So, I had an idea for Black Friday that instead of shopping, we should have a surprise day with the kids. The idea was for them to think that Mark had to get up and go to work, but instead, he would surprise them by saying, "Yay! I don't really have to go to work and we have a super fun day of surprises planned for you!" (You can hear Mark talking like that, RIGHT?? ha!)
I was posting about it on facebook that day as we went along on our adventures and sweet Rita Cozadd, who has grown kids about my age, said that when her kids were little they called these "destination unknown" days. I LOVE that!
So, here is our Destination Unknown day.
We didn't tell the kids what we were doing until we got close to the destination. And, on a side note, I didn't want this day to cost a load of money (which it easily could!), so we planned some free things, and used Groupons and coupons for the rest. It was so fun and didn't break the bank.
First stop was a scavenger hunt at the pet store.
I saw this on a blog that I read. It's for a Petco store and we were able to find everything pictured. The kids thought this was SO cool! They had fun checking things off on their list.
Click here to go to the blog post that includes the scavenger hunt printable.
After the pet store, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to our next stop. As we got closer, I turned around in my seat (for dramatic effect, of course!) and told them that we were headed to the Science Center. Not just the Science Center, but we were going to the Omnimax. They had never been before and we bought a Living Social deal a couple weeks before to see the show, Born Wild. It was perfect for them! We ended up staying at the Science Center for a few hours.
I had told them that they would need lots of energy for our third stop. Hmmmm.... Kate's wheels were turning. She guessed Chuck E. Cheese, which was close. But, our third stop was a place called Planet Fun. We had never been there. We practically had the whole place to ourselves. It was full of tubes, tunnels, nets, mats, arcade games, prizes... so fun! We won a ton of tickets and got a bunch of junk prizes that I think are now mostly in the trash, but oh well! It was a blast!
I was sure that would be our last destination of the day, but they seemed ready for something else. I was preparing for meltdowns, brother/sister arguments, and crabby, tired kiddos. But, they were SOOO good all day!
So, our fourth stop was a drive through park to look at Christmas lights.
After that, we drove to one of our favorite houses that syncs their Christmas lights to music that you tune your car radio to. It's insane and I can't imagine how their neighbors put up with the crazy flashing lights and the traffic for a full month, but it's entertaining, that's for sure!
By the time we got home, we had been gone for 12 hours on our Destination Unknown day. All in all, I think it was a memory they will have for a long time! I would love to start this as a Black Friday tradition. It felt so nice to just be with my little family instead of out fighting the crazies that day.
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