Ideas to suprise kids with a cruise ( Christmas present)

[JenLovesMM]

So sorry for your loss.

A few years ago when our kids were 13 and 16, one of their Christmas presents was a 4 day Disney vaca and a 4 day Disney cruise. I put together a list of clues in order and they had to work to figure it out (often using google). For example:
clue 1: date we were leaving (example, if it was Feb 28 the clue was 02-28)
clue 2: a drawing of an airport
clue 3: the airport code we were flying from (they definitely needed google for that!!)
clue 4: the airport code of final destination
clue 5: POP (we were staying at POP century)
clue 6 to 9: MK AK HS EP (since we were going to all 4 disney world parks)
clue 10: their cousins initials (we were meeting cousins in the park one day)
clue 11: date of the cruise (ex: 03-05)
clue 12: DCL (they had no clue what that meant but boy were they excited when they figured it out was a cruise)
etc... I had about 24 clues in total. Took them a while to figure out the whole itinerary and I purposely made the clues hard to stretch this out and let them have fun (with a whole lot of googling!). They really enjoyed it!

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Great idea! I remember -- years ago -- two of my students (twins) lost their father in the fall, and -- rather than face their first Christmas without their father -- their mother chose to take them on a cruise. I thought it was a brilliant idea; it was just too soon for them to face the holidays without him.

Having said that, I'd want them to have SOMETHING to open on Christmas day. Do they need suitcases? Luggage tags? Of course they'll need small things like sunscreen, etc. You can make a great stocking with flip-flops, sunglasses, water shoes, lanyard to carry the Sea Pass.

Have they ever cruised before? If not, I'd pull up a bunch of You Tubes to let them see what your room, the buffet, the pool will look like. I'd also print off information for them to read about excursions you plan to take, etc. These things'll keep them busy on Christmas day.

I love this idea!

In high school, this may mean missing the week before exams, which is tough. BUT I also understand this is a horrible year unlike any other. The 15-year old's academic standing may not be the most important point in the grand scheme of things.

They have not been on a cruise , but watch videos constantly. This has given me something to look forward to. I so badly needed it. My ds15 an avid snorkler so I know he will love this.
I just ordered 150 mini ducks on Amazon
I was thinking of a couple of different things
1 maybe a huge box of ducks with a note on the bottom or 2. Making them find these ducks everywhere. It was $12 for these ducks so super cheap.

This year is such a wash as far as education goes.. he passed away Mondsy August 22nd my sons first day of school. The teachers have been great to him. The next two weeks were two viewings two funerals and one crying mom who couldnt get it together.. the third week was week one of the rest of our lives and was the hardest of all of them. We are now two months later and he will catch up by the end of the year.. probably failing Spanish but it's all ok. We are taking this one step at a time. I remind him no one tells you how to grieve and remind him of his bible passages his dad would tell him.
"for tomorrow has enough worries of its own.."

 

[sam_gordon]

1 maybe a huge box of ducks with a note on the bottom or 2. Making them find these ducks everywhere. It was $12 for these ducks so super cheap.

Maybe put a single letter on the bottom of each duck. Once they find them all, they need to arrange the words "we're going on a cruise" and "Jan 07"?