Spending money for kids?

[HCinKC]

We will be giving ODS a set amount that he can spend on souvenirs. I have two questions regarding this...

What is a good amount? He will be about 6 1/2 when we go. I haven't been to the parks in over ten years, and even then, I was not a souvenir person. We will probably buy him a t-shirt and mouse ears, so he would most likely be spending it on toys, probably something at Darth Mall. Is $50 enough without being too much?

Second, should we just do regular money, a Disney gc, or do they still have Disney dollars? If they do make them, can I still get Disney dollars at the Disney store? Or would it be better to just have regular money, so if he has some left over, he can put it in his piggy at home? I suppose we could always use it up on a meal and give him the actual money if it came down to that.

Thanks!

 

[Mikeb1892]

Last year we gave our 7 year old son a $100 bill, and told him he could spend it on anything he wanted to (we held on to it until he was ready to spend it). He absolutely loved getting that $100 bill, and since he knew exactly how much he had to spend, he could make quicker decisions on what he wanted to buy.

 

[leahlefler]

My sister gave our kids a $25 gift card (each) and they are SO excited to have their own spending money at Disney. I have a feeling we'll give them another $25 so they can buy a t-shirt or a toy, since Disney items are so expensive.

 

[bbak3030]

We are planning on giving our DDs each $50--probably a Disney gift card.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Our kids each get a $50 Disney gift card.

 

[usrtyz]

Our kids each got $100 to spend. I thought that was a good amount and they were all happy. And when it was gone it was gone!

 

[caitcance]

My 5 and 6 year olds are each getting a $50 GC to spend. To make it a little more of a lesson about money, they have been collecting change in a jar for the last year and a half in order to "save for Disney". A week or so before our trip I am going to take them to our local credit union where you can cash out coins without a surcharge. I will tell the kids that is the money that's going on their gift cards. Maybe it will be over their heads, but it's important to me that they start learning about money and how it doesn't just appear out of thin air.

 

[MandiC]

Last year when our girls were 7 and 9 they each had $75 in Disney gift cards to use for spending money (got them from grandparents as Christmas gifts!) And that was a good amount. They both got a pearl necklace from Japan in Epcot and a few random things. I did pay for them to each pick a pin from the pin store on our last day.

 

[kwitt]

I'm not yet sure how we're handling spending money. I know they will have a bit. But probably not more than $25. We have 4 kiddos, and I loved the idea of getting them personalized GCs with their photos on them from the disneystore website. Since that cost an additional $6.95 per card, I decided against it and will probably get them each a GC from disneygiftcard.com with their favorite character on it!

 

[crc76]

My 6 1/2 year old daughter got at $50 gift card from Santa, and she has also been saving her money that she gets from the toothfairy, allowance, and random gifts from family. She will be bringing about another $50 of her "own". She is still trying to decide if she wants to bring it all, so it maybe more like $30 more. It really has taught her a lot about not spending each dollar as she gets it, and she is excited and proud of herself.

 

[awalker1015]

I haven't decided what we are going to do for DD9 and DS7. They both have birthdays the week we get back and this trip is part of their birthday. Will do at least $25 gc each. Plan to let DD get a pearl at Epcot and something special for DS. Thinking maybe grandparents will contribute additional spending $.

 

[AlexisMaxMommy]

$50 should be plenty especially if you are already planning on paying for a t-shirt and ears, so that won't come out of his money.

