Bon Voyage party?

[giselleacttwo]

I'm planning a last minute (surprise) Bon Voyage party for my boys (8 and 10) and their friends before our upcoming 28 day cruise. Anyone have ideas of activities/games we could incorporate? We are going on Princess so I was thinking I would do a Party Patter for the guests and some other themed activities. But I would love suggestions.

[#1TravelMom]

Are you sure you want to "rub it in" that your kids are going on a cruise. I think 8 and 10 are tough ages to "be happy" for others. My DD has been on 10 cruises, but we try not to talk extensively about them around friends. I never want other kids to think she's bragging. Maybe you live in an affluent area and great vacations are common to all the kids - then I don't see a problem - they could all just be happy for each other. We live in a rural area and many of the kids go camping, an amusement park, or possibly 5 hours away to Ocean City to the beach.

 

That being said, my DD is 9 and at her last birthday we did a scavenger/treasure hunt - they all loved that. You could have some food or snacks themed according to the ports you will visit.

[Scrapnana]

Pirates? They could make pirate costumes, pirate scavenger hunt, etc.

[Lerin]

I too have never heard of a bon voyage party for children. :confused:

Even for adults, they are becoming more and more rare.

 

But if that's your thing, here are many samples and ideas at Catch My Party. There's even 1 specific to a Disney cruise, you could probably change it up for Princess.

http://catchmyparty.com/search?q=cruise

[giselleacttwo]

Thank you for the ideas. We are going the pirate route, found lots of ideas there. :) I realize this isn't a conventional party type for children of that age, but these guys didn't get a birthday party with friends this year and their friends were thrilled to receive the invitation. It will be a good chance for them all to hang out before they don't see each other for a month. While not a lot of their friends cruise regularly, long vacations to far flung destinations are not unusual in our area.

 

I really like the idea of a pirate scavenger hunt.