I will be at Disney World in less than 3 days. This is actually our first big Disney World vacation. I know, that’s weird, right? Well, Lydia has been to Disney World when she was 9 months with my whole fam. Then she’s been on 3 Disney Cruises. Asa has been to Disney World with me (and a bunch of Mom Bloggers) and one Disney Cruise. We’ve all been to Disneyland. And now it’s time for the Big Family Vacation! I’m so excited!
Since vacationing is on the brain, I thought I’d share a few fun vacation tips for planning, excitement and overall how-cool-is-that-ness. So, here are my TOP TEN VACATION FUN AND PLANNING TIPS:
1. Countdown Calendar.
You already know my obsession with advent calendars. Well, you could use any of these ideas for a vacation countdown calendar. This year we made the old-cup-tissue-paper-pop version (here’s a tutorial and more explanation). I bought a Mickey and Minnie puzzle and put the pieces inside. So, it’s like 2 countdowns in one!
2. Organization.
When we went on our Disney Cruise with both kids I knew that keeping our tiny little cabin clean was going to be an issue. I read on one of the Disney forums (Disboards?) about bringing an over the door shoe organizer helps keep things together. I thought this was a great idea so I bought one at TJMaxx for like $8. I hung it up on the door of our bathroom and it was like having an extra 4 feet in the room! I put all our sunblock, lotions, toothbrushes, Asa’s diapers, cream, Lydia’s clips and bows, our sunglasses and any other little thing that usually floats around your room and drives you crazy. Genius.
This vacation I’m going to bring a few other pop up organizers like this cool hamper-bag-tote I bought at Target five years ago and this fun thing from Ikea.
3. Souvenirs.
I love creative souvenirs. It’s because I don’t scrapbook. On my first big Disney vacation as a kid, my mom did the old-school scrapbooking of just putting every napkin and matchbook in a big photo album. I love looking through that thing. I always save everything hoping I’ll put one together but, I never do. Anyway, I wrote a whole post at Blissfully Domestic about souvenirs. And I still love our Disney Cruise postcard-on-a-keychain souvenir .
This year, I think we’ll let the kids get one or two Disney trading pins. And I might buy chocolate. Chocolate is a souvenir, right?
4. Map It Out
Once I saw this magnetic map on the side of an RV. It was the United States and it was filled with brightly colored magnets of the states–presumably of the states that particular RV-ing family had visited. I thought it was so cool—a little tacky, but cool! When Les and I were on the road when we first got married, we used a highlighter on our map to chart all the places we’d been (35 states!).
I looked around online to find a more creative way to display your vacation travels. There’s not too much out there (someone get their crafty vacation hat on! You could make millions!) But I did find some cute stuff Family Vacation Crafts at Martha Stewart and one of them was a map with all your destinations marked. (There was tons of cute stuff on that post, too!)
5. Road Trip Book
Staci is my inspiration for this item. She made us the most fun Sisterchick Road Trip book ever for our 30th birthday cruise. There were 8 games and every hour we chose a new game to play. We did the old license plate game, travel bingo and of course, tinfoil pictionary. You have never had so much fun. I’m making something similar for our trip!
6. Eat
(Yes, this is a blurry phone picture that I found on flickr. It’s of my favorite local restaurant in Nashville, the Pancake Pantry. Just scroll over to see the title of this shot.)
Finding fun places to eat is my favorite thing about vacation. I never ever ever want to go to a chain while I’m on vacation. I want to go where the locals go. I want a hole in the wall. I want Grandma and Grandpa to be in the kitchen. When Les and I were on the road, pastors would ask us, “Where would you like to eat? We have Applebee’s, Chili’s, Olive Garden…” We’d say, “Where do the locals go?” And we always got the best food!
My friend and mentor Jim Wideman says he always looks for the fattest oldest guy in town and says, “You just got back from the war and your mama is dead. Where are you gonna go eat?” And that’s where he goes.
In lieu of having to find an old fat man, you could always go to one of those CitySearch type places to see who made the “Best of” list in your vacation city. Or go to Food Network and type in your city’s name. You’ll find good cute restaurants that have been featured on some of their tv shows!
7. Ziploc Bags
This may be my most favorite thing ever. I discovered it when Lydia went to her first Camp Primo. Her clothes were so tiny and I packed so much (first time mom, what can I say?) and I just *knew* my parents wouldn’t be able to recognize her onesies from her capris, so I put outfits into quart sized ziploc bags. Everything fit in nicely. And her suitcase didn’t look like a hurricane went through it afterward. I still have those ziploc bags and whenever I pack their suitcase for more than an overnight, I put stuff in ziploc bags.
If you’re doing it for big kids or adults, you can’t get a whole outfit in even a gallon sized bag, but you can definitely do a bag of socks and a bag of undies. It makes you suitcase a whole lot neater.
8. Luggage
I always feel like I want new luggage when I go on a trip. We’ve got some lame little mini rolling suitcases we bought at WalMart like 8 years ago. They just last forever and are perfect for 2-3 day trips. Whenever I go to TJMaxx or Marshalls I always look at the luggage and admire the brightly colored luggage and know my husband would never let me get it.
Wonder if he’d like this upcylcled vintage piece from Judy the Jazz Cat’s etsy shop? It makes me happy just looking at it.
9. Travel Kits
When I was little (even all the way up until I was a teenager) Daddy would fill a little lunch sized brown paper bag full of candy and other stuff for us to eat and play with on our vacation. I always try to do something similar for the kids. I’ve already snagged a new book for both kids and I’m going to pack some fun food. I looked around on etsy to see if there were any other good ideas. And. There were!
I love this Are We There Yet kit from Sleepy Sillys–it’s just a little plastic case with toys and games inside. But so cute!
Then look at this adorable kids activity boxes from Quick Kits! It’s just a tiny little gift–some goldfish crackers, bubbles, etc. But I love the idea–especially for only $9. And this site has Quick Kits for all occasions. (I’m totally going to steal that idea!)
Oh, and my other favorite thing are these adorable little I Spy pillows. Have you seen these?!
10. What’s your favorite fun travel idea?
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