Surprising my 5 year old

[butterfly18237]

Hey Everyone

I was wondering how I should surprise my 5 year old son about our upcoming trip in September. I want to do something special. I also want to tell him on his birthday in June. Any suggestions. He loves Pluto and Mickey if that helps.

Thanks,

~*Kristy*~

 

[docdebbi]

we surprised my five and six year old niece and nephew recently using an old photo of our family in front of the castle. We did the old cut and paste routine, left our bodies, but photoshopped their heads, and their parents heads, onto our bodies. They got the message LOUD AND CLEAR !! Were beside themselves with excitement, because they were always looking at that photo of us on the mantle and asking........"when you were in Disney World that day, did you miss us?"

 

[slappy magoo]

I don't have kids - yet, one's on the way (that I know of, heh heh). I don't know your kid and how he'll react to news that he's going to WDW months away. Thinking long-term, I'd gently suggest telling him so far in advance will be awesome in the moment, but it'd probably behoove you to wait until the date is closer, like within a week.

Reason the 1st.: some kids handle anticipation and expectation better than others. Having to wait months for that satisfaction will set up many expectations in his head, some of them may be unrealistic. And one thing kids do well, is imagine. If his dreams don't meet his reality - the heat is overwhelming, he's not constantly surrounded by characters - he misbehaves & you have to yell at him or even punish him - it won't be as good a memory. The less time he has to anticipate what will happen, the greater the odds are that is expectations will be met. We probably all know kids who had a meltdown on his/her birthday party. A lot of that comes from all that anticipation, and things not working out exactly as planned.

Reason the 2nd.: Even the best parents are guilty of the occasional emotional blackmail: From "Behave yourself or we're leaving the movie right now" to "I'm going to tell Santa to put you on the naughty list," everyone, sooner or later, uss threats to keep a kid in line. And if your children misbehaves between his bday and the trip, there might be an urge to say "That's it, we're not going to Mickey's house." It's either an empty threat & he knows it, or he doesn't know it, so when he convinces you to keep the trip on, he thinks he knows to manipulate you, which causes more problems later.

Sure, I'm probably overthinking things, or I'm just a pessimist. But were I in your shoes, I'd hold off until a few days to a week before telling him, max. You still get the look of surprise, you still get the joy of anticipation, but there's not enough time for it to REALLY sink in for him, so it all seems THAT much more awesome.

 

[butterfly18237]

When we went in December I thought that way, that maybe we shouldnt tell him so early, but when we planned the trip we were so excited that we told him so he can be prepared. We told him almost a year ahead. I know I know thats so far, but he enjoyed every minute of the planning with us. That was his first trip. This time we are telling him 2 months ahead just for the surprise factor for his birthday. I would have told him the minute we booked it. But thanks for the advice.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

I'm surprising my great-niece6 & nephew9 with a trip in December (their first time.) At first I wasn't going to tell them until we on the plane, but now I think I might do something special in November to let them know we're going, and start a countdown activity. I don't want them to know too early (my nephew isn't very patient), but now that I think about it, at least for me, the anticipation & planning is all part of the fun of the trip.

 

[amykissangel]

My mom and dad surprised us just last Christmas - a card with Mickey and Mickey toasting over a candlelight dinner, and the card said, "Minnie and Mickey invite you to join them for dinner..."

And then you opened the card and the maps fell out and the vacation planning dvd in a slim case - I cried. Best Christmas present ever.

I think your idea is great - I think he'll totally get the picture, and 2 months is a great amount of time - he'll be excited to lead up to the day. My cousin made a paper chain for her two kids, and they pulled one off every day. There's only 60 links left now - the kids are SO excited. They go online for like 5 minutes every night and pick out rides they want to go on, etc. Your son is going to be so excited!! :~))

 

[natolij02]

Hey everyone thanks for all your help.
I think I have ideas going on in my head. His birthday is in June so I still have time. Here is what im thinking: I'm thinking of putting different things Disney like disney dollars, maybe the mickey mouse club house figures, coloring book and bedtime storys disney book into a box thats decorated disney. Then maybe put it into his suitcase and get a little plane. Then I will have a card with our pictures from our last trip to disney. Then it says We are going to Disney in September. What does everyone think.

