The anticipation of a trip is half the fun! Why not turn the wait into a fun, educational experience for the entire family! Before each trip, we set aside one day each month to celebrate our upcoming trip. What’s a celebration without a quiz and some prizes!
First, determine what it is you want your family to learn. For our upcoming cruise, we had celebration days that focused on each island, the ship, and shore excursions. If you are traveling to Disney, you could have a celebration devoted to each of the four theme parks. We have also included the water parks and Downtown Disney as well.
Next, go online and gather information. The “educational” part can be as in-depth as you like. The kids can research with you, or you can provide reading materials for them to read. Netflix sometimes has some great vacation and behind the scenes videos you could rent, or you could just blindly “test” your family.
I create a quiz (true false or multiple-choice) to go along with the focus of the celebration day. I usually put between 8-10 questions on the quiz. Here is an example from our last trip:
The Disney Wonder is nearly as tall as what major landmark?
- Statue of Liberty
- Eiffel Tower
- Sears Tower
- Our House
The winner gets to pull one strip from the celebration suitcase. In my family everyone is a winner! The person with the most correct answers gets to pull two strips. On each numbered strip is a prize. The prizes don’t have to be elaborate. Some of our prizes we have used in the past have included: pick your own seat on the airplane; you get the tv remote at the hotel for the night; five dollars in souvenir money; a special snack on the airplane, etc.
If you don’t want to give prizes, you can always put facts on the strips of paper and your family can learn about the upcoming trip that way. You can even plan your meal around the celebration and make decorations or placemats .
Directions for making your own celebration suitcase:
You will need scissors, a pencil, ruler, box, and stickers for embellishment.
Purchase a sturdy box. I got the sample box at Michaels for .89 cents. It is 9X4X4.
Draw a line across the front of the box approximately 1 inch from the top. Draw a second line .25 inches from the first. This will form the opening. Carefully cut the opening and assemble the box.
Fold a piece of computer paper in half and cut out strips. Write prizes on one half of the strip and insert them into the celebration suitcase. I number the part of the strip that sticks out of the box. If you don’t want to give prizes, you can also write facts on the strips of paper instead.
The best part is that the box folds up for easy storage until your next celebration or trip. All this fun for under $3.00!
PS: The answer to the question above is B. Both the Wonder and Magic are nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower. Each ship is 964 feet long, and the Eiffel Tower is 986 feet high.
Happy Explorations!
Tracie
