Kids' souvenir budget

[VicRock]

When we went on a 10 days vacation in September, we allowed our son to take $30 out of the bank plus what he had in his wallet. He had about $45 in total for spending money. We believed for a 5-year-old, that was plenty for where we were going. He was allowed to take up to $5 in quarters for the arcade which was separate but daddy ended up buying the pass so that was added to his spending money. Not to mention his Gaga came along so of course, she spoiled him rotten as per usual. I think he came back home with most of his money because he didn't find much he wanted.

For Disney, I'll probably allow him $100 for the parks in small increments at each park. We buy all meals, most snacks & treats (if he just wasted the treat he asked for & wants another, he is buying. Same if he decides he wants a treat instead of eating the lunch we provide.) so I don't really see any reason for him to have any more than that at 6 years old. However, we might only tell him about $50 so he works at spending it better. Also so it won't be a hassle to put the rest back if he doesn't spend it.

OT, but a funny story: My younger son is 12. He had a Scout camping trip this past weekend, and stopped at Panera for lunch on the way home. He bought mac and cheese for $8.20, and texted me to ask why we don't eat at Panera. Um, because the mac and cheese is $8.20 for one person! We're a family of 6--we'd go broke eating that on a regular basis! It did lead to a discussion on food costs, and the value of making things yourself. And I don't mind him having the occasional treat, but geez! So, clearly, I still have some work ahead of me here...

My guy spends his own money at home all the time (& has been calculating tax in his head for about 1 1/2 years - he's six - which still cracks me up when he asks me how much Z X's Y is when he's figuring out if he has enough) so we're always talking about how much things cost & about advertising, etc. My favorites are when we allow him to buy something that we know is junk for the lesson learned. I love it when he realizes "I should NEVER have spent my money on this! That was a waste of $6!". But like you said, we still have a long way to go because he is STILL buying junk at times. We chalk it up to lessons learned at this point.

 

[NYCgrrl]

My guy spends his own money at home all the time (& has been calculating tax in his head for about 1 1/2 years - he's six - which still cracks me up when he asks me how much Z X's Y is when he's figuring out if he has enough) so we're always talking about how much things cost & about advertising, etc. My favorites are when we allow him to buy something that we know is junk for the lesson learned. I love it when he realizes "I should NEVER have spent my money on this! That was a waste of $6!". But like you said, we still have a long way to go because he is STILL buying junk at times. We chalk it up to lessons learned at this point.

Yes I find this an important lesson as well. For me it involved a spool puppet twice with 2 different generations. DGD opted to buy one from a street fair as did her uncle about 30 years before. For both kiddos the toy became a tangled mess before a week had past. One opted to repair the toy, the other simply threw it in the garbage.

 

[KenHutch]

I just want you to know that grandparents don't have favorites; it's written in the advanced manual we received same as the novice version you (and we) got starting out in parenthood.

But you can have fun with that my favorite. I refer to my daughter in public as my favorite daughter. She looks at me and says I am your only daughter to which I reply that's why your my favorite (my only kid).

 

[jeepnjudy]

This may seem odd to some but we take my 2 DS' gift cards and substitute them for cash so they can actually see and hold the money while they are spending it. This gives them something tangible to count down and determine what's left for future purchases. We then just apply those gift cards to dinners while we are there.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I think it really depends on if this a first time trip but you plan on going back, a once in a lifetime trip or you are a park regular who goes once a year or a few times a year.

My son has been 5 times. He went on his 6th trip this month for his senior trip. His birthday was two days before so he had a nicely padded bank account from cash birthday gifts. He barely spent $200 over 5 days. And most of that was buying souvenirs for us. But I know one of my friends DDs is going for her senior trip, it's her first trip to WDW, and she is taking $1000 over her 5 days. She plans on buying LOTS of stuff.

 

[KenHutch]

I think it really depends on if this a first time trip but you plan on going back, a once in a lifetime trip or you are a park regular who goes once a year or a few times a year.

