into about 5-6 puzzle pieces. Hid each piece around the house along with a Disney or Pixar toy/character. Then wrote a series of clues to lead the kids to each puzzle piece so it was a bit of a scavenger hunt. Once they found all the pieces, they had to put the puzzle together, then there was a note to turn it over to read the message. Worked out well.

 

[BMon_1981]

This is what I'm doing (my kids are 10, 13, 15)... going to give them a large-ish box with 5 fist-sized rocks in it. When they open it & start giving me grief about getting rocks, I'll tell them to turn them over, and the rocks will be painted on the bottom with Mickey heads, the date we are going, and "WE - ARE - GOING - TO - DISNEY!!!"

 

[cmorris303]

Our elf on the shelf left them a note that was the start to a small scavenger hunt around the house. The last clue led them to minnie and mickey bags filled with a few things for the trip and a note that said we were going to disney.

 

[Hezzy04]

I wrapped a gift for my family with t-shirts saying "xxx family Disney world vacation 2026". Then I had our itinerary printed off on the top part of the box.

 

[jakespop]

We are wrapping the MagicBands

 

[andyw715]

Our trip was during Halloween, but can be easily done for Christmas.

Last year we surprised our daughters (then 9 and 7) with a large box that looked like it was shipped to them.

Whe they got home from school on Friday (Halloween was Saturday) they opened it and a Mickey ear helium balloon floated up with a note on the tether (My wife made it)

In the box were the Magic Bands, autograph books, Epcot Passports, and some other Disney stuff we bought.

Within 10 minutes we were on the road!



This year for Thanksgiving we surprised them with a trip to Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Discovery Cove, and Seaworld.
Usually with long trips my wife will put post it notes on one of the back windows to count down the hours until our destination. At each hour the girls get some new thing to do or a snack treat or something.
On our way down she gave them stuff from Seaworld and Winter/Hope things....it took a few hours but they both guessed and were very excited.

 

[DisneyRobin]

We're surprising our kids (10,12,15) with a trip this year! I'm planning to pack their suitcases and wrap them up with a big bow on top of each. We open gifts early Christmas morning and our flight leaves for Orlando at 5:35pm that afternoon.

We're wrapping other trip related gifts too and still deciding whether to give the smaller gifts 1st or start with the suitcases.

If we start with the suitcases, they'll open them and there will be a printout of their airline ticket saying that we leave for Orlando at 5:35 and return at the end of the week. Then, there'd be a note saying which present to open next to find out details on the trip.

Our 1st stop is universal for 2 nights at the hard rock hotel. My boys love Harry Potter and haven't been since they opened the newest park. I have universal studios gifts for all 3 kids. When they open those gifts, they find out we're going to universal for 2 days.

Then they'd go to the next gift and open disney related gifts, magic bands, shirts, etc...and find out we're going to disney for 4 days.

Just not sure if we should start with the small gifts - give the universal gifts, then the disney gifts followed by the magic bands so they know we're going - but when?? Open the suitcases and find out we leave that afternoon.

Or

Start with the suitcases....

Any thoughts on which order we should do?

 

[Blended Disney]

We woke the kids up at 4:00 am with when you wish upon a star and a card telling them where we were going (6:05 flight). They didn't quite believe us when we said the car leaves in 15 minutes for the airport...but they came around once their eyes weren't asleep.

 

[EvilQueen2018]

[QUOTE="DisneyRobin, post: 56812220

Any thoughts on which order we should do?[/QUOTE]

I would do the Disney World part first to get them worked up, toss in some universal, and end with the "now" suitcase. They'll probably want to toss their new stuff in the suitcase and walk out the door. I think the thing about leaving today will be the biggest part and I like to save the finale till the end. You don't want to start low and not have their full attention though, so Disney first. Not that universal isn't awesome, just Disney is better. All just my opinion, of course, I'm sure the kids will be thrilled however you do it.

If you record and post it somewhere, please let me know. I love reveal videos!