The Minivan Express idea came from Confessions of a Homeschooler and it was sooo much fun! You can actually print the tickets from Erica’s website!! So anyway…here’s what we did.
We printed the tickets and put them in the kids’ coat pockets in advance.
Saturday night after everyone had on their pajamas, my husband secretly went outside and moved the minivan to the front…down the driveway just a little.
He ran to the front porch and began blowing my son’s wooden train whistle. The kids eyes got big as they wondered, “What was that?” I told them to get in their slippers and put on their coats and we would go and see what was making the noise.
We opened the door and saw my husband standing by the van, waving a camping lantern. Immediately, the kids ran to him. In his best impression of the conductor from the Polar Express movie, he said, “Tickets please.” They (of course) said, “What tickets?” And he asked them to reach into their coat pockets. What a thrill when they found the tickets there! He punched them using a hole punch and told them to, “Climb Aboard.”
We rode down the road a bit and he pulled over and said, “Time for refreshments.” [We had made hot chocolate and put them into those disposable coffee cups with lids and put them in a basket in the front seat, in advance.] He passed out the hot chocolate and the kid could barely keep from jumping up and down with delight!!
We rode around and looked at Christmas lights and then came back home and watched The Polar Express movie (which you can buy at Walmart for $10 right now).
What a great memory we just made!!!