Disney Trip Surprise Bags for Kids

October 14, 2019COMtnMom

Planning a Disney Trip Surprise bag for kids, ideas for what in include in a gift bag for your Disney vacation. Helps save money on souvenirs! #disney #vacation #planning #surprise #bag #kids

Mom is on the final, exciting stretches of Disney World vacation planning!  It’s finally time to wrap up those last few details, and execute the ideas I’ve been dreaming up for months. For the first time, this trip is a SURPRISE to my kids! I love the idea of creating some Disney Trip Surprise Bags for them. It builds the excitement and can cut down on souvenir costs.

Here are some highlights from the first time I put together some Disney Trip surprise bags for my kids.  I gathered a combination of cheap items from local stores at home, as well as ordering Disney items online.  I’d love to hear from you on any other tips to add or consider!  Have you done something similar?

Disney Trip Surprise Bags

On our last trip, I had a fun Mickey themed tote bag full of Disney World snacks and goodies delivered to our room by Disney Floral and Gifts.  My family loved having this magical surprise waiting for us in our Disney resort room.

Disney Floral and Gifts bag in resort room
Disney Floral & Gifts goodie bag delivery!

They do an amazing job, and the tote bag turned into a useful and fun souvenir to bring back home.  But I thought I’d save some money this go-round, and do something a little different. So I’ve put together two Disney Trip surprise bags for my kids!  (Ok, so I considered making one for myself, but didn’t want to steal their thunder.)

I’m going to bring them along in my carry on luggage, and when we arrive at our room I’ll just sneak in first and place one on each bed… “waiting” for them.

Disney Trip Surprise bag for kids

I found the little tote bags at Walmart for $1.50 each.

The online Disney Store received my order a few short hours (it may have been minutes) after booking our trip – HA!  So I already had some hidden items ready to go from there.  I ordered t-shirts and a plush for each of them… again, cheaper than buying in the parks, and fun to have right from the start.

So here’s what I’ve stuffed in each of my Disney Trip Surprise Bags:

  • 2 Disney character t-shirts
  • Mini candy bars
  • Variety of glow sticks, necklaces, bracelets, & crowns – for evenings in the Parks… from the dollar store!  (Everyone wants to GLOW for the party at night, right?)
  • Small Disney character plush
  • Mini M&M container, decorated, and filled with pressed penny money (more on this below)

These lil’ suckers filled up in a hurry.  And I was torn on the “just get everything exactly the same for both kids” principal, which is typically my rule of thumb to prevent any fights.   So I’m hoping my 3 yr old son is distracted enough by everything else, that he isn’t jealous of his sister’s Princess crown made of glow sticks.  It was a calculated risk.  We shall see.

DIY Disney Items to Include

I’m not super crafty, but there are so many fun Disney DIY ideas you can include in your Disney Surprise Bag for kids!

I got this neat pressed penny money holder idea from a Disney forum years ago.   It’s fun for kids to have their ‘own’ money to run up to these souvenir machines, which are scattered throughout the Disney Parks They get inordinately excited about them, for some reason?

So I decorated a couple of mini M & M containers, and filled them with change for them to use.  (More details on making these holders, and all about the pressed penny machines HERE.)

Disney pressed penny money

They also work to nicely store the pressed pennies afterwards.

Well, that’s about it!  I’m just so excited, I wanted to tell someone!  The jury is still out on how we will tell the kids.  I’d love to keep them in the dark up until we arrive at the Orlando airport… you know, a classical “WE’RE AT DISNEY” surprise.  But although my toddler will be clueless, my 8 year old is pretty sharp, and remembers previous trips.  I’d love to video tape that moment of realization, maybe working her [first time for us] Magic Band into the equation somehow.

SO FUN!!  I’ll keep you posted.  🙂

Hiding Your Disney Surprise Bags

Quick Post-Trip update:  The bags were a hit!  After check-in, I snuck into the room first to set the surprise bags up on each bed, which raised a little suspicion but was worth it…

Disney Caribbean Beach Resort room with surprise bags

Then I very quickly took this photo, while anxious kids waited outside. (Poor Sully took a face plant…)

Disney Treat Bags at Caribbean Beach

In hindsight, I probably didn’t need quite so many mini-candy bars in their bags.  I had forgotten how dessert-laden our Disney trips can be!  But overall, a very fun surprise.

If you’ve surprised your kids with a Disney trip before… please share!  How did you tell them?  Any suggestions for what to include in Disney Trip Surprise bags?

