Surprise, Surprise

[iratherbesailing]

Does anybody have suggestons on how I can surprise my family at Christmas with the cruise tickets I got them. Should I just wrap them up, Put them in a Christmas cracker? Open to ideas.

[cruisegal40]

I stuck the kids "disney dollars" in the very bottom of their stockings as this is the las thing that we open.

[caviargal]

Where is the cruise to? If the Caribbean, wrap it in a box with a pretty beach towel or assorted stuff like sunscreen, etc. If it is Alaska, perhaps a guide book for the area along with the tickets.

 

I would do something that is along the same lines as the cruise destination and make it fun.

 

What a nice gift!

[UofMGoBlue]

Wrapping it in a box within a box within a box is always fun.

[freddiebud]

Where is the cruise to? If the Caribbean, wrap it in a box with a pretty beach towel or assorted stuff like sunscreen, etc. If it is Alaska, perhaps a guide book for the area along with the tickets.

 

I would do something that is along the same lines as the cruise destination and make it fun.

 

What a nice gift!

 

This is how I do surprise gifts also. And you can stop by the craft store and pick up little ships and other trinkets along the same lines as the destination and toss them in the stockings or use them to decorate the box.

[cruisinbuddy]

We wrapped the boarding pass booklet and then put that in a piece of wrapped carry-on luggage. That was a good Xmas, for them anyway, cost me $16,500.00

[MarriedInStThomas1807]

Wrapping it in a box within a box within a box is always fun.

Exactly what I was thinking. Maybe in each box but something that will give a "hint" as to what the real gift is. How exciting!

[birthdaysurprise]

I made a power point of the ship and the ports of call. About 100 slides with captions and music. I am going to hide the laptop under a gift box so hubby has to just push play to see his "gift".:D

[Grandpaul]

You could get in trouble playing games like this. One time I purchased a cruise for my DW and I as a surprise. I called her boss and cleared her time off and all the other little details. I also warned my TA not to say anything to my wife about it. Well the TA called about a week before the cruise with some info about it and spilled the beans. Ruined my surprise. So I called the TA back and started bugging her in jest. She said she was sorry and then she said "You were taking your wife weren't you"? To which I answered "I am now".

[Salsera718]

What we did was get postcards of the ship from people who travelled earlier on the ship (maybe the TA can get them) and placed them under the tree with a note

[megr1125]

You could get a chocolate ship.....many candy shops have them....wrap that up....send them on a treasure hunt through the house......(my parents did this to me all the time...my 35mm camera was hiding in the dryer....one year one of the clues was out on the front porch!

 

i like the luggage idea too! one year i made an easter basket with a chocolate boat....

 

if it's a caribbean one, maybe you could get candy shells and palm trees (i have a local person who hand makes candy...she made all sorts of stuff for me-i said make me 10 bucks worth of cute beach candy! she made christmas gifts for my associates every year for like 6 years so i got probably 0 bucks worth!) and put that in the stockings..

 

wrap up a brochure....print pix of the ship and places on the itinerary....

 

the craft store has all sorts of cute travel related stickers too...

[Paleochick]

Does anybody have suggestons on how I can surprise my family at Christmas with the cruise tickets I got them. Should I just wrap them up, Put them in a Christmas cracker? Open to ideas.

 

We were just talking about this on the family cruising board. You could wrap each person's ticket in a travel backpack (Rick Steves for the adults, LLBean for the kids). Stuff other cruise-related stuff in the backpacks (sunblock, disposable cameras, etc.). By the way, LLBean has some cute tropical kids backpacks on sale right now:

 

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?page=book-packs&categoryId=7863&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1

 

Come over and read the other post:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=638427

 

Have fun!

[cusyl]

I gave my daughter a gift of a cruise for her college graduation.

I went to a scrapbook store and got the book and travel stickers, then went to the travel agent and got brochures and cut out all the pertinent pictures.

I pre-reserved some spa treatments and an excursion and put that information in the book as well.

On the last page I put the tickets.

Then I wrapped up the book in wrapping paper with a big bow.:D

[Judi Kozar]

Copy pics of the ship you are going on and hang them from the tree w/ribbon putting each persons name on the bottom. On the back put the sailing date and pertient information!!!! Have fun!!

