Happy (almost) Holidays everyone! The Disney parks have already begun their celebrations, and maybe you are ready to join them. If you are headed to Disneyland, Walt Disney World or another Disney park, we want to help you get there in an extra-jolly way. Today, we are sharing eight ideas for surprise Disney trip reveals designed especially for the holidays. These are creative and surprising ways to give the gift of a Disney vacation and let your loved one know they are a going to Disney. We hope these ideas can work for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Epiphany, the New Year or whatever celebrations and observations are part of your tradition.
Our ideas for surprise Disney trip reveals have been among our most popular content here at Mouse Brief. With that in mind, we have pulled together a list of creative ways to gift a surprise Disney trip and added some holiday shine. In this post we are sharing some new suggestions and refreshing some previous ones with twists fit for the holidays.
For a look at our original posts on sweet and surprising ways to give the gift of a surprise Disney trip during any season, see: 12 Creative Ways to Gift a Disney Trip.
But, today we are focusing on holiday-flavored ways to surprise someone with a trip to Disneyland, Walt Disney World or another theme park. As with everything on Mouse Brief, we try to keep these ideas straightforward but fun. Some ideas involve more prep than others, but we hope we have provided enough choices that you can find something that works well for you. So, let’s start the fun and look at 8 creative ways to reveal your gift of a Disney trip this holiday season.
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Fill Your Shoes (No Glass Slippers Necessary)
Perhaps you are taking a Disney trip this Christmas or New Years and are looking for an early holiday reveal. Why not surprise your loved ones on St Nicholas Day this December 6 with a Disneyland or Walt Disney World reveal?
This holiday is an early Christian tradition and honors St Nicholas: a fourth century bishop remembered for his faith and generosity. St. Nicholas is also said to have delivered gifts in unconventional ways so as to hide his identity. That is why each December 6, folks celebrate his feast day by hiding gifts in shoes.
You can join in the revelry by hiding your Disney trip reveal in your recipients shoes this December 6. You will want the reveal to take the form of something that can actually fit in a shoe. Try proclaiming your future trip on a small note and taping that note to a candy cane or orange, both traditional St. Nicholas Day gifts. You could also stash the note inside of a bag of gold-wrapped chocolate coins, as gold coins are also part of the St. Nicholas tradition.
You take it a step further and deliver some surprising shoes with your surprising news. Oh how I wish these little beauties were still for sale. If you could find them, I would tell you to secretly switch out your recipients shoes and fill these big yellow ones with your trip surprise. You could still switch in our favorite parks shoes for kids anyway.
Surprise Your Loved Ones With Trippy Holiday Pajamas
Are you among the cozy families who purchase yearly holiday pajamas? This year, use your annual holiday tradition to deliver a surprise Disney trip. Get some Disney pajamas and stash a note or a paper map of a Disney park in the pocket. Present the pajamas as you do every year, but golly, are your loved ones going to be excited when they reach into that pocket.
The trick is finding pajamas with pockets. Look for looser flannel style ones like these Stitch pajamas that have pockets listed in the description. Alternatively, you could add a robe to your traditional holiday ensemble and fill those pockets with your Disney trip surprise.
If you would rather not worry about pockets, you could put the message straight on the pajamas themselves by pairing some pajama bottoms with a top revealing your Disney trip. Grab something like this “Disney Family Trip” shirt that comes in many variations to fit your whole jolly crew.
Build-up To Your Surprise Disney Trip
In our first post with Disney trip reveal ideas (find it here), we suggested “building up” to a Disney trip by giving your recipient a Lego set to build. But before you wrap those Legos, add a note to the final page of building instructions revealing your surprise trip to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. We think this idea works great for the holidays, especially if you go with a Lego set like this one, but you could also build the excitement with something even more Christmas and holiday themed.
Why not give your lucky trip recipients a gingerbread house kit and hide your Disney surprise trip in the final building phase? This particular kit seems to come with a completion certificate that you could repurpose to reveal your Disney trip!
And remember, if you happen to be visiting a Disney resort during the holidays, be sure to keep your eyes open for elaborate gingerbread houses. At Disneyland Resort, you can traditionally find one in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa and inside Haunted Mansion Holiday! At Walt Disney World, there are even more to find!
Say It With Sweets
Now, here is another way to reveal your Disney gift trip with sweets. Lots of folks make baking part of their holiday tradition, and this year your Disney vacation can be the icing on the cake… or cookies.
Surprise Disney Trip, Holiday Cookie Option 1
Bake a batch of sugar cookies and cut them with your traditional cookie cutters or even some fun Disney ones. Then top your cookies with a Disney trip. If you are handy with icing or frosting, you could spell out something like “Disneyland 2025.” But, it might just be easier to use some food coloring markers like these. Admittedly, I have not tried those markers yet myself, but I am planning to add them to our cookie decorating this year. Plus, reviewers for this product say they work well on macarons.