Planning a Disney Trip Surprise bag for kids, ideas for what in include in a gift bag for your Disney vacation. Helps save money on souvenirs! #disney #vacation #planning #surprise #bag #kids

Comments (7)

  • Tricia from Return to Disney

    November 8, 2013 at 3:09 pm

    We’re planning a surprise trip too – I’ve enlisted the kids’ teachers to drop hints the day or two before we leave. Then the night before the trip, I’m going to sneak into the school (with the help of a teacher…er…accomplice!) and put pirate commissions that they got on our last trip into their lockers/desks, waiting for them the next morning. My daughter will get an invitation to dine with the Princesses in her cubby. Can’t wait!

  • Disney Pressed Penny Money Holders – Colorado Mountain Mom

    April 16, 2014 at 4:15 pm

    […] A mini M & M container proves to be the perfect size for a pressed penny money holder.   I like to decorate them ahead of time for my kids, sometimes including them in a Disney Trip surprise bag. […]

  • Jamie

    April 17, 2014 at 10:42 am

    This may be a silly question….but do you fill the holders with pennies?? Or other coins.? What might be some other ways to surprise the kids? Going for the first time in a couple weeks and haven’t told them yet. Do the little girls attend the parks in costume? And how did you make a glow stick gown? Love the ideas!

    1. COMtnMom

      April 17, 2014 at 3:56 pm

      Hi Jamie,

      Congratulations on your trip!!! That’s so exciting!! I fill the holders with quarters and shiny pennies ahead of time (at home), for my kids to use at the parks. When they get a new PRESSED penny, they also threw them into the holder to store them. (My daughter later added her pressed pennies to her display folder we bought, my son still keeps his in his holder I made.)

      For surprise ideas… if you mean surprises in telling your kids about the trip itself – I searched for “Disney Trip Surprise” on You Tube, there are some awesome and touching videos on there! (Bring kleenex – lol) Other surprises during the trip I’ve done were reserving Character Dining meals, and an appointment for my daughter at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. It’s fun to have “special” things like that sprinkled throughout your trip that they don’t know about.

      Many little girls do wear costumes to the park. They sell gorgeous ones at the gift shops, but they are spendy. We have brought my daughter’s Rapunzel costume from home (from Walmart) along with us on the trips – she usually wears it over her shorts & t-shirt. Another fun option that we always did when she was younger, and very adverse to wearing those “scratchy” princess gowns, was buy her a princess nightgown at the Disney Parks gift shop. They are less than 1/2 the price of the gowns, are nice and soft, and are still really fun… again, she wore them over her clothes. You can see pix of that here.

      Hmmm… I didn’t make a glow stick gown, although they sound lovely! 😉 I think I mean “crown”? It was just a glow stick packaged kit, along with the other options at the dollar store. It was cute, but didn’t stay on her head very well.

      ENJOY YOUR MAGICAL TRIP!!! Please email me if you have other questions… I love talking Disney planning! 🙂 comtnmom@gmail.com

  • Loops & News of the Week – November 17, 2013 | The Blogorail

    February 27, 2015 at 6:44 pm

    […] Tami at Colorado Mountain Mom shares what she put in her kid’s Disney trip surprise […]

  • Sybil

    March 11, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    Hi! We have 58 days to go until our surprise Disney World trip for our 5 yr old twin boys. We are driving down in an RV so we can add some days on the way back for camping. I am so glad I found this blog, great ideas! I’ve never been to DW with kids, so this is likely to be a whole new DW experience for my husband and I. For example…didn’t realize there were coin operated souvenir machines through out the park. Good to know. Love the bag ideas, I am planning that as well. Also thinking about making a signature book I can add character photos to when we get home.

    thanks!
    Sybil

    1. COMtnMom

      March 11, 2015 at 5:22 pm

      Hi Sybil,

      How exciting! Wow, 5 is such a perfect age to go. That sounds like an amazing trip… and mom’s totally on it, with the countdown! 😉 Signature book is a great idea. Although they aren’t required – most of the kids have some sort of autograph book when they meet the characters (I’m not sure why this is such a big deal, but it seems to be?? Ha!). The ones they sell at the parks with photo slots can be around $20 (ouch), and they have a disappointingly low number of pages in them. Making one and bringing it sounds like a great idea to me!

      Have a wonderful time, and thanks so much for your comment. I love hearing about others planning their Disney trips!

      Tami

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Prev Post

Is Art of Animation Little Mermaid Room the best choice for your Disney World Resort money? All the fun details of a stay in a Little Mermaid Room. From the awesome Cars and Finding Nemo pools, to drawings and characters you'll find throughout this resort, it's a family Disney Vacation delight. Info on Room Photos, the Food Court, and Disney Transportation.

Family Stay at Disney's Art of Animation Little Mermaid Room

October 13, 2019

Next Post

Camping Night Sky Colorado National Monument

6 Things To Love About Camping

October 15, 2019
%d bloggers like this: