From dining reservations to making payments on a cruise – as the main planner of the family I always have a calendar with dates, sticky notes, and reminders. But what about when the trip starts to get close? When you can really get excited? That’s when a Disney countdown calendar comes in handy!
First let’s talk DIY options – here are a few we have done:
- Countdown “chain” – make loops of cardstock, chain them together, remove a link each day until it’s time to go!
- Countdown sign – make two sets of 0-9 numbers and “count down” moving the day down each new day. Not a favorite but it works
- Printed calendar to hang on wall (DIY tutorial for this option in this post!)
- Simply marking the important countdown dates in a planner/family calender
Our favorite is a colorful and visual “countdown” calendar. You can use a ruler to draw your own, print a template, or what we did was to print 5 rows x 7 column EXCEL sheets to create approximately 95 days of counting down fun. This was by far the fastest easiest option to give us a blank template to play with.
note: we did make one whooooops (see above: there is only 1 square for 11 & 12…) but we left it. These things work out!
Once printed the “how-to” steps go like so:
- Tape together the sheets (if multiple used) so the squares line up.
- Add the numbers for countdown (hand drawn, stickers, stamps, etc)
- Add stickers and decorative elements
- Hang it up, and count it down!
We created a short YouTube video to share this process as well.
What we like about this is that it is fun, easy, and quick as well! It also lets us use up random crafty stickers and have a visual reminder of the vacation we are excited for.
You might notice this countdown is to Europe – we’re very excited to be in the final months before our trip to Disneyland Paris and a Disney Cruise! We have a lot of videos and blog posts planned about that trip including packing, character meals, and everything in between.
For this project one more thing I will note: If you want you can also include “Disney themed days” or plans. For example 101 Dalmatians, or watching Frozen 32 days (aka freezing!) prior. 7 days to go Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs… you get the idea!
If you have your own countdown traditions or ideas we would love to hear them. Share here!
