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How to 'Wrap' a cruise so it fits under the Christmas tree......


TexasMustang
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Short version - the girls (10 and 13yo) are getting to go on cruise with us as Christmas gift. I'm looking for ideas on 'wrapping' this as a gift. My first thought was a cruise brochure wrapped up. I have asked my travel adjent and called carnival - apparently printed travel brochures don't exist anymore.

 

Long version - This summer as we sat in the 100+ heat for a three game in a day soccer tournament on our wedding anniversary my wife and I realized that we have never been away alone without the kids. It is time to do that. Then schedules came out and we realized that we are both off work the first week of 2018! (we both teach, but in different districts and often have different breaks) We asked Nanna to babysit for the week and she agreed!!! Only thing left to do now was decide where to go.

We started looking at options - and were torn between a Cancun all inclusive or a Cruise. Looking at Cruises we realized how much fun the kids would have - and then the travel agent pointed out that two rooms side by side was the same price (almost) and squeezing four of us into one room. Next thought from my wife - which is a more memorable Christmas, more american girl cr@p, more electronics, more makeup, Or a family cruise. So this is their Christmas gift from Santa. The trip with just the two of us will wait.

 

The kids still think Mom and Dad are going alone and they are staying with Nanna. They are already good an jealous and as a 13 year old does has told us how unfair it is and bla bla bla...... They are good kids and we will have a great time as a family.

 

Now - how does Santa wrap up a cruise and put it under the Christmas tree.

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Maybe print the luggage tags, add their name(s), put them in something like these fancy luggage tag holders:

https://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Luggage-Holders-Steel-Loops/dp/B017BVF8L6/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1504024296&sr=1-1&nodeID=7141123011&psd=1&keywords=cruise

 

... then wrap it in a large box, mostly filled with tissue paper so they have to dig for a bit.... :)

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Scavenger hunt - make those girls work for it!

 

Place first clue under the tree and send them all over the house chasing clues. Let the last clue be the boarding documents. If you do two rooms, they will have their names on their boarding documents....and watch it sink in....:D

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Scavenger hunt - make those girls work for it!

 

Place first clue under the tree and send them all over the house chasing clues. Let the last clue be the boarding documents. If you do two rooms, they will have their names on their boarding documents....and watch it sink in....:D

 

My thoughts exactly! We already do scavenger hunts for cash because my boys really prefer it. They have so much fun finding the hidden packages.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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.

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Short version - the girls (10 and 13yo) are getting to go on cruise with us as Christmas gift. I'm looking for ideas on 'wrapping' this as a gift.

 

Now - how does Santa wrap up a cruise and put it under the Christmas tree.

 

When my husband and I wanted to surprise our daughters...we had t-shirts made for them saying "family cruise 2011". You used to be able to order them from a link on Carnival's website, but it's not there anymore. Pretty easy though to find on a number of websites to have personalized and made.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another vote for scavenger hunt! We did this when we got my parents a cruise. The last clue led to the bathtub. The note on shower curtain said 'open me'. We had filled the tub halfway, floated a toy ship, and on the walls stuck a bunch of images we'd printed, such as ship, logo, islands we would visit, words like 'vacation' 'sail away' 'family', etc. It was amazing to see their faces!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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  • 2 weeks later...

On Christmas Day this year, we are surprising our kids with an Alaskan Cruise. We will sail in August. Our kids are 9, 9 and 6. We will give them Alaska books (found lots of good options on amazon), a map, Alaska state flag, British Columbia flag, the Royal Caribbean brochure of all the cruises they offer, etc. I also randomly found yellow sweatshirts for my boys at Lands End that say "Always Exploring" and have a mountain range on them. Perfect for the weather and the location. We will also buy a custom t-shirt of some kind.

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Since most drink packages do not include water bottles, we had water bottles made up with "Godzyk Family Cruise 2017" and an anchor on one side and each person's name on the other. This way they can fill them each day and use on the islands as well. It couldl be a great scavenger hunt prize or a wrap under the tree item for you. And makes a great souvenir after the fact!

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  • 4 weeks later...

We wrapped an envelope with cruise docs inside a big box. On the front of the envelope it told them to go into the family room and turn on the TV before opening the envelope. We had an iMovie trailer ready that had highlights from previous family trips, building up to the big news that we were sailing on Quantum on Jan. 3. They lost their minds! :-P

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Two years ago, we did this! We bought the boys a cruise ship ornament... along with various other items to go along with it, like their own suitcase, new sunglasses, random warm-weather things to keep them guessing. The cruise ship was the last thing for them to open and we had printed the date of the cruise on it!

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I downloaded a pic of the ship we were going on and made two custom cards online (like walmart or shutterfly) with a Merry Christmas message saying we were going on family cruise on the inside and put the sealed envelope in their stockings. Then a couple of gifts were little things like swim goggles and a cute nautical or beachy outfit.

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  • 1 month later...

If anyone has younger kids, playmobil makes a cruise ship with cabins, slide, entertainment, even a lifeboat. Pretty realistic toy i thought. Normally around $100, I think I got it for $60. We’re giving it to our 4.5 year old as a fun way to tell him about the trip. And because he’s autistic, it works best to really explain everything to him and the ship will be a great prop to help with that. I think I’ll even take it on the trip to explain things like muster drills.

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If anyone has younger kids, playmobil makes a cruise ship with cabins, slide, entertainment, even a lifeboat. Pretty realistic toy i thought. Normally around $100, I think I got it for $60. We’re giving it to our 4.5 year old as a fun way to tell him about the trip. And because he’s autistic, it works best to really explain everything to him and the ship will be a great prop to help with that. I think I’ll even take it on the trip to explain things like muster drills.

 

I bought a small playmobile ship for my 2 year old, my 5 year old got Walter the Farting Dog goes on a cruise. I printed the boarding docs and put them in the book. I made warm melting cake for desert before I let them open these 2 gifts Friday night. After waiting 6 months to tell them I couldn't wait until Christmas day. DW didn't know anything about the trip so it was a great surprise.

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I bought a small playmobile ship for my 2 year old, my 5 year old got Walter the Farting Dog goes on a cruise. I printed the boarding docs and put them in the book. I made warm melting cake for desert before I let them open these 2 gifts Friday night. After waiting 6 months to tell them I couldn't wait until Christmas day. DW didn't know anything about the trip so it was a great surprise.

 

My husband and I have never waited until Christmas to give our gifts to each other and half the time we end up giving gifts early that we intend for our son for Christmas. It’s been so incredibly hard keeping this one in especially since we sail in less than a month! Our 4 year old is crazy obsessed with ships and has even asked to go on a cruise. But we also know that as soon as he find out tomorrow he’ll ask nonstop if it’s time to go yet.

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