So, for a no-bake option, you could even buy some macarons right from your local bakery and write your message on top: no special baking or crafting skills necessary.
Surprise Disney Trip, Holiday Cookie Option 2 (or A,B,C…)
Alternatively, grab some alphabet cookie cutters and spell out your surprise. This is one of those variations I mentioned that is going to take some extra work. However, you could include your kids in this work without ruining the surprise. And you can have some fun family time together. Have your children help you make the cookies, and just arrange them with your secret Disney trip message after they are done.
Incidentally, my favorite online baking recipes for cookies and other things are here, with King Arthur.
8 Days, 12 Days… A Gradual Disney Vacation Reveal
If your holiday celebration includes giving gifts over multiple days, consider a gradual Disney surprise trip reveal with gifts that also function as clues.
Here is what I mean, in our packing lists (like this one or this one for kids) we share ideas for conventional and unconventional items we pack for family vacations. For your gradual reveal of your Disneyland vacation surprise, give one of these items a day. As the gifts pile-up, imply that they all have something in common, and finish off the reveal on the last day with something specifically Disney, like some mouse ears or a vacation tee.
Ideas for your Disney trip gift items include:
- a good reusable water bottle (this one has a Disney princess theme)
- sunglasses that can survive an exciting trip
- good walking shoes
- this white noise machine (which might throw them off the trail a bit)
- travel card games (one of our favorites)
- a rugged day pack (we use and love Osprey backpacks like this one)
- some quality sunscreen
- a scrapbook for photos and character autographs
An Ornament That Can Tell the Future…
Is your family in the habitat of collecting keepsake ornaments on vacation? This time, grab that ornament early and nestle it in amongst your collection. When your loved ones go to hang ornaments on your Christmas tree, they might be a bit confused to see a 2025 Disney ornament, and then hopefully realization will come upon them… they are going to Walt Disney World!
Better yet, grab a photo-frame ornament like this one, then frame a simple note that says something like “Future Disney Vacation Photo Goes Here.” Hopefully they will (sorry in advance for the pun) get the picture!
Don’t have a Christmas or holiday tree? A photo frame like this one can accomplish the same end result.
Christmas Crackers
Are you familiar with the tradition of Christmas crackers, or poppers? The Christmas cracker is a 150 year old holiday tradition that is quite widespread in the United Kingdom. You can get a peek at the history here. A paper crown, short joke or saying, and a trinket are all stuffed inside a cardboard tube which is then covered with tissue paper gathered at the ends to close the tube. When you pull the ends, the contents should spill out. The cracker should also make a satisfying pop, because of a “snap” causing a small chemical reaction inside. (Again you can read about it at the link above.)
You can buy ready made crackers like these or these “no snap” varieties. I make some for our family each year. The bulk kit I bought for making them is no longer for sale, but here is one that does not include snaps. Or, you should be able to find some kits on Etsy. Ultimately, you can also make your own crackers with toilet paper tubes, tissue paper and ribbon. Here is a tutorial on how to do it from PBS.
However you choose to make yours, replace the joke with a little note inside proclaiming your surprise trip to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. If you buy some ready made crackers, you could also try carefully untying one end and inserting the note (probably easier with the no-snap variety). I suggest trying to make your own, because in addition to the note, you could add a little Disney themed trinket like one of these.
Follow Elsa’s Example for Some Frozen Fun
Let’s finish this list of Disney surprise trip reveal ideas with one of my favorites. This is one we have shared before, but it is just too good of an idea not to repeat one more time. Plus, it has kind of a wintery (depending on where you live) theme. In the short Frozen Fever, Elsa gives Anna her birthday gifts by having her follow a string trail. You can follow Elsa’s example, and do the same thing to reveal a surprise Disney trip for the holidays.
Here is how you do it. Hide a card, map, sweatshirt or whatever proclaiming the gift of a Disney vacation. Tape the end of a ball of yarn or long piece of string to the reveal. Now unravel that ball of yarn as you wander and weave all over your home. Take it around and under tables, through doors and over footstools. All the while, you should be leaving a string trail. Give the empty end of the yarn to your giftee.
Just like Anna in Frozen Fever, your lucky recipient will need to follow the yarn trail all the way to the wonderful surprise gift! Now, if you have multiple recipients, you can even create multiple trails that pass by one another. We suggest using different colors of yarn to differentiate the trails. It is also a good idea to put the ending Disney trip surprise in different areas so a faster recipient will not ruin the surprise for another person still following the trail.
Thank you for reading this post featuring 8 creative ways to reveal a surprise Disney trip this holiday season.
We hope you have found an eye that works for you or that you are inspired to create one of your own. For more ideas, see (1) 12 Creative Ways to Gift a Disney Trip, (2) Disney Trip Reveal Ideas: Spring Break Edition and (3) Disney Trip Surprise Reveal Ideas, With a Summer Twist. If that trip you are planning is to Disneyland Resort, please take a look at our free and complete Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep. Thanks again for reading and Happy Holidays to you!
