Yep. The cruise boards aren't really busy enough here to facilitate forming groups for each cruise the way they are on another fan forum where there's a ton more traffic. Over there you find your group for your sailing in the designated meeting list area. Just about every sailing of every ship will have a thread of people who are all going to be sailing together. It's an opportunity to make friends before you ever get there. Sometimes the groups are big, sometimes just a few people. Most groups will organize their Fish Extender exchange list (I was just the list keeper for our recent Magic cruise). It's a lot of fun but can also be a lot of work. We've done it 3 out of 4 cruises. I like it but don't feel like I have to do it. It's kinda hard with teenage boys because nobody ever seems to know what to do for teenage boy gifts. They tend to get a LOT of candy and playing cards. We just sorted our duffel full of FE loot from our recent cruise yesterday. We had a total of 6 or 7 decks of cards. LOL! The boys loved it, tho.
Let's see. What gifts have I done. I generally do 1 or 2 gifts as family/stateroom gifts PLUS at least 1 gift per person in each stateroom. When the group is smaller that's a lot easier and inexpensive. Our recent group was 39 staterooms with a total of 143 people. That got kinda expensive but I still did it. Here's my breakdown of past gifts I've given:
Family/stateroom gifts:
- 4x6 magnetic photo pouches w/a custom designed cruise-specific insert. Magnetic door decoration now, refridgerator magnet with your favorite vacation pic later. These can be bought at Walmart for like $2 for a 2-pack.
- Unopened Zatarains spice mix
- Laundry care kits: zippered lingerie laundry bag w/3 Tide pods, 3 drier sheets, a few clothes pins, & a couple big safety pins
Adult (21+) gifts:
- mini bottle of Malibu rum
Teen/tween boys:
- reusable water balloons: sponges cut into strips then tied bundles to make a ball shape that you can wet & throw at victims
- small-ish USB drives
- vinylmation for trading (bought on sale w/great discount on Disneystore.com)
Teen/tween girls:
- handmade button bracelets
- vinylmation for trading (bought on sale w/great discount on Disneystore.com)
((drawing a blank on others but I know I did different stuff))
Boys & girls (4-11 or so):
- Disney pins (bought in bulk on eBay) for trading
- pressed penny kits (for use on the Disney parks day of our last cruise)
Babies/toddlers:
- Disney character sippy cups
- Disney character tub toys
- Disney character bibs