The older my kids have become, the harder it has been to actually surprise them with anything. First of all I'm not one to be able to keep a secret that is this exciting from anyone very successfully. When I'm excited, I want to share that excitement. So, normally after I've booked a vacation, I want to share it with everyone! However, there have been some times that I've been successful (maybe only fairly) in pulling off a surprise or two when I was taking my kids to Disney or Universal!
When my son was 3 (note the age!) we took him to Walt Disney World for a weekend. For Christmas we wrapped up a box of all his favorite character items - a Little Einsteins shirt (I'm dating us here!), a Buzz Lightyear hat, and a few other small things. Since he was 3 and had never been, he didn't really understand what it meant.
However, when he was 5 and his sister was 3 we planned a trip in about 3 weeks. This one was a whirlwind of planning and was easy to keep as a surprise. We picked them up from daycare and had a friend with us (who was driving our van home). They were confused until Mickey called them on the phone and told them they were going to be doing something exciting that day. We were on the way to the airport to leave for Walt Disney World for a week. At that time you could schedule Disney calls from characters, though I'm not sure that exists any longer. If you have someone you know that could do a Disney character voice, this could be accomplished as well!
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| Waiting at the Airport. They just found out where they're going! |
The next few times we couldn't pull off surprises, but I like to think we pulled off a surprise in 2017 with friends when we booked a 9 nighter that included Walt Disney World and Universal. For this one they claim they suspected, but suspected without facts is still not knowing! LOL We wrote the words "Let's go on vacation together" on 5 cups. We gave one cup to each of the 5 children with smoothies in them. We asked them to pose together in the pool for a picture and then one of the adults "noticed" there was something written on the bottom of the cups and they had to put the puzzle together. It wasn't difficult, but it was fun! When they learned they were all missing a week of school the week before Thanksgiving, it was even more exciting!
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| Put the word scramble together. |
The most recent time we pulled off a surprise, we utilized the Christmas gift idea again. We had only about 23 days until we traveled to Universal in January. I wrapped personalized t-shirts (Just Here for the Butterbeer and Dobby is a Free Elf) and a Universal Gift Cards in a box for each of my children. It was their only Christmas present that year, and even Santa had left a note to see their parents for their gift (he and I had a conversation the prior week). It was even more exciting to me when they realized the large number 23 in the box meant they were leaving that soon!
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| Only a few weeks until they leave for Universal! |
I still like to think I have a few surprises left in me, but the older they get the more busy we are and I have to discuss schedules and sports and other activities. Soon there will be college schedules to take into account. My dream is to literally wake them up one morning now that they're teenagers and tell them get packed, we're leaving today. Perhaps I'll be able to sneak that one in still before college, but we will see.
I've gathered a few other suggestions that might help you pull off a surprise for your loved one!
- Using the "puzzle" theme, you could take a picture of where you're going and use one of the photo sites that make puzzles. Then, have them put the puzzle together to give them a hint of where they will be going!
- Scavenger hunt - make up a list of clues to send your kids on an adventure around your house (or neighborhood) and at the end the surprise is there waiting!
- Helium balloons...fill balloons with helium and hide them in a large box. Either put messages in the balloons or on the strings that say what you're doing (note on this one, do not put them in the box too early, or they will not rise well...this has been done for my son with money in the balloons for his birthday and the helium did not last cooped up in the box for long. He LOVED that they all just stayed in the box. He thought it was great, but if you're hoping for a large release, box them up right before you want to release them)
- Drop it in casual conversation and see if your kids notice. This might work on perhaps the older kids, but you know whether yours would pick up on it. Decide when you're ready to do it, and when you see something around your house that reminds you...maybe a commercial or an old pair of Mickey Ears, just casually remark that "I can't wait until we're there in (your month) to have my own churro and not have to share". Then continue on with whatever you were doing. Drop another one later if they didn't catch on....again and again until someone picks up on it.
- If you have a Vacation Countdown, set it to when you leave and see if anyone notices that the days start reducing (we actually did this on a trip that was eventually cancelled by Covid...it took about 3 days for someone to notice the numbers were getting smaller).
- Send them a letter from Mickey or from Hogwarts (depending on where you're going). You can make it yourself, or you can find lots of possibilities on Etsy!
- Have a themed meal and announce it then.
- Play Hangman or Pictionary to announce it.
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