Disney Cruise Fish Extender DIY

Disney Cruise Fish Extender DIY

I am beyond thrilled that next month I will be going on my very first Disney Cruise, as part of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration! To briefly fill you in, the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration is an annual trip that Disney parent bloggers will be invited on, both to attend blogging conferences and experience a Disney family vacation. I was beyond thrilled to receive an invite for my family this year! Being a huge Disney fan, and someone who has traveled to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Disneyland Paris, a Disney Cruise has naturally been on my Disney vacation wish list! When I started researching Disney Cruise tips, I came across something fun that many people do on Disney Cruises: fish extenders! Fish extenders are DIY mailboxes you hang on your door and you leave little gifts each night for families in your fish extender group (you sign up for a fish extender group on Facebook by searching fish extender + date of your cruise).

I set off to a nearby fabric store to search for nautically themed fabric for my DIY fish extender. Since the Disney Dream (the ship we are cruising on) has a lot of Nemo & Dory themed things, I selected a Finding Dory print fabric, and also purchased yellow felt to put over the fabric to easily view our names. While I was out, I also went to TJ Maxx and picked out an organizer you hang from your door that had three slots (one for me, my husband, and my daughter).

Materials:

• Hang-on-the-door shoe or office organizer (select one that has the amount of slots that are enough for the family members staying in your stateroom).
• 1 1/2 feet of ribbon
• 2 sheets of felt
• Fabric marker
• 1/3 yard of fabric of your choice
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Fabric scissors

Directions

1. Cut squares of fabric that will fit within the space of each of your “mail” slots on your organizer.
2. Use a hot glue gun to easily hem the edges of your fabric, so you can have clean lines.
3. Glue your fabric down on each of your mail slots.
4. Cut pieces of felt that are slightly smaller than your decorative fabric squares.
5. Glue the felt onto your decorative squares. If there’s room on the top of your fish extender, glue an additional piece of felt up top to write your family’s name on or to write your cruise date on.
6. Once all your glue is dry, write your family’s names on your felt with the fabric marker color of your choice.
7. Use your ribbon to tie onto your organizer to hang on by your stateroom door.

And there you have it! A simple, cost effective Disney Cruise fish extender DIY you can make with your family! I can’t wait to use our fish extender as we are on the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration trip! You can follow along with my experience on the cruise, along with other attendees, by following the #DisneySMMC hashtag on Twitter and Instagram, as well as @DisneyMoms on Twitter.