Suggestions on how to surprise family with cruise for Christmas?

[tamilyn]

Thank you all so much for the suggestions - I love them all!!  

 

My husband and I have purchased the cruise for us, our daughter, her husband and their 9-year old son and our son, his wife and their two daughters - ages 7 and 3.  We're going to "reveal" it to them on Christmas, but the cruise is not actually until next July (2023) when school is out.  So, plenty of time to change plans if needed.  And, we ALWAYS book refundable for sure.  Too many unknowns for us with aging parents, etc.

 

Thanks again for your help!  And, keep the suggestions coming!!!

 

[jlacy1987]

We are going on a cruise the week before Christmas (12/18-12/23) and it's meant to be a big gift for my stepson (14) and daughter (almost 3). My plan is to put a word in our advent calendar for 12/1-12/11 as a clue he has to piece together and then on 12/11 let him open a gift as the final puzzle piece which will be his swim trunks, goggles, and a picture of a cruise ship. 

[TwinMamainMN]

We've surprised our kids a few times with a vacation of some sort. We did clothing and books for our kids for an Alaskan cruise, a "boarding pass" I bought on etsy dot com for a Disney trip, and a puzzle with photos and words that I made myself on cardstock.

 

This year at Christmas we are revealing a Spring Break trip, but since our kids are older now (11, 14 and 14), I want to make it hard to figure out, so I'm going to do map coordinates for one kid who loves maps, a secret code (Pig Pen - google it, it's fun!) for one kid, and probably a puzzle for the other kid. Each kid will get part of the trip details (we're going on spring break; the locations; and the mode of transportation). At least that's the idea I have so far. We will give them vacation related gifts, but I want them to figure out the clues first before we open gifts.