NikkiDee-Canada

Hey OP, I got your tongue-in-cheek tone, and also plan to march my OWN kids down to the kid clubs on the first night, whether they like it or not. ;) It's less about my own desire for freedom (as this is a family vaycay) and more to ensure that they give the kid clubs a hearty try, and hopefully find some fun/friends in them. If they hate them, that's fine. If they love them, that's fine. We'll roll with the punches, and figure it all out as we go. This is also our first cruise (and first vacation with the kids, ever!) so here's a few things I had planned on doing:

1. Posting some ground-rules for the kids (nothing over the top, as we are supposed to be having fun. But more the stuff that they may not automatically think of: No going on balcony without us, ensuring they wash their hands frequently, being quiet and polite and respectful when in the halls/open areas/in rooms/everywhere basically, taking the stairs and staying out of the elevators as they are more than capable of walking, whereas others aren't, etc.)

2. Ordering the complimentary continental breakfast room service every morning as a "pre-breakfast", as some of my crew are early risers and inexplicably have an insatiable hunger as their eyes open for the day. This will buy me maybe an extra hour or two to "sleep in", and then we can hit the buffet or a restaurant at a normal hour.

3. Deactivating the room cards (though I didn't realize you could set a daily limit, so I'll look into that). And hooking them to lanyards.

4. Having the mini fridge cleaned out. I don't want to risk having the kids get into it, plus we need the space for some medicine, and would like to add a bit of our own stuff (water/etc) to have available for the kids.

5. Packing clothing in ziplocks. This is probably not necessary for most, but we have three kids in the room, and I anticipate chaos of just...stuff. So I'm doing individual outfits ziplocked, with their name on the front, so I can just toss the ziplocks into a cupboard and not worry about clothing being all messed up and mixed up and strewn about. I'm keeping an open suitcase under the bed where we can toss our dirty laundry.

6. Bringing highlighters and assigning each person a colour, so that the kids can identify activities they are interested in doing, in the Dailys.

7. Encouraging naps and lounging around time! It's all about relaxation, for us. :)

I'm sure there's more, but that's just a few things off the top of my head. We are gone for 12 days, so staying organized is key for us!

We are doing the same thing for Christmas this year! Mainly because my kids have reached the age where there's nothing they really need as gifts, and it's just an exercise in filling our home with more junk!

Our plan was originally to put suitcases under the tree, pre-packed with goodies for the trip. I hit up the post-summer sales and got them some new clothes, as we have a very cold winter, and will be heading to the Caribbean.

I love the idea of the scavenger hunt, though!

We have family going on the trip with us, so we have also been toying with the idea of bringing stockings along on the trip, and taking turns putting things in the stockings the morning of each day of port for something related to what we will be doing (ie: sand toys, snorkeling mask...things they can use while we are in port). Since we won't be doing a traditional Christmas with traditional gifts, this seemed like a fun compromise.