So apparently i broke an unspoken rule

[Giavoni Gethers]

Not sure if you already know this - but there is no one single FE group exchange planned for every cruise. There could even be more than one FE exchange happening in a single cruise! The whole idea started here on the disboards. But there are also various Facebook groups that took the idea and also organize FE exhanges of their own. And since the disboards is its own online community, it's not the thing to post links to other online communities that cover the same subject matter. (By the way, have you looked up your cruise here on the Dis? You might find you also enjoy the group here).

It's kinda unique to Disney cruisers. When I cruise Royal Caribbean, groups often organize a slot pull.

FE is a volunteer-run thing and each FE group makes up their own rules. Basically a group of internet friends gathering to organize a fun gift exchange. So read up the rules of whatever FE group you choose to join. If u have specific questions, u need to ask your organizer. Folks here can help give u an idea of what is typically done - but because each group makes their own rules, it is impossible to be specific.

Thank you. There wasn’t one on here so I was told to start a link. That was done but I was unsure if I would be the organizer of the FE, which couldn’t have worked because I am CLUELESS,lol..this forum and google is helping though..lol.. I have a little more time to research and create...hoping I can pull this off for the kids sake

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

You mention a BDay Party. What's up with that??? The FE exchange has nothing to do w/ birthdays. Have you found your cruise group here on the DIS? Are they doing a FE exchange? We are sailing from Hawaii in May 2020 and our DIS group is very active and we have several group exchanges planned.

There are some basics in a sticky at the top of this forum all about the cruises. Info about the FE exchanges are included. As mentioned, your cruise group will have their own rules about the exchanges. We can answer general questions.

I’m doing a surprise bday cruise for my kid. Upon my research I saw the doors was decorated so initially I was going to create 6 magnets per party guest of the favorite characters as a thank you party favor gift( kid is turning 12). Then a friend told me about the FE. She didn’t give much info so I googled. I ended up here and started asking questions. So my decorating the door as a thank you turned into making FE for each cabin according to the kid fave character, doing FE gifts for the kids, signing them up and having them all participate since all the party guest are first time DC.
Thought it will be fun, and enhance the DC experience for everyone. Besides since I’m a travel agent it should bring in some repeat customers from this experience with their kids. So win Win..lol
Answer your questions,
Nope, group wasn’t on here until I put it, so no FE as of yet. I’m hopeful it will all come together and my kid will have the best surprise Bday ever

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

You can’t just see that an FE group is going on and participate. You have to sign up for it. Make sense?

I don’t understand the birthday party thing.




That 100% depends on the FE group you choose to join.

I’m doing a surprise bday cruise for my kid, thought it would be fun if her party guest kids participated. To make it easy on the parents since I’m a crafter I was just going to make different gifts for the kids to give out. I got I need to sign up, still researching that part on which group and what to sign up for. They have all types of stuff ornaments, magnets, or simply FE... I’m excited and I even have my kid assisting my crafting. got her thinking it’s for one of my travel clients kids ..lol.. so it will be fun.. just on here asking questions on how many gifts to make and etc. but I think I got the general idea. Just didn’t know asking questions gets a few frowns..lol..but all is well.. You don’t know unless you ask

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

In most FE’s it’s really up to how you want to do it, some people leave a gift for each individual, others just do one family gift and some do a family gift and individual gifts. Typically there are no set rules, more of a personal preference on how you want to give. I personally prefer to spend more money and give one bigger nice family gift. But we receive individual gifts and family gifts from others, so it’s usually however you want to do it. Remember, when you sign up for FE you may have cabins that are only adults with no kids. It’s not necessarily a kid only thing. In fact, on my last two cruises I signed up for the adult only fish extender group.

Ok great to know I thought only the cabins with kids would sign up...that was really good information. I was gearing this whole thing towards the kids and just do one parents gift...had no idea people without kids would sign up too..I was under the impression that FE was all for the kids..great to know everyone can join in on the fun

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

This. Most of the adults are decent and most don't even think about such things. But there are a few. It moreso seems to happen with certain groups of teens prowling the halls.

Stealing from the pockets..smh crime at sea..lol..thanks for the heads up, hopefully whoever FE I sign up with have times that put stuff out..I would hate for this to happen on our first DC..but living in Atlanta I know foolishness travels too..lol..

 

[elaine amj]

Stealing from the pockets..smh crime at sea..lol..thanks for the heads up, hopefully whoever FE I sign up with have times that put stuff out..I would hate for this to happen on our first DC..but living in Atlanta I know foolishness travels too..lol..

This is pretty rare though and in general, most guests never encounter this problem. Not to say it doesn't happen - like u said, foolishness travels!

