Saving A Little on a Lot

My researching has taught me that there are some ways to save money during our trip to Disney World. 

One is on food, drinks and snacks. I know everyone already knows these things, so this is more of a 'note to self' to keep me from forgetting which sites I liked the most and wanted to try.

Since I don't live close to my grandsons, I really don't get to see them as much as I used to. (maybe 4 time each year) So I'm going to need help from Missy as to what the boys 'like' to eat and what they 'will' eat. (and drink) 

I booked 1 character breakfast during our stay. I don't want to have a set schedule every day we are there. And 1 special breakfast (or meal) will be plenty. I can't imagine any child 'needing' to have a character meal every day they are in Disney. In fact it sounds kind of selfish. Pick one and let others have a chance to do the same. 

So to help just a bit on expenses, I've decided to try one of the delivery services available for regular grocery type items. This will also help us not need to pack every thing in our luggage. Items like water, juice, crackers, fruit, cereal, milk, paper bowls and spoons, finger snacks like granola bars, yogurt on the go, or fruit. We will, of course, have a few on hand for the flight to Orlando. But we won't need to bring the entire box of granola bars, or several bottles of water & juice. Perhaps bring a small number of baby wipes (Lysol or Clorox wipes) and have a larger container delivered to the hotel. There will be plenty to take back with us on our return. And for those with little ones in diapers, it would be so much easier to have a box delivered to the room.

Garden Grocer is the one I am going to try on this trip. I have saved items as favorites that I believe will be useful:

Bread

Peter Pan because 'We Are At Disney World'

Peanut butter & jelly

Juices

Milk

Bottled Water

Cheese - It crackers

For our Snack at Animal Kingdom

Animal cookies

Chex mix

Small boxes of Raisins

Yogurt

Bananas

Baby wipes

Infant bath soap (no more tears)

 cereal

and Missy will be able to add items she would like for the boys. 

I will place the order 1 month before our vacation. And we'll see how it goes. It costs $2.00 for delivery if your order is over $200 and only $14 if it's under that amount. Considering airline charge at least $25 per checked in bag ... this could save some money!

Side note: I may order items from the local Wal-Mart to surprise the boys. Like T-Shirts or PJ's, or a special toy. I can have it delivered to the hotel as well. 

If you haven't noticed, I am having a lot of fun planning and making things for my grandsons trip to Disney World.

Today, I am going to try my hand at making some kind of 'Mousekeeping' envelopes.
But with trying to make everything myself, work and running my new household (did I mention, I have only been married a year) this is getting to be a challenge. I want to make it all myself ... so here's one idea I came up with.


In my home office,  I have sheets of labels that I use on file folders. I plan to print a sheet out and let the boys each put the sticker of their choice on a business envelope and put the money inside themselves. 

Here are 2 of the stickers I'm going to use

If you are planning a trip and have looked around the web, you have probably ran across a list or blog where "who to tip and how much" is mentioned.

I found that it is customary to tip 'mousekeeping' (that's the person that cleans your room each day) $1.00 per person per day... and what a cute way to leave this little tip. I saw several posts on the envelope idea and here are some of my favorites...



http://www.thepurplepumpkinblog.co.uk/2014/07/mousekeeping-tip-envelopes-free-printables.html



http://www.couponingtodisney.com/mousekeeping-envelopes-httpluckysevendesign-comitem_138mousekeeping-tip-holder-htm/

(love that one)


I have copied pictures from searches online like this one

then printed "thank you mousekeeping" to one side. I have Tweety, Mickey, the monkey and the Genie from Aladdin, paw patrol, simba ... and many more. I think the boys will like making their own envelopes ...  

HAVE you made Mousekeeping envelopes? How much did your little one's like the idea?

98 days and counting ...

DIY project #3

The Stroller situation ... I asked Missy if she has a stroller. She does but it is a single child stroller ... I don't think that will work very well. These two boys are 2 and 5 yrs old. And no one wants to carry a child around all day ... so a hunt is on. And can you believe it, she made 1 post on her facebook page and got an offer from her X-Boss ... A double stroller she can borrow for this trip, and it wont cost her a dime. 

So my project ... is stroller tags. And why have only 1 tag. Why not have several, so the boys can choose one each day. 

I used pictures I found online and my gimp program (you can use other photo editing programs) I think I like these the best (so far)

One of My grandson's stroller tags. It will be a keepsake in our book of memories ...

 just type or write your family make in the blank (oh, and change the date)

I think anything like this that you make can (and should) be saved after the trip and placed in a scrap book or memory book with photo and other items you'll collect on your trip. 

My next DIY project ... 

I want to make luggage tags. Seems like everyone has something on their luggage to help them identify it at the airport. 

My luggage tags ... they may not be perfect but they are more unique ...

I have seen several but they all look kind of the same. 
Some I thought were cute:



https://www.getawaytoday.com/blogs/2014-01-30/diy-mickey-mouse-luggage-tags-tutorial  

This one is available at Etsy ... but could be easily hand made

https://www.etsy.com/listing/230482787/stroller-tag-custom-personalized-mickey?ref=market 

 

What about these ... Easy to make with a printer and laminate. 

But I want mine to be ... well, different than everyone else.

So I found a photo online, 

then cropped each character ... and removed the background 

 


















Then cut it out of foam (I got sheets of it at Hobby Lobby)


Then glued them together and added a ribbon ... I chose Yellow background and the blue shadow ... 

I don't think he turned out too bad ... 

Only 103 days till the Grandson's Disney Trip ... (that's what I'm calling it) 
  1.) Vacation time was granted to my son-n-law...
  2.) We have decided that driving would be too stressful for them.            So I am looking at flying them into Orlando. 
  3.) learned that if a child is under 2 yrs. they can fly free            (Johnathan is already 2, so 'no' free ticket for him)
  4.)  learned that if a child is under 3 yrs. they get into Disney World free ... and eat at the sit down diners free (so no sharing food with brother this time) express meals you will have to pay. 

