"surprise" bag for airplane travel

Looking for less expensive ideas for a surprise bag to use on our first airplane trip over the Holidays. Thanks.

 

I have found that it doesn't matter so much what it is, as long as they haven't seen it before it is good for a little while. Maybe some coloring books & crayons or a sticker book. Are they old enough for lollipops yet? Because those are always a hit with my kids. Definitely snacks of some kind. Any cheap little toy from the dollar store can be good for short term distraction.

 

And, wrap them up too - that takes a few minutes for them to open them and is quite exciting to get a "present" every 30minute or so. We did a recent trip where we did 2 airplane rides - a 14hr one and a 4hr one. I bought enough cheap toys etc to give them one every 20-30minutes. I visited the dollar store and bought quite a bit there. I also did "regular everyday" things that my kids hadn't seen - like decks of cards, calculators, clothespins or bag clips, flashlights, stickers, bandaids, pipecleaners and cheerios to thread onto them, just walk around a walmart and look for everyday things that your kids might find interesting. And, tons of their favorite snacks. It went really well for us, and I think a lot had to do with the fact that I had tons of things to keep them busy - anytime they got a little fussy I would ask if they wanted a present or snack and that always brought them back to a happy mood.

Good luck!

 

Target dollar ailse: they usually have little notebooks, snacks, stickers, and all sorts of other things. Yesterday I bought 15 glowsticks for a $1.

 

Totally!!! I always hit this aisle before a trip and got lots on neat stuff. Stickers/notebooks/stampers/books/coloring books/etc. For last year's trip across country, I got a bunch of those little notepads (like 2" x 4"), and some hello kitty stampers and stickers. They loved filling the books up and then tearing pages out to make cards for each other and DH and I.

 

I totally agree with the 1$ Target aisle!!! Mine love those little spiral notebooks and a pen/pencil. Also the little magnadoodles are huge hits here. I agree that anything they haven't seen before is going to be new and fun for them. Depending on how long the trip is, I would go for a couple bags each and only 2-3 things per bag. Good luck!