Best Fish Extender gift received?

[lkpiehl]

The best thing we ever got was a wonderful handmade frame from a very talented artist in an FE group - not something everyone could pull off (certainly not me!). In general though, my favorite things are something that has more of a personal connection.

The things that we have saved & enjoyed include items like fridge magnets from people's hometowns/local sports teams, cruise specific magnets some had made, a homemade cruise themed scrapbook, tote bags, etc. We've also enjoyed consumables from their local area such as bourbon from a FE member who lived in KY, wine from a FE member who lived in vineyard country, maple candy from a FE member who lived in an area with a strong maple industry, chocolates from a family owned old-fashioned chocolate manufacturer in a FE member's hometown, etc.

I think as long as you put a little thought & heart into it, it doesn't have to be a big gift or an expensive gift to be a memorable or spectacular one. You can keep the budget low without resorting to giving meaningless party store type trinkets. I'd even love a simple postcard that told me something about you/your hometown and had a nice thought to share with me!

Hmmm....don't know that anyone would particularly like Lutefisk from Minnesota. BWAH!!!! I'll keep thinking!!!

 

[DisMom829]

Are the mini bottles of alcohol still allowed? With the new alcohol policy? My first FE exchange is in 2016, but I'm starting to make notes now

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Something I am keeping my eyes peeled for is a cheap magnetic message board for the cruiseroom door, so friends can leave messages.

My DW made these and we gave them out as FE gifts one year. They were made with just paper and paper protectors (the plastic sheets). She included a little eraser which I think was just fabric, and a dry erase pen. We glued magnets to the back and the backing was just paper folded over with Disney decorations printed as the boarder.

They only cost us like 15 cents each. Not usable for a long term, but easily the life of the cruise.

We gave them some plastic cups that we decorated for the cruise as well (Ship name and date and the kids name) which were so much better (and bigger) than the little paper cups.

I also made a little coloring book with crossword puzzles, word search and coloring. You can find websites that make the word search and crossword for you - you just put in the questions and answers. I made them up based on Disney FAQ's (I think I did one on Disney Horse names, and I forget the others). Picked up a bunch of 3 crayon packs at a local party store.

All these gifts together cost us no more than a couple of $ per cabin.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I will be a single cruiser (3rd or 4th cruise) on the Star Wars Cruise 1/24/2016. The rest of the FE group range from married couples w & w/o kids, multi-generational families, a very nice mix. Is it the normal practice to give gifts to each person or a single gift for the family or group?

We are on your same cruise. There are 2 or 3 FE groups. I think we are the Rebel Alliance.

Generally we do a little of both. We usually like to make something for a cabin, and if there are kids, we make something else for them to enjoy (like a coloring book or something based on some Disney pictures - Google helps here). Depends on the age groups of the kids. Adults may only get a cabin gift.

Ugh... And I just realized this was a zombie thread. Long live the zombies!

 

[Bee2u]

Are the mini bottles of alcohol still allowed? With the new alcohol policy? My first FE exchange is in 2016, but I'm starting to make notes now

No, they are no longer allowed.

 

[SonicGuy]

No, they are no longer allowed.

BOOO!!!

 

[AshleyDumas]

I plan on making the plastic tumblers with the straws for each person, personalized with their name and some Mickey decals.. Would people enjoy this.. I figured they would be easy to wash in the rooms, and you could fill them with water/soda/juice and carry that around instead of the smaller cups they provide?

My cruise isn't until March 2017- So, I'll spend the next 6 months or so buying all of the cups little by little, and then the last 6 months making.. I'm just worried for a large FE group, I won't have room.. Luckily we live in FL, so will be driving to port, and don't have to worry about checking luggage on an airplane.

I just want to make sure a gift like this will be well received before I take the time and money to do it. I never use glass cups anymore- I always use my tumblers.. Would children enjoy their own cup- or would this be better for the adults and make the children something else?

 

[darnheather]

I plan on making the plastic tumblers with the straws for each person, personalized with their name and some Mickey decals.. Would people enjoy this.. I figured they would be easy to wash in the rooms, and you could fill them with water/soda/juice and carry that around instead of the smaller cups they provide?