Thanks for your help
~*Kristy*~

I think your idea is great but to take it one step further you could some how incoporate all those "items" into a pinata....and it would be only his pinata to break...of coarse you have to mix some candy in there as well but....then he would have to look through the loot to make the correlation that he was going to disney.....just a thought.

Other good idea is to make him go on a treasure hunt with a card that say Mickey Mouse requests your presence at (location of the house) and have a toy or book there and with that another clue leading to the next location and have the last clue say Mickey Mouse requests your presence in Disney World in Florida and have disney dollars or pretend plane ticket that you can make up on the computer with the last clue. The anticipation of trying to do a treasure hunt will excite him and then at the end to have the trip as his final prize! again.....just a thought!

Good luck and have fun....oh and don't forget a camera when you surprise him, you only get that expression once!

 

[Sweet Pea]

What fun! With each of our trips, my two kids, 7 & 5, have found out about our trip because a character visited us. This year, on Valentine's Day, each of the kids had a special present left for them and a letter from Mickey and Minnie. I used various clip art that I add to the personalized letters. I also enclosed some Disney Dollars. To add to the fun, I had sprinkled pixie dust from each of the kids beds into the living room where the presents were.

In another week or two, they'll be getting another letter and possibly a present from their favorite character. The presents are usually a t-shirt, beach towel, something Disney.

Plus, on their birthdays, my kids also get visited by the characters. My son will wake up to Power Ranger, Star Wars, Cars, and Buzz Lightyear decorations. My daughter will wake up to Princess, Tinkerbell, and Cars decor as well. They absolutely LOVE it. Of course, they also get presents from those characters. Hope you have a great time planning your surprise!!!

 

[Nansafan]

My cousin surprised her daughters 10 and 7 with their first trip to Disney. They were going in May but she surprised them on Christmas Day. We picked up autograph books and had Cinderella sign them saying, "see you in May". They opened the books Christmas morning and the pictures were priceless. Sidebar, they are now 20 and 17 and still get just as excited when we go. Visiting WDW in June this summer.

 

[butterfly18237]

Hey Everyone,
Well Its June and only two days away from my sons birthday. We have kept it a secret. I have no clue how we did it, but we did. On friday we are going to finally tell him.

I'm going to do the treasure hunt thing. When we get home from daycare, I'm going to have it all set up. I'm going to tell him in the car that we has to go on a treasure hunt for his presents. So when we walk in my kitchen I will have a small present on the table, (one of the figures from the Mickey mouse clubhouse set) And I will have the kitchen decorate with Mickey balloons, and streamers. Then I will tell him that he needs to find another present, where he watches TV. Again another small present, and books. But then I will have the music on from the parks. After he opens it, I will then tell him he needs to look for his next present where he sleeps. Thats where I will have his suitcase (he has only used it for disney so far) With a big bow on it. I will then have the rest of the figures in there a stuffed dumbo, Disney dollars in there, shirts we bought for the trip and the birnhaum's wdw kids guide. Then I am making a card with pictures from our December trip and telling him surprise we are going to disney. I will then ask if he has figured out the clues!
Sorry its alot of reading. I can't wait. He loves things like that.

I will post pictures after I take them.

 

[ilovejr71292]

This sounds like so mcuh fun! Your son is going to be so excited. Granted I'm not the most artisitic and crafty person, but if he likes puzzles, yoy could take a giant poster board and glue on pictures from the internet and park maps and also glue on little things and then cut the puzzle out in the number of days there will be left for your trip and put one piece together a day. Or for his birthday you could put Mickey Ears on him with a Disney T shirt and tell him its for his upcomeing trip. He would be super excited.