I’m doing a surprise bday cruise for my kid, thought it would be fun if her party guest kids participated. To make it easy on the parents since I’m a crafter I was just going to make different gifts for the kids to give out. I got I need to sign up, still researching that part on which group and what to sign up for. They have all types of stuff ornaments, magnets, or simply FE... I’m excited and I even have my kid assisting my crafting. got her thinking it’s for one of my travel clients kids ..lol.. so it will be fun.. just on here asking questions on how many gifts to make and etc. but I think I got the general idea. Just didn’t know asking questions gets a few frowns..lol..but all is well.. You don’t know unless you ask

How many additional cabins are traveling with you? If u are doing it for all of them, you have a lot of crafting ahead e.g. if you have 4 cabins including yours and are in a FE group with 20 cabins, you have to make 4 FEs (which are basically bags - I have seen some ppl just hang gift bags), then make at least 4 x 19 gifts (if u are doing one gift per cabin) or 4 x 19 x ~4 (if u are doing a separate gift per person). A LOT of items! If luggage space is limited, I would suggest choosing things that are small and packable.

For mine years ago, I ended up choosing to make one porthole ears magnet + one magnet with ship name and names of each person in the cabin + glow sticks for each cabin. It ended up being way more work than I thought especially since I was cutting the magnets into shape, etc. Participating in FE was fun though My kids loved it and still talk about it.

 

[pixiedustedme]

Ok great to know I thought only the cabins with kids would sign up...that was really good information. I was gearing this whole thing towards the kids and just do one parents gift...had no idea people without kids would sign up too..I was under the impression that FE was all for the kids..great to know everyone can join in on the fun

There are FE groups for families, FE groups where only kids get gifts, FE groups for only adults, etc. It's what people make it.

If this is your first DCL cruise, I recommend that you join an active FE group rather than try to start your own, because the organization of a group can be a bit overwhelming for a first-timer. Also, if no one (or almost no one) is on your current cruise thread, you cant count on a lot of people joining up later. Sometimes those threads never get more than a few people on them, and no one interested in joining an FE. I recommend finding an already active group for your cruise and joining it, rather than trying to start it as a first timer. Not trying to be discouraging, just realistic based on past experience, especially since you want to make this a special experience for your child.

I'll also add that I've done four FE's and have never had anything stolen or tampered with. Like anything, it can happen, but it isn't very common.

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

There are FE groups for families, FE groups where only kids get gifts, FE groups for only adults, etc. It's what people make it.

If this is your first DCL cruise, I recommend that you join an active FE group rather than try to start your own, because the organization of a group can be a bit overwhelming for a first-timer. Also, if no one (or almost no one) is on your current cruise thread, you cant count on a lot of people joining up later. Sometimes those threads never get more than a few people on them, and no one interested in joining an FE. I recommend finding an already active group for your cruise and joining it, rather than trying to start it as a first timer. Not trying to be discouraging, just realistic based on past experience, especially since you want to make this a special experience for your child.

I'll also add that I've done four FE's and have never had anything stolen or tampered with. Like anything, it can happen, but it isn't very common.

Yes I will join an active one dont want it to fall apart cause I didnt k ow the behind the scenes..but I'm excited nonetheless.
Just started making small things like mickey earbud cases...so I believed I can pull this off for my group...going to recruit my sister, who is also going, a fellow crafter to assist me with this journey.

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

This is pretty rare though and in general, most guests never encounter this problem. Not to say it doesn't happen - like u said, foolishness travels!



How many additional cabins are traveling with you? If u are doing it for all of them, you have a lot of crafting ahead e.g. if you have 4 cabins including yours and are in a FE group with 20 cabins, you have to make 4 FEs (which are basically bags - I have seen some ppl just hang gift bags), then make at least 4 x 19 gifts (if u are doing one gift per cabin) or 4 x 19 x ~4 (if u are doing a separate gift per person). A LOT of items! If luggage space is limited, I would suggest choosing things that are small and packable.

For mine years ago, I ended up choosing to make one porthole ears magnet + one magnet with ship name and names of each person in the cabin + glow sticks for each cabin. It ended up being way more work than I thought especially since I was cutting the magnets into shape, etc. Participating in FE was fun though My kids loved it and still talk about it.

Its 4 including mine, so I'm fully aware of massive craft journey im taking but I started yesterday and I'm excited on how this will turn out. Going to try to sign up for a group that only have 10 cabins including mines to hopefully reduce my number ...I'm also recruiting my sister a fellow crafter and party guest to help me pump these gifts out...Fingers cross this works...

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

This is pretty rare though and in general, most guests never encounter this problem. Not to say it doesn't happen - like u said, foolishness travels!



