Disney World Countdown Calendar.

An easy and FUN way to mark the days until your Disney trip…this Disney World countdown calendar has a chalkboard surface to write on and a space to hide a small treat inside!

Wellll…we just returned from a trip to Disney World!

It was the first time that I’ve ever gone to Disney World with children, and it was overwhelming at times – for me and for them. There is so much to see and do and it’s hot and crowded…it can be a lot for young children to take in.

One thing that I really enjoyed though, was looking forward to the trip and counting down the days with my five year old son. We decided to share the news with him about ten days before our departure.

I knew I wanted to make some kind of countdown calendar for him.  There are a lot of neat ideas on the internet, but I wanted to design my own Disney World countdown calendar, and I wanted to make it kind of like an Advent calendar, where you can hide a prize inside. Here’s what I did:

How to make a Disney World Countdown Calendar:

You will need:

• a wooden plaque – mine is 8.5″ x 12″
• a paper mache box – mine is 6″
• black cardstock
• red and black craft paint
• a black paint pen
• hot glue gun
• a piece of white chalk
• baker’s twine or yarn
• Disney themed prizes for inside

I bought all of my supplies, including some of the prizes at JoAnn Fabrics.

Here’s what you do:

1. Paint the plaque red, and the box top and bottom black.  Let it dry for an hour or so, and then apply another coat.

2. Using a glass, trace two circles on the cardstock and cut them out.

3. Using a hot glue gun, assemble the calendar. I glued the box to the top of the wooden plaque, so I would have room to write below. Glue the ears to the box top.

4. I wrote “Days Until Disney” underneath the Mickey Mouse box. You could write whatever you want there.  I did look at the Disney logo online and then just free-handed the Disney font on the plaque with a pencil first. Then I went over the letters with the black paint pen.

5. Tie the twine around the chalk and hot glue the end of the twine to the back of the wooden plaque, so you have your chalk handy to change the countdown number everyday.

6. Let everything dry, and you are done!

How to use a Disney countdown calendar:

For each day leading up to the trip, (maybe a week or ten days), write the number of days left until the trip on the calendar. Hide a Disney themed prize inside the box. Just something small, like stickers, crayons, barrettes, etc. Let your child open the calendar each morning when he or she wakes up.

Using a countdown until your Disney trip helps to add to the excitement and anticipation of your vacation!

I put a different Disney themed prize in each day.  You can find inexpensive things at the Dollar Tree, or the dollar section at JoAnn’s or Target.  Some ideas are: crayons, Band-Aids, stickers, socks, pens, etc.

Have fun! My son really looked forward to opening the box each morning and finding the prize! It was a fun way to look forward to our trip.