Suprise my 6 year old or let her know ahead of time????

[Dune_mama]

We just booked a cruise on the Carnival Breeze for February 2, 2013!!! My 6 year old daughter has been hounding us since we got back from our cruise this February that she wants to go. We have been stressing to her that you have to save money to go on a vacation like that. Since then she has been helping with anything and everything imaginable to get her allowance and extra money here and there. My question is should I tell her ahead of time or just pick her up from school and head to the airport?

 

Also if you have any suggestions on how to suprise her that'd be awesome too!! I'm just not a creative person and I know she will be excited.

 

Last but not least do you have any tips for cruising with kids and any additional packing items that would be helpful

 

Thank you all in advance for the help!:rolleyes:

[liney]

I think surprising her would be super adorable (take a video of her face!) Maybe you could reveal the 'big surprise' with a towel animal on the seat of the car when you pick her up, or even on her bed the night before (though I imagine that would interfere with her concentration in school the next day!) There are surely youtube videos to teach you to make the simple ones.

[susie8862]

I would give it as a Christmas present in a clever way...this way she only has two months to anticipate.

 

I think 6 months is a little long for a 6 year old to comprehend.

 

:o:):o ARE WE THERE YET??????

[lastinga]

I think that you should tell her so that she can have that time to look forward to it. To me, seeing my daughters excitement counting down the days until our cruises is priceless! Tell her!!

[lastinga]

Okay, I have changed my mind. I agree with Susie. Wrap up a little ship-or a picture of one-and give it to her for Christmas!!

[golfadj]

tell her now so she can share the excitement and planning.

[hannahouse]

For my kids first cruise, we did a scavenger hunt with clues about the cruise...sunscreen, bathing suits, etc. The last clue was a boat floating in the bathtub. It was a lot of fun to see them try to figure it out!

[SandS204ever]

We surprised our 7 year old on her birthday with a trip to Disneyland (the entire family was going 9 of us total and everyone was able to keep a secret for like 6 months :eek: ). We had a party for her 2 days before we left, wrapped a big bunch of balloons in a box and tied a note to the end that said .... Happy Birthday Disneyland Here We Come. It took a few second for it to set in, then the fireworks started lol. She was so excited, had one day at school to tell everyone before we left for the airport.

[CoconutJD]

The first time we took a big vacation to Disneyland, we made a scavenger hunt for the kids in the house. One clue would lead them to another clue, and so on... the last "clue" was a box with the tickets inside. The kids had a blast trying to figure out what we were doing, and it was priceless seeing the expressions on their faces when they found the box and opened it.

 

If you go this route, I'd suggest doing it a little closer to the sail date, maybe a month before, or even a couple weeks.

[jules815]

For my kids first cruise, we did a scavenger hunt with clues about the cruise...sunscreen, bathing suits, etc. The last clue was a boat floating in the bathtub. It was a lot of fun to see them try to figure it out!

 

Cute idea!

[gobucks_43228]

I agree with the Christmas gift idea. Maybe try and think of a clever way to give it to her. For example: my friends were surprising their children with a trip to Disney. So they prearranged a trip to the Disney Store at our local mall for the big reveal. While in there a worker brought out balloons for each child with a gift attached. When they opened their individual gift it was a laminated "ticket" to Disney on a lanyard and a teeshirt. The kids expressions were priceless!!!

 

 

You might go to Micahels and get a jar and decorate it in a "beach theme" and label it "cruise fund". (the scrapbook section has lots of themed stickers and letters) From now until Christmas you could put money in it..including hers..as a family. This will be a nice visual and give her incentive (since you have already addressed costs) . Then when you surprise her you can address her dedication to saving as well.

 

Maybe, if you like the Christmas gift idea, you do a gift that's themed around cruising. Such as a swimsuit,goggles, a sundress, sandles, etc and include a "ticket" that shows the ship, Funship Freddy, an airplane, etc.

[cruiserNC]

I would give it as a Christmas present in a clever way...this way she only has two months to anticipate.

 

I think 6 months is a little long for a 6 year old to comprehend.

 

:o:):o ARE WE THERE YET??????

 

Totally agree told our 5 year old in Feb we were going on cruise in November. After asking about it for months she finally declared she didn't want to go it was taking too long LOL.

 

 

I like the idea of a Christmas gift ...

[Orpheo]

For my kids first cruise, we did a scavenger hunt with clues about the cruise...sunscreen, bathing suits, etc. The last clue was a boat floating in the bathtub. It was a lot of fun to see them try to figure it out!

