Cute and unforgettable ways to tell the kids

[mmlover74]

My son will be turning 12 in Nov. I also have twin DD who will be 4 when we go. I have a photographer who is willing to help with the big reveal. What are some very creative ideas to announce to the kids, especially my son that we are going for his bday?

 

[BippityBoop]

Can you order Mickey-shaped latex balloons, have a party store fill them, and pack them into a wrapped box? Similar to those gender reveals. Maybe at the end of each balloon put one letter to the word D•I•S•N•E•Y•L•A•N•D on an index card and they need to unscramble it?

 

[Davin_Felth]

I had staged the kids luggage with new Disney shirts draped over them in the cupboard and asked the youngest to go and get a can of green beans for dinner. He was super tired and grumpy and didn't get it, took a little explaining to him and his sisters and they didn't believe us at first that we were flying out the next morning.

For our upcoming trip, we're going to tell the kids that we're taking the day off from work to do something fun with them. We're going to ask them what they'll want to do (we're expecting playground and bouncy house locations). If no one suggests DL, my wife and I will toss that suggestion in and see if they're interested.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

scavenger hunts are always fun. Have him find clues leading up to a box/envelope he has to open with the announcement.

 

[planningjollyholiday]

My favourite way i have surprised my kids was with fortune cookies. I made them myself (surprisingly easy), and one kid got one that said, "today your parents will surprise you...." and the other kid's said "with a trip to disneyland".

 

[mmlover74]

I'm so glad you are sharing your ideas as I love to hear them...I wish someone would surprise me...but then I would have to do all the packing.

 

[10stime]

I am surprising my niece for her high school graduation and waiting to tell her until the night before we go. We decided on a scavenger hunt and the last clue will be ...

We know you well and your last clue will be a treat
Look for it where Elsa and Olaf would get something to eat

We are ordering an ice cream cake that says "congrats, you just graduated from high school! What are you going to do next?"

attached to the cake will be a card that I found on Etsy. The card is an image of the castle with a scratch it in the middle. When she scratches it off it reads "We are going to Disneyland"

15 more days until the big reveal, I'm soooo excited.

 

[ParkHopper1]

The best way to tell kids about an EPIC Disneyland trip...

When you pick them up from Gradma's after you return...bring them back Mickey Ears with their names embroidered on them!

...oh wait, WITH the kids...

 

[Is This Real]

Ours was a Christmas present for 12yo and 15yo.
I made a powerpoint with photos of all the places we are travelling to with Disneyland being the last lot of photos. The present asked them to press play on the tv.

There was stunned silence originally and then the words, Is This Real (hence my user name)
A photo of Universal Studios came up and my daughter asked is that where Harry Potter world is, when the next photo was of Harry Potter world she went beserk. She is a big Harry Potter fan.

The tears started flowing when the Disneyland photos came up.
I had used the music from It's a Small World as we are travelling from Australia.

 

[agamble]

Such cute ideas. When we decided we were going one day over Memorial Day weekend to activate our APs I was so excited to surprise the kids since they only knew about the big trip in June. But our surprise was just to wake them up early and throw them in the car and drive there (from campground). They were super surprised when we got there though and it was a fun secret. We could not do that from home because the drive is so long they'd likely figure it out. Or think we were going to Vegas to visit family and then be like those kids in those videos who are all upset because they wanted to see Grandma and cousins.

 

[OZMom]

Not when we were headed to Disney, but same idea. We drive so we went out to dinner, the trunk was packed but they didn't notice. We fed them a heavy meal around bed time...then put them in the car to "drive home" knowing they would doze off. When they woke up in Virginia, dazed and confused we told them we were headed to Universal / the space center to see a launch and they were suddenly not so irritated that we had fooled them into a road trip!

When we go in September, we will have the car packed when they get off the bus and a sign with a poem. I haven't figured out the rest but the end will be something along the lines of "stop standing around, hop right in, we're DISNEY bound!"

 

[lalasmama]

I did a little reveal surprise for MTV daughter's first trip. I had told her that we would go when she was 9 (she was 7y at that point), and so she helped me plan the whole thing. We had her 8th bday party the night before leaving. One present was ears that said "I'm going to Disneyland!" But she didn't read them :-/ The next one was a Disney gift card. She tossed it aside. Gave her an envelope with a letter from "Minnie" that said when daughter had Mickey ears, spending money, and plane tickets, we would go to DL. Well, the airline tickets were in the last bag. She politely says thank you, and starts looking for toys. I tell her we're going to DL, she says, "yeah, when I'm 9!" I said, "No, I think we'll go tomorrow." She still didn't believe me. Like she told my auntie and my dad that we were lying. Every adult was telling her we were serious, and she still thought it was a joke. I don't think she believed it until we were actually inside the gates

Next year, we take our grandson. No surprise, though. He's getting luggage for his birthday, and a paper-ring chain to count down the 6 week wait.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

scavenger hunts are always fun. Have him find clues leading up to a box/envelope he has to open with the announcement.

I did this. I have a video of it somewhere. It did not get the awesome reaction I thought it would cuz they thought I was lying. hahahahhaha. I will find the scavenger hunt we used (we did it in a hotel room in vegas..the halfway stop..they thought we were just staying there.)

 

[kkmcan]

One year we gave our kids a little hint each day (for our trip to WDW/Disney Cruise)in the form of a small trinket or toy. They had to put the clues together to sort of guess where we going. I remember we gave them an orange one night. Water in a jar. An airplane. Fish. A toy boat. A mouse figurine (not mickey). A palm tree and finally something that said or showed Disney on it (although I don't remember now what it was. ) I thought it would be easy but it kept them guessing for a week. They were young though.

Another time we told them we were going to visit a friend in California. When we got close to DL (we drove), I nonchalantly said hey whats that over there?? You could start to see some of the signs on Harbor. Should we stop and do a couple of rides?? They screamed and said what about going to your friends house? I told them we were still going but maybe we could just go in for a little bit and do 4 rides. Everyone got to pick their favorite ride and that was it. We parked at Hojo's "just to go potty". While they were going I ran to the desk and started checking in. They came out and caught me and the gig was up. We laughed real hard. I'm pretty sure they knew it was all a gag but they played along and it was a lot of fun.

 

[mmlover74]

I love these stories and will share when my DS was 6. My cousin lives in Burbank and was getting married May '12. It was let out of the bag a few times where we were headed...but he didn't catch on. After the wedding, we made a side trip to DL and didn't tell him until after we checked in. I believe we stayed at the PVI or close to it. He was oblivious to the people wearing ears and everything Disney. We get the luggage unloaded and tell him we were going for a walk. He wanted to get back in the van and I replied "It was a short walk to the Lego store." He hurried out of the parking lot, still not sure where to go. When we got to the crosswalk, my DH told our son to look at the sign behind me. When he saw it, he wanted to run out into the street as the cars were coming.

 

[Cory's Gal]

We surprise our kids 4 years ago when they were 8 & 5. My son reads the sports section of the paper everyday so we put a "flyer" in the paper that fell out when he opened the sports section. We asked them what that paper was so he read it out loud. It talked about a family from our city getting to go on a trip to California and all the fun things that were in store for them. Then at the bottom it read, "do you know who the lucky family is?" They caught on quick and were even more excited to know we were leaving the next day! Lots of fun!!

 

[Samandmom]

We have surprised our kids many times for our WDW trips! But for our upcoming first time to DL trip we surprised the kids on Easter! Our kids are 14 girl and boy 16. We had been talking about taking a WDW trip since it has been a couple
years since we have gone.

The kids usually leave out their empty baskets the night before for the "bunny". On Easter morning their baskets were empty with just a envelope inside them. Inside the envelope that had a letter that said "that this year they had to find their baskets by finding a special egg with a clue to find their baskets". They had to find their own specific egg but if they found the others they couldn't touch it or tell the other where it was. Inside their egg they had a clue to find the next clue.

