Surprising a preschooler...

[pigletgirl]

Little back story, my family and I with some extended family is headed to WDW November 29th-December 9th. This will be our Christmas this year, so I'm planning on adding some magical touches to our vacation.

With that being said, our children at the time of travel will be 3.5 and 10.5 months.

For our then 3.5 year old, DH and I would love to surprise her just prior to travelling. We'd like to "reveal" it to her Thanksgiving morning.

Has anyone surprised a child at that age? If so, did they handle it well? Any fun tips or tricks we should know?

 

[Thing 1]

Wonderful time of year to go! Remember that if you child has never been before, she will really have no idea what you are trying to convey to her. She will likely be more excited over seeing the family. Just a note so you will not be disappointed. We told DS , when he was a preschooler, about a month before the trip. It was during December and we used the elf to tell him but we laid out all the cool stuff we had gotten and wrote a note from the elf that we were all being sent to WDW. If was fun but maybe just a bit earlier than we should have told him. About two weeks would have been perfect for him. Maybe tie it into being Thankful for time with family?

 

[pigletgirl]

She's been twice so far. I think just this year though, she's finally getting it. Of course, she doesn't understand time so telling her now I think would just be cruel!

I'll peruse pinterest and maybe youtube to see what others have done.

 

[imthemamahere]

When my son was 3 1/2, we told him about our trip just about two weeks beforehand. (He is not a kid who likes surprises. You know your little one best - if you think she'd enjoy the surprise, go for it! Making it a surprise just wasn't a good fit for my little guy.) Together, he and I counted out strips of red/yellow/black paper (that I had pre-cut), one for each day until our departure. I had written a small Disney-ish activity/gift/etc on each one - things like painting with circle-shaped things to make a Mickey, watching a favorite Disney movie, one day we gave him a little toy airplane because it was going to be his first flight, etc. We then turned the strips into a paper chain. Every day, my son got to tear a "link" off the chain and then we did the activity/he got the little gift on that strip. Two days before departure, the strip told him to pack the things he most wanted to have with him on the plane - a few little toys and a stuffed animal went into a little backpack that he was responsible for carrying through the airport. And the day before departure, the activity was to sleep in a set of Disney pajamas and wake up ready for the trip! In any case, it was a blast for all of us, he was so excited about each day's link, and it gave him a tangible way to understand how many days were left to our vacation. He could just count the remaining links... (which he did, over and over again, every day)

I do kinda wish I could just surprise my son with a trip, but he is who he is. So we always tell him a few weeks before, which gives him time to amp up and get excited (instead of feeling stressed about it). That's what works best for us, but I've grown to like building the anticipation slowly!

 

[jtopp]

Our family is a Disney family, with most of our vacations taken there. Since they are familiar with the parks, they were not intimidated by an upcoming trip. That being said, some of my personal favorite trips were the ones where we surprised them with the details the day we left. They didn't get the thrill of planning activities with us, and didn't have the stress of waiting for it to begin. I, on the other hand, got to see the look of sheer joy and delight on their faces when we told them. I only wish I could have recorded those moments.

 

[Lysha14]

Ive been thinking a lot about this. Our oldest DD who is 8 has been and will be super excited. I know her and she will not like the long wait so Ill tell her about a week before we go so she can get her jitters out, tell her friends and start packing. Our youngest DD who just turned 2 this will be her first trip. She doesn't comprehend yet the waiting and what Disneyland is so we will just tell her that we will go see Sophia, Doc and Mickey Mouse (all her fav's) and see what happens from there.

 

[mernin]

We went this past December and made it a surprise for our girls (7 & 2). We stayed at a hotel the night before because it was a super early flight - we told them it was for fun to swim in the pool because our swimming lessons had been cancelled so many times. Didn't question it! We woke them up around 3:30 am where our elf on the shelf sat with a note and a gift. The note said "Get excited, we're going to Disney World!" and the gift was a Mickey t-shirt for each of us and a cute Minnie purse and Else purse for the girls. My 7 year old read the note and it was super cute - she whispered "world" and covered her mouth! My 2 year old didn't have a clue. Now, she looks at her autograph book and asked to go back all the time!

