Birthday Scavenger Hunt/ Surprise Disney Trip 2015!- Part 1

I am so super excited to share what I have been up to these past few months- well really years- while planning our Disney trip. You might remember the huge scrapbook that I had put together to use from this post here, but then I started thinking about all of the research I had been doing. One thing that stuck out to me was that I did not want to be lugging around such a huge autograph book in the Florida heat- no matter how great it turned out. I started looking at smaller ideas and finally after a few drafts, settled on a simpler version using a Frozen theme, binder rings, and 5x7 scrapbook pages. I had the holes punched at my local Fed Ex. The gentleman behind the counter was so nice and didn't even charge me for punching the holes! I had made a travel journal for my little princess (find the link here) and in that post there was also a smaller autograph book too. Here it is to refresh your memory :)



 But the more that I thought about it (and tried to contort it), it still would not fit in the sling style back pack that I planned on taking (less is more, right?) so I came up with this beauty.

All of the pages have a shimmery look to them and I found all of the products (including the shimmery ribbon that I found in the $1 section) at Michael's. Oh Michael's how I love thee! I totally cannot get out of there without buying something. So, after the construction of all of this, I thought, "How can I give all of this to her? Should I surprise her?" And then in talking to hubby, we figured that her birthday weekend would be a great time to tell her. She loves everything Frozen so I purchased a lot of Frozen items as well that she could use on her trip- bathing suits, flip flops, books, a drawstring back pack to carry her autograph book and travel journal (hey one can dream right?) so that I don't have to.....
I also purchased other Disney theme items such as little tsum tsums- they are precious! So cute and little and squishable- I have one (ahem- four) of my own. 

Upon looking at Pinterest and the internet I came across great ideas such as exploding boxes (no not the dangerous ones) and scavenger hunt ideas and decided to combine both into a Birthday Scavenger Hunt/ Disney Surprise! 

Here is the exploding box. Frozen theme of course!

and here are the little hints and birthday gifts along the way!

The hunt begins with clue number 1 and the first present (Frozen books and tsum tsums!)

Hint number 5

Hint number 6!

Autograph and Travel Journal hiding out with the exploding box

We will be staying at Disney's Beach Club and will do a variety of character meals to help with the meet and greets rather than stand in line at the parks. We were able to save 30% off of our room rates and get a 5th day free at the parks! I booked a travel agent from Mouse Hunter Travels named Katie Covington. She rocks!! Be sure to check her out. She is patient and answered all of my questions. Since I am alot like Sheldon Cooper in the organizational department, I had actually made rough drafts of what I wanted to do and when as well as a planner that I will print out and take with me. She even looked over it and made suggestions to help our trip run smoother! These Disney travel agents are awesome- they will even make your dining and FP+ (Fast Pass) reservations for you if you like! We were able to get some difficult reservations that way!

I will be sure to post additional pictures of the actual scavenger hunt and birthday surprise! I am so excited!

Disney!

I am sharing one of my creations that I plan to give to Kayleigh when we go on another trip to Disney. It is an autograph book that includes pages for all four parks in Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Universal Studios.

This past summer we went down to Florida for a week and went mainly to Sea World, Aquatica, and spent a day at Discovery Cove and swam with the dolphins. That was amazing and I totally recommend it. Kayleigh and I just love the ocean and dolphins. They even had a baby dolphin named Kayleigh! She came out to say hello, but did not stay long. Our dolphin, Marina, was very sweet and just precious. I created an autograph book out of a 5x7 sketch book and decorated it using stickers and ribbon. It came out gorgeous and was a conversation piece for the characters we met when we went to the Magic Kingdom for a day. It actually got Kayleigh more time with the characters! She was in heaven. 

This autograph book used 10x10 chipboards that actually had the rings and the tabs in the kit. I found pretty shimmery paper and themed scrapbook paper and stickers to compliment the theme. Each park got its own tab and I used a master character list to try to get the main characters I imagined we would see in each park. Of course, this trip is not even planned yet, but it is definitely in our future so it will be used at some point. It was slightly expensive given the total cost of everything, but the project was fun to make and that is what I focused on. The idea came from a scrapbook pin on Pinterest. You can check out the website here. Tones of great ideas!  I think it came out pretty good too, don't you?

We are staying at the Disney's Beach Club so I wanted the front to have a "beachy" theme along with the inside cover! Kind of matches the Beaches N Cream Soda Shop doesn't it? 

This was the original cover that I had put on but changed it....

This is the inside of the books with tabs for each park.  This will be a combo smash book/ autograph book/ scrapbook with photos and momentos of the big trip! So excited!

For more ideas, check out my Pinterest inspiration board here! Check out my next post about my daughter's journal and travel autograph books! So cute! There will also be a post about the "exploding" (no worries nothing dangerous here- well maybe dangerously cute!) box as a way to surprise her before we go!!