5 Creative Ways to Surprise Your Family With A Disney Vacation

With the holidays right around the corner, I wanted to share a few ways to surprise loved ones with the gift of lasting memories! As an added bonus, all of these ideas include ways to slide in a little learning before your trip!

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Present a countdown calendar.

A countdown calendar can take on many forms, but a common and simple way to create one is to print out a month view page of a calendar. Children in preschool to second grade generally have a month view calendar in their classrooms that is used for daily skill building. Creating a month view Disney countdown calendar for home can not only be a fun way to count down to a Disney vacation, but it can help reinforce skills that are being taught at school, such as one-to-one correspondence, patterns, days of the week, and even months depending on how far out you make your calendar. For younger children, it may be best not to make the countdown too far out (a month or less). Great questions to ask as you are counting down towards your vacation are, "How many days have we crossed off?" and "How many more days until our trip?" Calendars can be easily made for free using Canva, or you can find free printable calendars by searching Google Images.

Wrap up puzzle pieces that reveal the surprise.

Purchase a blank jigsaw puzzle and write the surprise message, such as "We are going to Disney World!" Puzzles are great for problem-solving, reasoning, and building spatial awareness. This blank jigsaw puzzle from Amazon comes in an 8-pack. Consider writing one word on each puzzle for an extra challenge! Just be sure to keep each puzzle in separate baggies to prevent pieces from getting mixed up.

Send your family on a a Disney scavenger hunt.

Scavenger hunts are always fun, and you can get really creative by mixing in problem-solving or math problems. Start with a clue that leads to the next clue until you reveal the final surprise. Below are some clues you could use to get started:

• Captain Hook hid your clue in a treasure chest, but first, you'll have to solve this problem! (Use a combination lock on a box, give a math problem where the solution is the code for the box. Ex: There are 357 pieces of gold and 482 gems. How many treasures are there in the box?)

• Mirror mirror on the wall, you'll find the next clue here! (tape the clue to a mirror)

• Pluto hid your next clue (tape the under a dog dish, or by dog food)

• Sleeping beauty knows where to find your next clue. (hide the clue under a bedroom pillow)

• When the clock struck midnight, this got left behind, and so did your clue (hide the clue in a shoe)

• I'm hiding under a dinglehopper. (hide the clue in the silverware drawer)

Use a guess box.

In a bag or box, put several items related to the vacation. Gather the family together. Tell them you have several items that you will reveal one at a time, and it's their job to put the clues together to guess the theme. Start with the least obvious item, such as sunglasses. Items may include bathing suits, tennis shoes for lots of walking, flip-flops for the pool or beach destinations, mini Disney backpacks, Disney or matching t-shirts, ears, magic bands, fish extenders or door magnets for cruises, etc. Take items out one by one and let the fun begin!

Heading on a cruise or Adventures by Disney? Write a letter in the language spoken at the destination.

This is so fun and works great for older children (and adults)! Last Christmas, we surprised the kids with a cruise with stops in Mexico. My oldest happened to be taking Spanish at school. We decided to wrap up a letter describing the trip and what we would be doing, all written in Spanish. The kids had to translate the letter to learn about the trip and our planned excursions. Google Translate can help you translate any text into whatever language you are looking for.

Ready to give the gift of family travel? I'm Irene, a travel agent with Mouseketrips, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner and I would love to work with you! My planning services are free and I price monitor saving you time and money! Request a no obligation quote here or email me Irene@mouseketrips.com with any questions!

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