Last spring break, I wanted to surprise my wife & kids with a trip to Hawaii. That was sooooo tough to hide, but here was how it was done:

I first set my wife up by telling her we were going to Orlando, but that we were going to tell the kids we were going to Los Angeles (we live near San Francisco). That helped since packing clothes was essentially the same. When we were checking in at SFO, I had my wife pull the kids off to the side, so the kids wouldn't hear where we were actually going. Plus, my wife assumed I was telling the CSR we were going to Orlando but that it was a surprise for the kids. The CSR was great and played along, when I called my wife over so the CSR could confirm her ID. The CSR told her it was a great idea to surprise the kids. The hard part was keeping them away from the gate, because of the posting at the gate, as well as the announcements. But since I already duped my wife into thinking we were going somewhere else, she helped keep the kids occupied at the various shops. When the plane was ready to load, I ushered the family through, without much trouble (except some of the other passengers were wearing hawaiian shirts!!!). But my wife just thought it was tropical wear for Orlando. After we settled into our seats, the announcement finally came, and I pretended we were on the wrong plane, and tried to convince the kids we needed to get off. It was hilarious. My wife didn't know what to think, and my kids didn't want to leave. My youngest suggested that if we didn't say anything, we could go to Hawaii instead. Finally my wife figured out she was fooled even worse than the kids. It was great! It was the best fa,ily vacation we had ever taken.