 

[michael's mom]

My two kids each got $50 from a great-aunt for Christmas and they had some cash in their piggy banks. We won't be giving them anything else as I'm sure they will also get $ for their birthdays which both fall before our trip. We'll buy them each something (tshirt, ears) but they will have to buy anything else they want. DS is excited that he can buy a Mickey Bar whenever he wants



We are also trying to teach them about saving. DS is pretty good (8 1/2) already. He really wanted something for his Disney Infinity and asked if he could take some of his Disney money. I told him, of course. It's your money. Just know, we're not giving you any extra when we go to Disney. He thought about it for a little bit and said "I think I'll ask for that for my birthday instead. I'm saving my money for Mickey ice cream"

My 5 and 6 year olds are each getting a $50 GC to spend. To make it a little more of a lesson about money, they have been collecting change in a jar for the last year and a half in order to "save for Disney". A week or so before our trip I am going to take them to our local credit union where you can cash out coins without a surcharge. I will tell the kids that is the money that's going on their gift cards. Maybe it will be over their heads, but it's important to me that they start learning about money and how it doesn't just appear out of thin air.

That's our plan too! We decorated an old animal cracker jar with Disney scrapbook stuff to save coins. The kids wanted to put their piggy bank change into the jar. Every time DD finds a coin she runs yelling "I've got money for Disney!" I don't think it'll be over their heads.

 

[GatorMama]

My kids have been earning "Mickey money" at home. I printed off images of disney dollars in 1s and 5s and they can do chores to earn it. They're 5.5 and 2.5. And all my 5 year old talks about it using his Mickey money to buy a giant Stitch.

 

[growinupdisney]

$100 for mine....in gift cards and usually they get one for Valentines, Easter, etc. if they earn and save money from Birthdays and chores they can take that too. I buy ears, shirts or something I would like them to have. I do have to put a limit on stuffed animals we too many of those. My kids will be ds18 and dd8 when we go and this always worked throughout the years. Sometimes they come home with money!

 

[HCinKC]

This is great! I love hearing about all these kiddos learning about saving and spending.

It sounds like $50 will be plenty since he won't be spending it on the tee and ears. I like the idea of regular money, so that he can see how much he has left...but I assume the gc balance is probably printed at the bottom of any receipts?

I am sure it's going around, but I got a 25% off at Disney Store coupon in my email today. I am thinking of bopping over to look at shirts. Not sure if I will get anything though since I think he'd like a SWW one best.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

I just read that the Magic Bands can actually be set up for your kids and they will have a pin number and you can actually set a spending limit as well on them for your kids. I was also wondering the same question for my DS8, but I know he will lose the money or a gift card if we give it to him and since they came out with Magic Bands we don't usually bring our wallets or anything into the park bc we just charge it back to the room. Anyways on our trip in April I am going to try and set up my DS8 Magic Band with a spending limit of $100. That way he will have some spending money and we won't have to keep track of a gift card or actually dollars or anything, lol

 

[HCinKC]

I just read that the Magic Bands can actually be set up for your kids and they will have a pin number and you can actually set a spending limit as well on them for your kids. I was also wondering the same question for my DS8, but I know he will lose the money or a gift card if we give it to him and since they came out with Magic Bands we don't usually bring our wallets or anything into the park bc we just charge it back to the room. Anyways on our trip in April I am going to try and set up my DS8 Magic Band with a spending limit of $100. That way he will have some spending money and we won't have to keep track of a gift card or actually dollars or anything, lol

Interesting! I didn't even think about this as an option. We would definitely have to hold onto any money/gc for our son, too. My only thought with this, I would like him to easily see how much he has left to spend. It is worth looking into though. Is it through MDE?

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Interesting! I didn't even think about this as an option. We would definitely have to hold onto any money/gc for our son, too. My only thought with this, I would like him to easily see how much he has left to spend. It is worth looking into though. Is it through MDE?

I believe you set it up through the hotel once you arrive at check in. Thats what I read. I am going to look into it too when we get down there. It would make things a lot simpler. I too am wondering how he will know how much he has left to spend. Maybe something will print out on a receipt or something that says he has so much left in his spending limit.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I'm not big into souvenirs, and I'm even less into crap to clutter my house , so instead of setting a spending limit, we let our kids pick one thing. Our issue is that we've been on multiple trips, and pretty much everything they OMGMUSTHAVE at Disney is completely abandoned by the time we get home.