[MsMinx]

Where is the cruise to? If the Caribbean, wrap it in a box with a pretty beach towel or assorted stuff like sunscreen, etc. If it is Alaska, perhaps a guide book for the area along with the tickets.

 

I would do something that is along the same lines as the cruise destination and make it fun.

 

What a nice gift!

 

That's a lovely idea! :D

 

To add to that, i'd put all that stuff into a small box and wrap it, then put it in a larger box and wrap that, and then into another large box and wrap that etc, etc. It'll get them really excited and interested as to what on earth they'll get at the end!! :D What better than cruise tickets :D:D

[shancan911]

Whatever you decide to do, do it the same for everyone, and have them open the gifts all at the same time. They'll be crazed with curiosity on what they all could have received the same, and when they see, it will be mass chaos/happiness.

 

We did this to announce our pregnancy. Wrapped up newborn diapers and passed them out, and made everyone open them at the same time.

 

Have the camera ready!!!!

[wernew2cruising]

You could get in trouble playing games like this. One time I purchased a cruise for my DW and I as a surprise. I called her boss and cleared her time off and all the other little details. I also warned my TA not to say anything to my wife about it. Well the TA called about a week before the cruise with some info about it and spilled the beans. Ruined my surprise. So I called the TA back and started bugging her in jest. She said she was sorry and then she said "You were taking your wife weren't you"? To which I answered "I am now".

Priceless!!!! :D

[ger_77]

Wrap individual gifts of sunglasses. beach towels, flip-flops, travel diary, disposable camera and finally the beach bag to hold everything. Put all the gifts into a gift wrapped box and have them open the gifts smallest to largest. Once they've opened all their gifts, present them with their tickets in a special Christmas card and voila: a Christmas they'll always remember.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[beth4652]

DH and I did this for five of our kids. I made copies of pictures of the ship, itinerary,ports, etc. Then I cut each of them up to make a jigsaw puzzle. Each person received some of the pieces of each in a box. They had to work together to figure out what they all meant. Each also got a new hanging bag with the tickets inside and labeled "open me last."

[Bakincakes]

You could get in trouble playing games like this. One time I purchased a cruise for my DW and I as a surprise. I called her boss and cleared her time off and all the other little details. I also warned my TA not to say anything to my wife about it. Well the TA called about a week before the cruise with some info about it and spilled the beans. Ruined my surprise. So I called the TA back and started bugging her in jest. She said she was sorry and then she said "You were taking your wife weren't you"? To which I answered "I am now".

 

 

:D :D :D

[Sally Forth]

We just had something similar happen when we checked into a large luxury hotel that should have known better. They said, "Welcome back, Mrs. W." and DH pretended outrage and said, "You've been here before!?!"

 

Back to the gift idea..... personalized luggage tags on top of the tickets.

 

Viv

[CaptData]

You could play hide and seek with it. Leave the first clue under the tree in a box with the theme of the cruise. Then have the person go on a treasure hunt for the next clue. the last box will have the tickets in it.

[cruise_lover]

Does anybody have suggestons on how I can surprise my family at Christmas with the cruise tickets I got them. Should I just wrap them up, Put them in a Christmas cracker? Open to ideas.

 

When I surprised by sister with a cruise for her 60th birthday I bought an old fashion schooner and put the tickets in the same box as the boat.

 

The trip is just a memory but the wooden schooner is still sitting on her bookcase.

[Bonnie J.]

For our first cruise, I put the cruise brochure under my husband's oldest bathing suit, with tissue paper in a box which I wrapped. When he opened it and found his old suit he was completely confused as to why I was giving this to him. Told him to take it out of the box. Then he saw the brochure! Don't know which surprised him more. The cruise or the fact I had already paid for it!

On recent cruise tablemate told his wife he had business in Miami. They are from Canada.So she packed for beach and business affairs. When they got to the ship, he told them it was a HUGE ferry. She believed him until she saw their cabin. Needless to say she was speechless. It was their 1st cruise but not the last!

[iratherbesailing]

You guys are full of great ideas. I think that what I might do is something along the lines of custom made fortune cookies or custom made Christmas crackers with fortunes containing clues inside. I would give them out at dinner time. I like the shrinking box idea too.