My son has been 5 times. He went on his 6th trip this month for his senior trip. His birthday was two days before so he had a nicely padded bank account from cash birthday gifts. He barely spent $200 over 5 days. And most of that was buying souvenirs for us. But I know one of my friends DDs is going for her senior trip, it's her first trip to WDW, and she is taking $1000 over her 5 days. She plans on buying LOTS of stuff.

We have to spend 2 days at Epcot because my teen plans on doing a LOT of her clothes shopping at Disney.

 

[CricketMa]

Snacks are separate, thanks for checking!

The reason I was posing the question is that, as an infrequent WDW-goer, while I know costs will be elevated above the "real world," I have no concept of how much. Would $50 buy a nice sweatshirt? One sizeable stuffed animal? A cool piece of art? Or could I get such things for $40? $30? Again, part of my goal is to help illustrate the difference between buying a few small, cheap things and one nicer big thing - so I want to ensure that the dollar amount I set is sufficient for a nicer big thing. I hope this makes sense!

Forgive me if someone already pointed this out but there is actually an parks app that has quite a bit of the merchanise on it that you can buy in the parks. I might try perusing the app a little bit and it’ll give you a better idea of what everything cost.

I bet luckily for the ages of your kids they will mostly want toys - which aren’t too pricey or that much more money than the Disney store in my opinion. There was this mini monorail set that was $$$$ that my daughter wanted last time we went - I’m a push over at Disney so I probably would have gotten it for her had I a bigger suitcase lol.

For our text trip now that my daughter’s a little more cognizant I’m estimating about $25 a day. I’ll buy her some ears and a balloon but everything else will have to come from her budget.

I also like the idea for younger children to give them a laminated sheet full of iconic souvenirs and then they get to choose when and where they get that item. So like the list with say “one pair of Mickey ears, one ornament, one balloon, one shirt etc” then cross them off once they’ve bought one.

 

[Dumbo777]

So we started our kids with a base amount of $20 for the trip and they were given opportunities to earn additional spending money with extra chores up until the time we left (and deductions for consequences).



It actually worked really well and kept them self aware!

Genius

 

[LMA712014]

Genius

Thank you! Haha. I will say it helped to nullify a lot of arguing before the trip hahahah.

 

[mcm574]

Forgive me if someone already pointed this out but there is actually an parks app that has quite a bit of the merchanise on it that you can buy in the parks. I might try perusing the app a little bit and it’ll give you a better idea of what everything cost.

Oh, no, I hadn’t known that! The only apps I have are MDE and TP - can you let me know the name of the one you’re talking about? Thanks!!!

 

[CricketMa]

Oh, no, I hadn’t known that! The only apps I have are MDE and TP - can you let me know the name of the one you’re talking about? Thanks!!!

Sorry, DUH!!!! haha

it's called "Shop Disney Parks" It has a lot of cool features for when you're in the park too

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We give each of my kids $100 GC and $100 cash for a 2 week trip, and that’s plenty. We write on the card with sharpie the amount left after each purchase. And since it’s “their” money and a finite amount, they’re more careful with it.

 

[mydisneyanytime]

My children (DD12, DS11) each have a pocket money that they collect through the year. When we go on vacation (anywhere) I let them decide how much to take out of it. However, they don't get any added to it. So if sister has more... oh well... you spent yours!! I will buy them each a sweatshirt or tee shirt since I purchase all of the clothes on a regular basis anywa. At Disney my son usually spends his within the first day or so. His loss and he is learning that lesson that maybe you should wait. My daughter never spends hers and always comes back with most of it. I usually also give them a gift card for special snacks/treats. This way I don't hear how much they want each snack. Once they are out of money for those then they can eat the snacks that I packed from home. Both kids do pretty well on this though my daughter does better watching her money. Having them use their own money for things and snacks helps me moderate too and not use the word "yes" so often just because we are in Disney. I don't have to feel guilty for saying "no" since it is their money and I am not just giving in.

 

[Jessica0312]

I think $50 is reasonable.

Past trips (when DD was 4 and 5 and the concept of money was nonexistent), I have told my DD I would buy her one thing and to make sure that what she picked is what she really wanted. I always encourage her to look for a few days before deciding.