My cruise isn't until March 2017- So, I'll spend the next 6 months or so buying all of the cups little by little, and then the last 6 months making.. I'm just worried for a large FE group, I won't have room.. Luckily we live in FL, so will be driving to port, and don't have to worry about checking luggage on an airplane.

I just want to make sure a gift like this will be well received before I take the time and money to do it. I never use glass cups anymore- I always use my tumblers.. Would children enjoy their own cup- or would this be better for the adults and make the children something else?

Love tumblers and I think this would be a great gift.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I plan on making the plastic tumblers with the straws for each person, personalized with their name and some Mickey decals.. Would people enjoy this.. I figured they would be easy to wash in the rooms, and you could fill them with water/soda/juice and carry that around instead of the smaller cups they provide?

My cruise isn't until March 2017- So, I'll spend the next 6 months or so buying all of the cups little by little, and then the last 6 months making.. I'm just worried for a large FE group, I won't have room.. Luckily we live in FL, so will be driving to port, and don't have to worry about checking luggage on an airplane.

I just want to make sure a gift like this will be well received before I take the time and money to do it. I never use glass cups anymore- I always use my tumblers.. Would children enjoy their own cup- or would this be better for the adults and make the children something else?

Personally, we've gotten tumblers and such in FEs before. We don't use them. Really, I don't want to be washing dishes on my vacation, and it's just easier to go to the drink station to get a clean cup and use that. Since you have to use a clean cup from the drink station to fill up your personal cups anyway, why waste it?

I've given away all the tumblers/cups we've gotten.

 

[darnheather]

While I might not use the tumblers on the cruise I think they'd make a great take home. I use tumblers at home all the time.

 

[Mandlz]

I personally love the idea of tumblers. The one thing I hated about the drink stations was the cups were so tiny - they're great for my two year old, but it's gone pretty quickly when it comes to the adults in the group. Having a larger drink cup to refill and then take with to the stateroom or wherever was something I wished I'd thought of on my previous cruises. (We actually bought ourselves some Yeti's to take with on our next cruise - will see how those work!)

I think if it's something you would enjoy receiving in your FE, it's probably a good gift. You're never going to please everyone, as there are a variety of different opinions, but that's always a rule of thumb I use when doing gift exchanges - if I wouldn't like receiving it, it's probably not a gift I want to give to someone else.

 

[bethy]

remember the pet rocks from the 70s?

Our kids' FAVORITE FE gifts from our recent cruise were pet rocks with little googily eyes on them!

 

[Natalie Herbert]

This is so helpful so full of so many amazing ideas. I'm beyond excited to participate in FEs

 

[Jennifer Sherer]

We are going on our first cruise in November. So many ideas out there, and glad to know which ones are appreciated and those which aren't.

 

[ayz75]

Actually, my favorite gift was wet wipes!!!! (the Disney ones are cute) it's the kind of thing that you can never have too much of if you're traveling with toddlers. And even if I don't end up using them on the cruise, I use them on other trips! Another one that I found useful was the tin-can of q-tips! Same comment as above. I used to put q-tips in zip lock bags but they get squeeshed.. so tin cans were really useful. These are not presents that are personalized or anything, but really were the most useful to me.

 

[FeliciaL]

We have received so many lovely FE gifts that it's hard to pick favorites.

We were just on the Magic and did a FE. We received two adult sized tumblers and loved them. We used them on CC, in the theaters, and in our stateroom (our son is five and still spills most drinks. The straws saved us!) Typically, we were filling them with water or apple juice that we ordered from room service.

The boys particularly loved a small lego set that looked like the Magic when the set was built.

Magnets are always fun. We keep them in our FE hanger and pull them out to decorate our door on every cruise.

 

[Elizabeth Naramore]

Love tumblers and I think this would be a great gift.

They have Micky mouse straws on etsy.

 

[diznymom]

DS17 loves key chains and bookmarks. He drives now and loves to read.

My favorites: Magnets and bookmarks.

DH's favorites: Magnets

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

LOVE THIS THREAD!

 

[MaleficentUK]

Thank you everyone for the wonderful ideas. They have actually inspired me to get signed up for pinterest and start collecting ideas of stuff to make.

Our first cruise never had a listing for fish extenders, so I'm hoping the next one will have someone interested in organizing it. Never having done it, I am reluctant to organize it myself.