How to Make Trip Tickets for Your Next Family Trip: A Fun and Creative Way to Enhance Your Vacation

Let’s talk about one of the BEST things we do for our kids when we take a family vacation! We came up with this idea called “trip tickets” and it’s one of the easiest things you can do to take your family vacation from a good time to a magical time.

I know there are a million and a half things to pack in your bag before you leave for the most magical place on earth, but let me add just one more teeny tiny thing for you. These trip tickets have been a huge hit for our kids and it’s something that they talk about, even after our trip is over and we’re back home.

Okay, that’s enough of the prep chat, let’s talk about how to make these and then get you set up to present them to your kiddos.

CREATION STATION

If you’re not familiar with Canva, let me introduce you to the tool that changed my life. Canva is an online site and app that helps you create graphic designs with ease. I remember when I heard about Canva for the first time and felt so inadequate only to sign in and realize that it’s so much easier than you could ever imagine. Once you get the feel of it, Canva is a really easy and useful tool to help you bring all of your creative ideas to life.

I designed all of our trip tickets through Canva and then I just switch it up when we’re going somewhere new. I love making a good theme for the ticket to help get the kids excited for what we’re doing that day. I’ve made tickets for our trips to Disney, the beach, the mountains, and so on. I create an initial road trip ticket that tells them where we’re going (for example- “let’s go to the beach!”) and I make it themed for our destination. Then I think about what we’ll be doing while we’re there and I usually make a few tickets for the special things we do while we’re there. For Disney, I made one for each park and a character breakfast. For the beach, I made one for the sea turtle hospital we went to and flying kites, etc. For the mountains, I would make one for the hikes we would try or for a national park we would visit, etc.

After I have the tickets created, I print them out, and cut out each individual ticket. Thankfully, I have an at-home laminator that I cherish and run endlessly so once they’re cut out, off to the laminator they go. I do this for the main reason of durability. The last thing I want is to have one of our kids upset because their ticket got ripped, ruin, or wet. Laminating them helps to make them a little more durable and last longer. If you don’t have a laminator, don’t worry about it— there are so many things you can do instead! Printing out the ticket on thicker paper or gluing the ticket to a piece of cardboard are just a couple of things you can do to make them more durable.

I think the best part is that you can get as creative with this as you want. You can do one initial ticket or you can make one for almost every single day of your trip! It’s totally up to you and what you would like to do, but that’s the basic rundown of the creation process.

If you don’t consider yourself as a creative and this whole process sounds daunting, no worries! I’ve created a handful of generic tickets for you to download and use for your next trip. You can find them HERE and just don’t forget to write your child’s name on the ticket for a more personalized feel.

SPECIAL DELIVERY

Now that your tickets have been created, you’re ready to give them to your kiddos! We love making this a whole special thing for our boys and I won’t lie— we kind of make it a big deal. First of all, we have music playing loudly in the car to match the theme of the trip. For Disney World trips, we play Disney songs and for the beach, we’ll play The Beach Boys or something along those lines. In the past, we’ve occasionally ordered a new stuffed animal to place in their car seat for the drive. If you’re headed to Disney, grab a Mickey Mouse or other favorite character. For the beach, you could do a whale or a sea turtle. You can also rent a few themed books from your local library to put in their seats. You get the point! We do as much as we can to make it a whole special theme.

Second of all, we announce that it’s time to get in the car and instead of just saying “hop in the car, here’s your ticket,” we do a whole thing. This is a team effort seeing as I announce our departure for the day and hand them their ticket before Alex calls them to come to the car.

Stephanie Example Script: “Today, we’re going on a trip to Disney! It’s time to get in the car, but in order to get in the car, you’ll need a ticket for your ride! Aspen, here is your road-trip ticket. Listen for the conductor to call you and take you to your seat.”

Once they have their tickets, Alex acts as the conductor and calls for them to line up by the car. One by one, he looks at their ticket and escorts them to their carseat, making sure they’re strapped in safely.

Alex Example Script: “Attention passengers!! All aboard for Disney World! First up, I have Aspen— is there an Aspen here? Hello sir! I see you’re headed to Disney World and you’re sitting in seat B1, follow me right this way.”

After everyone is loaded up in the car, we get in and set off for the adventure of the day listening to themed music or stories.

But the magic doesn’t stop there! After the adventure is done and we no longer need a certain ticket, we don’t just throw them away. I found a blank, lined journal at Target and started keeping it as our “trip journal.” In our trip journal we have all of the tickets I’ve created for the boys along with what we did on our trips. It’s such a special way to commemorate your trip and to remember the fun you had with your family!

If you’ve liked this idea, I encourage you to share it with your spouse and see if it’s something you would like to implement. It’s been a lot of fun for us and I, obviously, cannot recommend it enough. If you choose to carry on this idea, please tag me so I can see all about your fun adventures.

Thanks for being here and can’t wait to connect with you again real soon!

SAB