When they figured out where to go, they each found a crossword puzzle. They had their own specific puzzle with things they would know answers too. For instance my daughters was theater themed and music themed for my son. After doing the puzzle they had letters that were circled and had to put all their letters together to spell out in moms trunk.

Once they went inside my trunk they found two baskets with a Mickey and Minnie balloon tied to each and a couple wrapped gifts. My daughter immediately screams we're going to DISNEY WORLD!! DH and I just smiled. The next thing they had to do was open their gifts they we had numbered. The first gift they got was a package of Dixie bathroom cups with a Disney theme, next shorts and next socks and the last gift was a Disneyland shirt. So at that point my daughter screams again we are going to DISNEYLAND!! My son got annoyed that she was screaming and didn't want neighbors to hear us. But right after he gave a HUGE smile!

Another surprise we had was that their cousin was coming also. So at Easter dinner later on my nephew wore Disneyland tshirt. It was a very obvious one though so afterwards he put on a different one that clearly said Disneyland on it. My daughter then figured it out.

 

[Frozen2014]

Great ideas. We're coming to Disney CA end of the summer. I so want to tell them as soon as they start camp (like OP, not sure how yet) . However we may wait until very close to the time since we just did a simple road trip and my DS was so upset that he found out about the road trip in advance. He said he wants to be surprised sometime.

Ways that we've told our kids in the past:

1. For our first WDW trip (DS was 9 and DD was 5), I had created a document of pictures from Disney. They flipped through the pages and the last page was a picture having the text in big bold letters "How about a trip to Disney World?". Don't think my daughter got it but my son was jumping up and down.
2. Not Disney but for our cruise April (DS was 10 and DD was 6), we told them new years eve. I always get them calendars so I handed them the calendars. They started flipping through it and when my son got to April he said 'Hey, i think this has been used". I said to look closer and sure enough he noticed that each day had a picture of cruise related stuff. Their reaction was priceless.

 

[mmlover74]

Love the crossword puzzle idea. Your daughter is a very smart cookie.

We have surprised our kids many times for our WDW trips! But for our upcoming first time to DL trip we surprised the kids on Easter! Our kids are 14 girl and boy 16. We had been talking about taking a WDW trip since it has been a couple
years since we have gone.

The kids usually leave out their empty baskets the night before for the "bunny". On Easter morning their baskets were empty with just a envelope inside them. Inside the envelope that had a letter that said "that this year they had to find their baskets by finding a special egg with a clue to find their baskets". They had to find their own specific egg but if they found the others they couldn't touch it or tell the other where it was. Inside their egg they had a clue to find the next clue.

When they figured out where to go, they each found a crossword puzzle. They had their own specific puzzle with things they would know answers too. For instance my daughters was theater themed and music themed for my son. After doing the puzzle they had letters that were circled and had to put all their letters together to spell out in moms trunk.

Once they went inside my trunk they found two baskets with a Mickey and Minnie balloon tied to each and a couple wrapped gifts. My daughter immediately screams we're going to DISNEY WORLD!! DH and I just smiled. The next thing they had to do was open their gifts they we had numbered. The first gift they got was a package of Dixie bathroom cups with a Disney theme, next shorts and next socks and the last gift was a Disneyland shirt. So at that point my daughter screams again we are going to DISNEYLAND!! My son got annoyed that she was screaming and didn't want neighbors to hear us. But right after he gave a HUGE smile!

Another surprise we had was that their cousin was coming also. So at Easter dinner later on my nephew wore Disneyland tshirt. It was a very obvious one though so afterwards he put on a different one that clearly said Disneyland on it. My daughter then figured it out.

 

[whoever]

I'm not creative. We are picking them up from school and instead of going home getting into rush hour traffic trying to leave Phoenix and just going...