Creative Ways to Give a Vacation for Christmas (she: Kim)

The holidays are almost here and one gift your family can all agree on is a VACATION! It’s sure to be something that won’t get lost, broken or returned, and most of all, it’s something everyone will remember forever. This is something that my husband and I have always done when it was just the two of us, and we are so excited to do it with our baby once he is old enough to figure out what’s going on!

Once you’ve decided where you’d like to take your family for a vacation (Disneyland and cruises are our most popular choices), you’ll want to come up with a way to give the vacation as your Christmas gift. You can give the gift of travel a couple of ways. One is to travel over the holidays, and the other is to give the gift of future travel. Either way, I’ve compiled some fun and creative ways that you can use to give your family a vacation this holiday season. Here is my list of creative ways to give a vacation to for Christmas… (and a cute picture of a couple of kids who just found out they’re going to Disneyland!)

Creative Ways to Give a Vacation for Christmas:

Make a treasure hunt for your kids – the “treasure” is the news that you’re going to on vacation! Make clues and hide them throughout your house. Each clue could be hidden with a small gift for each child, or the clues can simply direct your family to the treasure chest with a note inside letting them in on the surprise.

The BIG Surprise – have the car already packed and loaded. After exchanging gifts, let your kids know that you have one big gift left, but you’ll to all go together to get it. Don’t tell them where you’re going until you’re on your way. You can let your family guess along the way if you want to stretch out the surprise. Another variation of this is to wrap your family’s packed luggage. You’ll love the confused looks on their faces asking why they’re getting their own stuff.

Find a puzzle of your destination, a cruise ship, or favorite Disney character (if you’re going to Disneyland) and put it together. Ideally it should be a kid puzzle with a few pieces. Once you put the puzzle together, write “We’re going on vacation!” on it with a permanent marker.  Then, disassemble the puzzle and put it in a clear bag so the kids can’t tell what picture is on the puzzle. Have your kids put the pieces together and wait to see their faces.

Wrap vacation themed items with your vacation documents and have your kids open them as their gifts. Get Away Today has pre-packaged gifts that can easily be added to any of our vacation packages.

For a Disney trip, have Mickey (or your child’s favorite Disney character) leave a letter under the tree with an invitation to visit them at Disneyland. Ask your child what the letter says, and then ask if your child would like to go. I’m pretty sure they’ll say yes!

Make a giant poster that says “Merry Christmas!” at the top with blank spaces below that will spell out your vacation message. Each blank space should have a small number that coordinates with a letter. Then, let your kids figure out the code, writing each letter by the number on the poster. When they’ve deciphered the code, the poster should read something like “We’re going on a cruise!”

If you’re not traveling until after the holidays, you can make a paper chain that counts down to your vacation and give that as a gift to each member of your family. To make the countdown even more fun, you can put special activities on certain rings that you’ll do together as a family on the day you open that particular ring. If your vacation is a few months out, you could choose to undo a link once a week or any other time increment.

There are so many fun ways to surprise your family with the gift of a vacation for Christmas and I hope these have sparked some creativity. If you need help planning your vacation or Christmas vacation surprise, call our Reservation Agents at Get Away Today at 855-GET-AWAY or visit us online. October is National Cruise Month, so it’s a perfect time to get great cruise deals. We also always have the best price on Disneyland vacations and offer over 1,900 destinations worldwide.

I’d love to hear about how you surprised your family with a vacation or how you plan on giving the gift of a vacation, so feel free to leave a comment or two!

* Also, if you’re planning a Disney vacation, be sure to check out the Disney Everything! page to get lots of Disney tips and tricks.  You can also find lots of non-Disney travel ideas on there, as well.