For our next trip, she has a few gift cards that she received from family for gifts (and one from the tooth fairy!). She is 6 now and just starting to learn about money and she can add so I am going to let her decide how she wants to spend them. I think she has right around $50 as well.

 

[Thing 1]

It also depends on how your family looks at trips and shopping at WDW. Mine are older now but have a lot of trips under their belts. We are really not stuff people but travel people. We rarely go into gift shops and always walk quickly through the ride exit gift shops. We go bagless and I refuse to carry anything in the parks. Giving my child 50-100 to spend at will would drive me crazy. We have bought the kids things over the years and have done a few different think. One thing that worked well was to save the purchase for the last 1/2 day of the trip. If they see something during the week that they think they want, we take a picture of it and we leave that last part of our last day open to return to the place they want to go to purchase the thing they want. We will buy that one thing but we have veto power over cost. It makes them think about what they really want. More offen than not through the years we have allowed them to pick one thing at the Star Wars store. It was their favorite store and they actually played with what they got for a long time. Sometimes they would choose an item I knew they could get at Walmart for 1/2 the price so I would offer them the money the item cost to take and spend at Walmart to get that toy plus they would have extra for something else. I think they both were just so used to the way we budget and have taught them how we choose to use our money. They are 11and 25 now and they are both age appropriate awesome with money and saving and for the older one making wise choices for the future. Just giving you a bit different way to look at it. I do think 50 is a totally appropriate amount for your kids spending budget.

 

[michbaron]

I didn’t read all the responses but we have a 5 and 1 year old, we’re going in late April so I figured we’d save some money by giving them each $25 disney gift cards in their easter baskets instead of an extra toy then and still getting the gift card for the trip! Our 5 year old loves to be the one to pay so we’ll let him use his for himself and help his brother pick something out and those will be the souvenirs that I don’t nitpick over being silly or something that won’t get used etc and then we’ll still get each of them a gift if there’s something else they really want

My parents always give us like $200 before each trip to spend on the kids but I could never even find that much in toys and plushes that I’d want to bring home so we use if for an add on like a character meal and tell them it’s from grandma and grandpa

 

[QueenIsabella]

I didn’t read all the responses but we have a 5 and 1 year old, we’re going in late April so I figured we’d save some money by giving them each $25 disney gift cards in their easter baskets instead of an extra toy then and still getting the gift card for the trip! Our 5 year old loves to be the one to pay so we’ll let him use his for himself and help his brother pick something out and those will be the souvenirs that I don’t nitpick over being silly or something that won’t get used etc and then we’ll still get each of them a gift if there’s something else they really want

My parents always give us like $200 before each trip to spend on the kids but I could never even find that much in toys and plushes that I’d want to bring home so we use if for an add on like a character meal and tell them it’s from grandma and grandpa

My MIL did something similar one year--we were going over a school break, and my youngest's birthday was that week. I think he was turning 8. MIL told me to charge $500-!!! to her credit card in gifts for him! Yeah, no way, for an 8yo, especially since I'd then have to schlep all that crap home on a plane. Obviously, we let him pick out some stuff, special from Meme, but then I paid for the Dessert Party with it, on his actual birthday. I thought that was a reasonable compromise.

 

[siestakeys04]

Those who give spending money or gift cards to kids @ Disney....how much are you allocating per day? Trip lengths vary which is why I'm asking.
TIA.

I gave them like 20 a day. Let them know if you had some left over you can carry it over for the next day.

 

[lfortin16]

We take pictures on our cell phones of "what our kids want" during the week. On the last day or next to the last day, they look through the pictures to see what they really want. Then we buy it. There a limit of $25 -$35 per child. This helps with going through a gift shop after every ride!

 

[Tabbi_O13]

I'm that parent that is going overboard for my kids first trip. We are going Dec. 2019. I have 4 kids (3 girls, and 1 boy) who will be 12, 12, 4, 4. We are just doing a gift card for each child for the entire stay. That way they can buy something big or a bunch of small stuff. My 4 year olds will get $150 gift card each, and the 12 year olds will get roughly $300 in gift cards. Hubby and I are putting back a little bit each week and will pay for the trip that way and pay for their cards. This is a once in a lifetime trip for us that we have been talking about for years.