How many additional cabins are traveling with you? If u are doing it for all of them, you have a lot of crafting ahead e.g. if you have 4 cabins including yours and are in a FE group with 20 cabins, you have to make 4 FEs (which are basically bags - I have seen some ppl just hang gift bags), then make at least 4 x 19 gifts (if u are doing one gift per cabin) or 4 x 19 x ~4 (if u are doing a separate gift per person). A LOT of items! If luggage space is limited, I would suggest choosing things that are small and packable.

For mine years ago, I ended up choosing to make one porthole ears magnet + one magnet with ship name and names of each person in the cabin + glow sticks for each cabin. It ended up being way more work than I thought especially since I was cutting the magnets into shape, etc. Participating in FE was fun though My kids loved it and still talk about it.

Its 4 including mine, so I'm fully aware of massive craft journey im taking but I started yesterday and I'm excited on how this will turn out. Going to try to sign up for a group that only have 10 cabins including mines to hopefully reduce my number ...I'm also recruiting my sister a follow crafter and party guest to help me pump these gifts out...Fingers cross this works...

 

[elaine amj]

Another thing - when is your cruise? A lot of the groups don't get active until a few months out.

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

Another thing - when is your cruise? A lot of the groups don't get active until a few months out.

Oct 11-14 so in a couple of months

 

[lklgoodman]

Btw, most groups also don't let new people join the group about 1 or 2 months ahead of the cruise. Looks like you still have time to find a group.

 

[bumbershoot]

I do find it funny that they do let Costco, as a travel agency albeit a warehouse club one, to be so blatantly mentioned and discussed, when they clamp down on other TAs.

There are very few TAs that aren’t allowed to be mentioned. I actually only know of one.

The way to see if you can mention one is type out the full url and click to preview your post. If it is posted, then it’s allowed. IF it comes through with stars rather than the url, it’s not.

They really don’t seem to care that much about TAs in general.


Here’s a post about it. I kinda wish it were a sticky on all forums, but this is from the Resorts forum. (But aoplies to all forums here)

https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...travel-agencies-and-other-businesses.3551156/

 

[Karin1984]

*edited* never mind, no worth the discussion.

 

[Giavoni Gethers]

There are very few TAs that aren’t allowed to be mentioned. I actually only know of one.

The way to see if you can mention one is type out the full url and click to preview your post. If it is posted, then it’s allowed. IF it comes through with stars rather than the url, it’s not.

They really don’t seem to care that much about TAs in general.


Here’s a post about it. I kinda wish it were a sticky on all forums, but this is from the Resorts forum. (But aoplies to all forums here)

https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...travel-agencies-and-other-businesses.3551156/

Thanks alot I never saw this and being new to posting, threads, FE and this Disney life I had no clue and was just asking questions. Crazy part I never advertised anything I was simply asking what's better since there was an excel sheet else where and not here. But I know now..will tell my friends about the rules...lol..it is what it is

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks alot I never saw this and being new to posting, threads, FE and this Disney life I had no clue and was just asking questions. Crazy part I never advertised anything I was simply asking what's better since there was an excel sheet else where and not here. But I know now..will tell my friends about the rules...lol..it is what it is

I wasn’t including that info because you’d done something wrong. I was responding to another person about a different thing.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Ok great to know I thought only the cabins with kids would sign up...that was really good information. I was gearing this whole thing towards the kids and just do one parents gift...had no idea people without kids would sign up too..I was under the impression that FE was all for the kids..great to know everyone can join in on the fun

The first sailing using the idea of FE came from the first Panama Canal cruise in 2005. They had very few children. It was more adults that kids. Somehow people have grown to think that it is a child's thing. They came up with many ideas to help break up the sea days. It was never meant to be a craft exchange or huge bank breaker. It was more of a trinket exchange. It was never broken up into groups. You gave what you wanted. When you wanted. We didn't label our gifts with the to and from. It was more anonymous. We thanked the group as a whole here on the DIS once we got back home. I was around from the start. It sadly has morphed into much more and lost its quaint feeling.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

It sadly has morphed into much more and lost its quaint feeling.

This

 

[disdel]

The first sailing using the idea of FE came from the first Panama Canal cruise in 2005. They came up with many ideas to help break up the sea days. It sadly has morphed into much more and lost its quaint feeling.

Agree with this and PrincessShmoo.
First and only FE for us (was on our first Transatlantic). I did the organizing of a Stateroom tour as well, where participants got the chance to see EVERY category and version of stateroom, including the generous offer to see the Roy Suite. What a great way to spend a morning of one of our sea days. Sadly, most "social media" (oxymoron ?) group events seem to now be more of a power struggle. So it goes . . . .
Advance apologies for the rant.

Back on topic, to the OP, I applaud you for trying to make this a special experience for your child and guests. Supplying the actual fish extender is cool. Best of luck, and wishing you MAGIC