How to surprise my wife?

[shipgeeks]

I hope she has not planned a surprise trip for you in the same time span!

[dmdiver]

11 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

I hope you gave them a year or so’s notice.  My adult children have pretty busy lives -between their children, their careers and their own vacation plans.   We do a number of things together - but the scheduling makes the Versailles Peace Conference look like a walk in the park.

 

Yes, we printed the tickets which only stated that it would be a Carnival cruise & dollar limit.  This allowed us to pay for it, but if they wanted to upgrade their cabin, it would be their responsibility to cover the difference.  We all got together and decided when, what ship, etc.  Even with all that, one daughter ended up pregnant, so we rescheduled out another year.  Trying to get 7 adults together at once is like herding cats sometimes.  

[dmdiver]

12 hours ago, clo said:

Wow! Our adult kids would likely kill us if we did that 🙂 Their lives are so busy. We're already trying to find a few days this summer that we can get together. Along with the grands!

 

We didn't actually book anything until we were all together.  

[DarrenM]

3 hours ago, lindsay0526 said:

@DarrenM & @thatsinkingfeeling- the OP asked for ideas on how to surprise his wife. I just offered my personal idea. Going out to dinner can be as expensive as you want it to be. Dressing up for said dinner is free, because you have clothes already in your closet. Flowers can be purchased from the grocery store for $10. Making something special does not have to be expensive.

To be fait you offered ideas. If it was perm any one of the group then fair enough. But it looked like you suggested he do the lot, but reading above seems like he wants to anyway. Leaving himself a higher water mark for the following significant event though. lol

[That sinking feeling]

2 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

In my case, as described in my first post on this thread, I did not do it to get anything in return - I did it because I love my wife and wanted to surprise her with a trip that we shared. It's all in the presentation. What I got in return was the love of my life being with me for 38 years. If that is madness then I'm glad to be insane!

I love my wife too. Maybe not that much though. I wonder if she loves me that much.......................ponders.

[DarrenM]

Just now, That sinking feeling said:

I love my wife too. Maybe not that much though. I wonder if she loves me that much.......................ponders.

It would be hilarious if your wife bought a cruise and surprised you.

[leaveitallbehind]

36 minutes ago, That sinking feeling said:

I love my wife too. Maybe not that much though. I wonder if she loves me that much.......................ponders.

 

I wasn't a measure of how much I love her, or how much I spent - it was more an expression of how I chose to show it.  Keep in mind we went on that cruise and enjoyed it together for our anniversary - I just planned it as a surprise.  

 

The back story is that my wife had joined me on a business trip to Puerto Rico in 1991 where we saw RCI's Sovereign of the Seas docked one night in Old San Juan.  At the time she was the newest and largest cruise ship in the industry and looked spectacular with all her lights on.  We said to each other that some day we would like to cruise on her.  So I just went ahead and booked her for following year in 1992 as a 10th anniversary surprise. That was BTW our first cruise from which many have followed in the 28 years since.

 

You can make of it what you will, but It's just that simple.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by leaveitallbehind

[That sinking feeling]

I am only messing with you. 

 

I wish you all the best.

 

And I am sure your wife will love it.

[slidergirl]

Well, what you do depends on how "stealthy" you can be and the level of "surprises" your SO can stand...  Can you get the time off approved without her knowing?  Does she need to be in control of what goes in her suitcase?  Do you know her toiletries?  How easy-going is she?  Is her passport easily accessible to you?  All really important things.  

My story:  My SO planned a trip to Hawaii as a surprise.  It was the week after Christmas.  He worked it with my manager to have the time off and to not say anything.  There was a charter company around here that did flights to Hawaii.  He booked with them.  He found a condo on Maui.  I was usually the one who did all the bookings and planning, so this was big for him.   He packed stuff for me in the middle of the night or when I was out.   That morning, we drove "to work" as normal, since our company was on the opposite side of the runways.  He "accidentally" missed the turnoff (someone blocked him), the next turnoff was for the airport.  He says "well, as long as we're here, let's go to Hawaii."  Floored me!!!    I will say this was a case of No Good Deed Goes Unpushished, though.  Major flight delays in both directions, he came down with the flu the 2nd day, he really didn't pack for me well, so I had to buy a bunch of stuff (no bathing suit, 1 pair of shorts, but did pack my snorkel stuff)...   I still laugh about it.   

[That sinking feeling]

Sounds like he did ok. I wouldnt know where any of my wife's clothes are kept. And in what order.

 

Unless I leave my Jean's on the floor I cant find them the next day. What does hanging up even mean?

[VennDiagram]

On 2/18/2020 at 9:37 AM, RogueMonk said:

I would like to surprise her in some special way, but I know that real last minute would stress her out. She needs a week or two to plan herself.

 

I think you are VERY smart to give her some time to organize herself 🙂  Why not keep it simple, and give her the boarding passes in an early anniversary card?  "I know this is a bit early, but I wanted you to have this now".  She will be surprised when she opens the card, right? 

[Oscar13]

For our 30th Anniversary this May I planned an Alaskan Cruisetour.  I do all the planning for trips so it makes it easier.  It is easier for DH to get holidays than for me.

What I did is I created a booklet which he got the family Christmas.  (You can get it bound at an office supply type store.)

Each page was an assignment for a certain day.  Day X - book the following holidays, Day X+1 - pack, Day X+2 head to airport and so on each day having a picture of something related to the trip, Until he was halfway thru (25 pages) he still hadn't figured out the final destination.  I unfortunately wasn't at the family dinner but I was told he cried.

Making the booklet also gives us a reminder of the trip that we can always keep.

Good luck surprising her.