 

This is so cute, I can imagine it was worth a million dollars!:D

[ferfoodle]

Feeling philosophical this morning.

 

As adults, we often forget how slow time passed as a child. My motto, "blink and it's Christmas," I inherited from my grandfather and only bears meaning the older you get. Remember back to being little; remember how it took forever between those two turkey dinners (Thanksgiving and Christmas). Remember when summer vacation seemed an enternity - and high school - well that was still a lifetime away.

 

At six, five months is a very long time. I agree with others, make the announcement as part of her Christmas gift. The six week wait will still let her enjoy the "pre-cruise excitement" with out the overwhelming wait (which 5 months at the age of 6 is approximately 7% of their lifetime to that point.) (compare that to a 40 year old where 5 months is 0.1% of their lifetime to date.)

[cmdknw]

DO NOT tell her unless you want to hear "how many more days?" "Can we pack yet?" for the next 6 months. I would pick her up from school early that day and make it be a complete surprise!

 

We've taken DS on 3 cruises so far and the last one was going to be a surprise until he walked behind me and caught me booking it....seriously, longer 2 months of count downs EVER.

[Lovefuninthesun]

IMHO, for a six-year old 6 weeks is too long to anticipate -- she will drive you and herself nuts.

2 weeks is a manageable amount of time for a 6 yo.

[CamaCama]

Surprise her the day before! And video it!

[crusinpsychRN]

Great suggestons!

 

For packing I had my kids pick out a set of clothes for each day with shorts, tops, underwear, socks and roll them as the set. No need to decide which shorts go with which shirt or where's my undies. Worked great.

 

I also had them call me by my name if looking for me. Calling mom would have a load of people turn, my name not so many. They're adults now and still do this in public!

[Dune_mama]

For my kids first cruise, we did a scavenger hunt with clues about the cruise...sunscreen, bathing suits, etc. The last clue was a boat floating in the bathtub. It was a lot of fun to see them try to figure it out!

 

This is such a cute idea!

[remharri]

I say pick up from school and surprise her, that would be an amazing surprise for any age.

[lulamc]

We are doing a suprise cruise in Feb. too - only a four day so the kids will miss part of Thurs. and Fri. (my kids are both in high school.) We are going to pick them up at school at little early that Thurs. (we're only 30 min from Galveston) and tell them we have some good news, and we're going down to Galveston to have a dinner and share the surprise. So they'll already be wondering what's up when we pull into the cruise ship terminal to drop off our bags! I vote for surprise! :p

[cruisedirect2]

What about Carnival cruise dollars in her stocking or wrapping them up. We never told our kids about the vacations until a couple weeks out or so... The year we went to Disney the kids received Disney dollars for their report cards ... We were leaving a few weeks later...

[higgib]

A few years ago we planned a trip that entailed flying from London to LAX, on to New Zealand and Australia, and back via Hong Kong. We booked it a year earlier, which was too long for our DDs, 8 and 11 at the time, to wait. I did however want them to have the pleasure of anticipating the trip

 

We thought Xmas was too busy, with so many other gifts and activities, so they would not have time to focus on the trip, so, on new years eve we said we had a special surprise for them, and gave them each a gift wrapped small globe. We then did a quiz with each of the answers being a place we planned to visit. They had to find the place on the globe, and place a sticker there. We then gave them a dry wipe marker and had them join the stickers together. They were thrilled to discover they made a circle right round the world!!!

 

You could do something similar, with a simple map, and find the ports you will be visiting with clues, maybe including the route from your home city to the port, and so on.

 

Good Luck!:)

[Gloria Mundi]

In a similar discussion on another board I'm on, the consensus was to tell them ahead of time, but not too far, so the idea of surprising her at Christmas might be about right. For some kids, it might even be unsettling to be picked up at school and told, "we're heading to the airport". I love travel but I'm a creature of habit and if I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend in familiar spaces and DH picked me up at work and said, "we're leaving for the airport and I've packed your bags" it would be a bit jarring and I'd feel deprived of all the fun and excitement of planning. (And yes, DH knows this!)

 

You know your daughter better than we do, but I like the idea of giving her some (but not too much) time to anticipate and plan with you.

[hannahouse]

For my kids first cruise, we did a scavenger hunt with clues about the cruise...sunscreen, bathing suits, etc. The last clue was a boat floating in the bathtub. It was a lot of fun to see them try to figure it out!

 

Agree with others re time frame - we did the scavenger hunt 3 days before the cruise. I wouldn't tell her too early!