Kids' souvenir budget

[KenHutch]

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.

Be warned thou our once and done trip was in 2006. Our 5th trip is in 2 months. It is good to see someone who gives closer to me. As I pointed out in a very early post on this thread I dump my change everynight into a jar and the girls get it all. Well because of family drama it has been 4 years since our last trip so I am giving the girls $800 each. And do not be surprised if you go home from your 1st trip and begin planning the next one.

 

[Tabbi_O13]

Be warned thou our once and done trip was in 2006. Our 5th trip is in 2 months. It is good to see someone who gives closer to me. As I pointed out in a very early post on this thread I dump my change everynight into a jar and the girls get it all. Well because of family drama it has been 4 years since our last trip so I am giving the girls $800 each. And do not be surprised if you go home from your 1st trip and begin planning the next one.

After reading on the board all morning I am seriously thinking about taking a little extra money and see if Hubby will allow me to go ahead and book a bounce back offer before we leave. I'm not counting on it, but definitely keeping my fingers crossed. He is not a "Disney" person so getting him to go is like baptizing a cat. LOL

 

[KenHutch]

After reading on the board all morning I am seriously thinking about taking a little extra money and see if Hubby will allow me to go ahead and book a bounce back offer before we leave. I'm not counting on it, but definitely keeping my fingers crossed. He is not a "Disney" person so getting him to go is like baptizing a cat. LOL

Well I always said I wasn't but all it took was one 5 year old asking me on our last night when was I taking her again. Well at least I know who I work for.....her.

 

[VicRock]

Well I always said I wasn't but all it took was one 5 year old asking me on our last night when was I taking her again. Well at least I know who I work for.....her.

I foresee my 6 year old asking us this either while there on or the way home or even 6 months later. & when I tell him we can go back when he can afford to pay for it, he'll start putting money away to save up -

 

[KenHutch]

I foresee my 6 year old asking us this either while there on or the way home or even 6 months later. & when I tell him we can go back when he can afford to pay for it, he'll start putting money away to save up -

Never underestimate the determination of little ones. In my case I was always planning on taking my god daughter anyways but I had not mentioned it and one evening she saw me and her sister planning this trip. A couple of hours later she brought me cookies that she had "made" and said you know I really love you Uncle Hutches, Lord did I laugh she is a planner.

 

[MomOTwins]

I find it helps to do it as a "per diem" rather than a total spending amount for a trip up front, so they can spread it out at multiple parks -- they can still roll over unusued funds if they want to save up for something big, but at least this prevents them from spending everything at once and having regrets later. They might not realize how different the merchandise at MK is from, say, World Showcase or all the Star Wars at HS until they get to those parks and see what is available.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I find it helps to do it as a "per diem" rather than a total spending amount for a trip up front, so they can spread it out at multiple parks -- they can still roll over unusued funds if they want to save up for something big, but at least this prevents them from spending everything at once and having regrets later. They might not realize how different the merchandise at MK is from, say, World Showcase or all the Star Wars at HS until they get to those parks and see what is available.

That's what we did--split the money so it was $X per park, with the ability to roll it over. We also kept track of favored items in the different parks--while some items were unique, others you could find a bunch of places. WE also deliberately left a "free day" at the end of our trip, so we could go back to whichever park. My only exception to this--aside from the "snotty boy wanting Pokemon cards" that I posted earlier--was, my younger DD loves pandas. I KNEW she'd want a panda "something" from Epcot. I think she actually stayed below her "Epcot allowance" for the stuffed panda she chose, but we would have let her go over. Her favorite princess was Ariel, but Ariel had nothing on those pandas!

OTOH, my younger son was a huge fan of Perry the Platypus--that stuff, you could find in every park, hotel gift shop, etc. That came in handy, because we were able to buy the Pillow Pet and take it straight to the room.

 

[tinklvsu]

We have the Disney Chase Rewards card. By the time we take our trip, there is quite a bit on there... my son gets $100.00 of that to use however he'd like. The $100.00 is strictly for toys, shirts (not that my 7 year old would pick one) or an excess amount of candy. LOL - His snacks and food are separate and we cover it. He ended up picking out some type of tooth necklace from Mount Everest area maybe, and a night time glow toy of sorts. A few other things I cannot remember..or find. ha.

 

[Nancyg56]

My daughter used to provide my DGD an envelope with $20 fro each day of her trip. She was allowed to use that moeny any way she chose, however any unsued money went into the following day's envelope. Now this began when she was almost 5 years old, but that child understood geting money back, or using it all. She woudl ask how many envelopes she needed for a specific purchase, or what the amount returned meant in her money. She was thoughtful then, and now at 16 is a better money manager than I am!

As she got older she aways given age appropriate opportunities to earn money for her trip that was in addition to whatever her parents would give her. SHe knew that she coudl buy whatever she wanted, however when it was gone, it was gone. She sould not ask for any gifts to bring home other than what her parents or we chose to offer.

I realize this method does nto work for all kids, but we used it for the little ones we took with us a few years ago and they did well. Both came home with money.

 

[SassyBrendita84]

I am also thinking $50 for my kids. I think this is a great thread to see the different perspectives here. I feel like $50 would be enough to buy something that they might really like, that I would not necessarily pick out on my own for them.

 

[piglet1979]

We are going to give the kids $50 each. We drive down and lately they have been horrible in the car so we decided to make it an incentive. They can earn a portion on the money each hour of the drive up to $50. They can lose money and not get money in that hour if they misbehave and we need to speak to them about leaving each other alone. We have already talked to them about it and they agreed to it. I don't expect to have any problems on the drive as they have always been fine on the drive. We have been driving down since they were 4 and 5. They are now 10 and 12.

 

[M_Williams]

Our kiddos earn "Disney Dollars" the weeks leading up to the trip for doing chores/extra help...etc. I then load that money on a Disney Gift card and they can spend it on whatever they want!

 

[viaggiamo]

When we travel, 3-4 months out from when we leave our children have the option to put their $5 weekly allowance in the "mummy bank'. This means that each week they choose this (which is every week as they are pretty savvy LOL) I write a balance of $5/10/15/20 etc in a notebook and they sign it off. They love to watch the balance grow. If they reach a $50 total I give them 100% interest on what they have saved.
So this month we are off to Italy, and they will have saved about $220 each. I give them $440 each. (this will be for 8 weeks) But they don't hold the actual money, I pay for everything with a cc and then write down each day what their balance is. That way they don't lose it and i get the cc points. Win, win! But they can add their other $$$ to their total and they pay me back from their money boxes when we get home. Their choice. They are 8 and 11yo.
Birthday/Christmas/other allowance money cannot be added to their total. This trains them in delayed gratification and the power of savings.
It works for us anyway.