With Disney Reservations & tickets ($2495) and airfare ($1907) ... this trip is going to cost me around $4400 so far. So I have added up the cost of eating at Disney vs. buying the meal plan, or eating some meals there and others from our own stash of food items. And stashing some food sounds good to me. 

So I've been surfing the web for ideas. I noticed that you can have groceries delivered to your hotel with GardenGrocer.com . I am making a list of "favorites" that the boys will like eating for snacks and some drink items. This will save me in the long run and be healthier for them. I have saved fruits, yogurts, and organic bars, bottled water and a couple juice boxes, milk and cereal. Most snacks at Disney are listed between $4-$6 each, and drinks are about the same. Breakfast can set you back from $15-$30 for children and $30-$45 for adults...With 5 people that can really add up. 

I still want this to be a trip these two little guys will never forget. 


My first DIY project for the trip = 
I am making lanyards for the boys: 

These letters were only $.53 (that's cents) each ... 

And as you can see the Marvel Comics lanyard were only $1.00 each 

The Glow in the dark paint was just over $2.00 for this bottle. I got all of it at Walmart.  

My thought ... Paint the letters with the glow paint, making it fun for the boys to see if it really glows at night. Then painting the back a solid color (like green or brown) and printing mommy and daddy's cell phone numbers on it, just in case! 

The boys can also use them to put their trader pins on during their vacation ... 

** Funny note ***
Missy and I were discussing this trip. And calling it 'DW' so the boys wouldn't know what we were talking about.

We were sitting in the parking lot waiting for everyone to get buckled in ...

Ethan (the 5 yr old) came to me and said, 'Nana, I don't know what your talking about...but I think we should just GO. It sounds like it would be fun'  ROTFL!!! We never mentioned Mickey or any characters and nothing about rides. Just the possibility of going to 'DW' and that we would have to decide if they were going to drive for 2 days (3 for me) to get there. The things little ones say ... 

ALMOST FINISHED ... my next challenge is figuring out how to attach the letters to the lanyard (that's a really small hole on top)

** Funny note ***

Missy and I were discussing this trip. And calling it 'DW' so the boys wouldn't know what we were talking about.

We were sitting in the parking lot waiting for everyone to get buckled in ...

Ethan (the 5 yr old) came to me and said, "Nana, I don't know what your talking about...but I think we should just GO. It sounds like it would be fun!"
ROTFL!!! We never mentioned Mickey or any characters and anything about rides. Just the possibility of going to 'DW' and that we would have to decide if they were going to drive for 2 days (3 for me) to get there or fly. The things little ones say ... 

Only 103 days till the Grandson's Disney Trip ... (that's what I'm calling it) 
  1.) Vacation time was granted to my son-n-law...
  2.) We have decided that driving would be too stressful for them.            So I am looking at flying them into Orlando. 
  3.) learned that if a child is under 2 yrs. they can fly free            (Johnathan is already 2, so not free ticket for him)
  4.)  learned that if a child is under 3 yrs. they get into Disney World free ... and eat at the sit down diners free (so no sharing food with brother this time) express meals you will have to pay. 

I have added up the cost of eating at Disney vs. buying the meal plan, or eating some meals there and others from our own pantry of food items. 

So I've been surfing the web for ideas. I noticed that you can have groceries delivered to your hotel with GardenGrocer.com . I am making a list of "favorites" that the boys will like eating for snacks and some drink items. This will save me in the long run and be healthier for them. I have saved fruits, yogurts, and organic bars, bottled water and a couple juice boxes, milk and cereal. Most snacks at Disney are listed between $4-$6 each, and drinks are about the same. Breakfast can set you back from $15-$30 for children and $30-$45 for adults...With 5 people that can really add up. 

I still want this to be a trip these two little guys will never forget. 


My first DIY project for the trip = 
I am making lanyards for the boys: 

These letters were only $.53 (that's cents) each ... 

And as you can see the Marvel Comics (also a Disney Company) lanyard were only $1.00 each 

The Glow in the dark paint was just over $2.00 for this bottle. 

I got all of it at Walmart.  

My thought ... Paint the letters with the glow paint, making it fun for the boys to see if it really glows at night. Then painting the back a solid color (like green or brown) and printing mommy and daddy's cell phone numbers on it, just in case! 

The boys can also use them to put their trader pins on during their vacation ... 

ALMOST FINISHED ... 

Added Mommy and Daddy's cell phone numbers

They turned out kind of neat

I cleaned up the yellow paint on E's where it ran over the edge. Ant they are complete ... 

I am making plans without the Okay from Missy's husband. I figure, if he can't get the time off - I'm taking the boys anyway. After all, I raised 4 kiddo's, how hard can it be to keep up with 2 little boys?


I was able to buy 2 Buzz Lightyear's that light up on Ebay. One was  $10.85 and the second was $4.99 ... this is a great deal to me!  

Next I found a Disney Autograph Book, not that I couldn't have made one. And I probably would have made it differently than this one, but I couldn't resist.

 and it was only $6.35, I still might make one or a keepsake booklet for Ethan. I can add these autographs and place a picture of him with that character on each page.  

This last item usually gets a lot of praise and a lot of put-downs. But you don't know my grandson Johnathan. He has escaped when there were 4 adults watching him. POOF !!! He was gone. 

NOT kidding! This little tiger is quick and I'd much rather be safe than sorry any day!

So I got him this...

And believe me ... his life, safety and my sanity is worth every penny of that $12.00 (and then some!) I just hope he will wear it.