 

[DizzyDis]

She's been twice so far. I think just this year though, she's finally getting it. Of course, she doesn't understand time so telling her now I think would just be cruel!

I'll peruse pinterest and maybe youtube to see what others have done.

Hi there, we told our 4 yo and 18 month old this weekend and I want to ask you to manage your expectations! I kept saying that I knew she was little and she wouldn't really get it, so at about a month out (just over), I took a Disney box, put a paper at the bottom that said they were going to Disney, put a couple of new Disney t-shirts in and Princess lip chap for the 4yo and all of their Disney stuffies on top, closed the box and taped it up. 18 month liked stuffies and lost interest about 4 out, then started putting them back in, then just walked away. 4yo daughter was ecstatic about the lip chap and stopped going through. I was of course recording and told her to keep going. She finally got to the paper and read it (she knows their names and Disney), so said "we are going to Disney?" we said yes, and she asked me to open the lip chap. I thought I had managed my expectations, but I was pretty crushed all day. She is one who asks about going pretty much weekly, but as she has been once before we think she doesn't really get what a big deal it us. So, please, manage your expectations!! I still haven't watched the video I took since I think I will be crushed all over again....

 

[pigletgirl]

Hi there, we told our 4 yo and 18 month old this weekend and I want to ask you to manage your expectations! I kept saying that I knew she was little and she wouldn't really get it, so at about a month out (just over), I took a Disney box, put a paper at the bottom that said they were going to Disney, put a couple of new Disney t-shirts in and Princess lip chap for the 4yo and all of their Disney stuffies on top, closed the box and taped it up. 18 month liked stuffies and lost interest about 4 out, then started putting them back in, then just walked away. 4yo daughter was ecstatic about the lip chap and stopped going through. I was of course recording and told her to keep going. She finally got to the paper and read it (she knows their names and Disney), so said "we are going to Disney?" we said yes, and she asked me to open the lip chap. I thought I had managed my expectations, but I was pretty crushed all day. She is one who asks about going pretty much weekly, but as she has been once before we think she doesn't really get what a big deal it us. So, please, manage your expectations!! I still haven't watched the video I took since I think I will be crushed all over again....

I have no expectations!

I'm more looking for something to get her excited about 5 days out, versus months out. She'll be 3.5 by then so she may understand park of it, but not all.

 

[DizzyDis]

Sounds wonderful! One of the other plans we had discussed was a box of balloons with Mickey on them or Mickey-shaped balloons, since we knew little guy would love that too!

 

[Tara1988]

With all these surprise posts, I'm starting to wish I had waited to tell my 5 year old. But I wanted his input and help with planning. He has a pretty good grasp on time, so I only get the occasional question of when we're going, we just pull out the calendar and remind him of everything that comes before our trip in October. Is there any point in surprising our current youngest? We're going a little over a month before he turns 2. He doesn't understand any of it now, but might in 6 months. He does love Mickey mouse!

 

[PrncessA]

We surprised our kids 2 & 4 for our first trip in 2009. We got them to the airport and we ask our 4yo that he could fly to anywhere that he wanted, where did he want to go. Since I had been talking Disney World up for months, he of course said the words we wanted to hear, "I wanna go to Disney World." I was so excited, I said, "OK lets go!", hoping for excitement of course. He responded with a "Okay". No real excitement. He was just too young and didn't really know what WDW was, even though he knew he wanted to go there. I didn't even upload the video online, it was that anticlimactic.

Fast forward 5 years and we surprised them again, to MUCH more excitement, even tears.

My suggestion is to not to get your hopes up too high for such a young age.

 

[adennis0421]

I wish I wouldn't have told mine we were going! A surprise would've been great. But I'm like a kid...can't keep the secret!!

 

[hswillia07]

We went last year and our kids were the exact same age as yours will be for our 3.5 year old, we had Mickey call (I can't remember if this is for cruises only?) and then after he called we had the doorbell ring and at the door was a huge present from Mickey it was a bunch of princess dresses, which she loved! We then made a countdown calendar. It was so fun! You'll have fun no matter what you do