Budget for Souvenirs

[Happy Mom2]

Can anyone give me an idea of how much I need to budget for souvenirs? I have two small kids (5 and 3 at time of trip), and I KNOW they are going to want to buy some stuff.

How much are the big Mickey ear balloons? Both my kids love balloons so I know I am going to end up buying balloons.

T-shirts... what's the price range for those?

Mickey ears?

Anything else? I am sure I can not even imagine the variety of souvenirs they have enticing little (and big) kids.

TIA

 

[Justsyd2]

You should be fine with $125 per child for a balloon, ear hat, t-shirt, autograph book and pen, and a light up toy.

It's good to see that you're budgeting for these to buy for your children in the park. I never really understood the "buy before you get there" thing because they still want souvenirs while they're there!

Please remember that the balloons are not allowed on planes, so they will need them early in the trip so that they can enjoy them while they're there.

 

[lopey1016]

No idea on the price, but if you are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, no balloons are allowed for the animals safety.

 

[ccol609]

Can anyone give me an idea of how much I need to budget for souvenirs? I have two small kids (5 and 3 at time of trip), and I KNOW they are going to want to buy some stuff.

How much are the big Mickey ear balloons? Both my kids love balloons so I know I am going to end up buying balloons.

T-shirts... what's the price range for those?

Mickey ears?

Anything else? I am sure I can not even imagine the variety of souvenirs they have enticing little (and big) kids.

TIA

Hi,

Just got back from Disney and I have 2 boys (7 and 5). T-Shirts are around $20 each, Mickey Ears are around $15 each and the light up toys are $15-$20 each...not sure about the balloons because we never got them because you can't bring them on the plane and I just thought it was a waste of money to sit in the room during your stay.

Good luck.

 

[CowboyCO]

We usually budget $50 for each kid to spend on anything they want. Snacks, souvies, pirate makeup, whatever. Then they get to decide how they spend it and they aren't pawing at Dad asking for money for ice cream bars and pins and hats. Obviously your 3&5 year olds won't be able to. Your budget is probably in line.

 

[Happy Mom2]

Thank you all. We are driving so I am sure we will be coming home with a few balloons! I was thinking $150 for shirt, balloon, mickey/minnie ears, and stuffed animal per child.

 

[QVCshopper]

We go to Disney a lot. This past trip, I gave my two (4 and 5) a $25 gift card. When they spent it, that was it. I was skeptical, but it actually worked out great, and stopped the begging. There’s a $10 and under store at Downtown Disney, which has a 4 for $10 section. Plus, my DS went on a “shopping spree” as he calls it, at TRex. We're going to do this again in Oct.

 

[DisneyShannon]

I would wait till late in the evening to buy the balloons. They are not allowed on the rides I am sure.

 

[Happy Mom2]

Thank you all. After looking at some of your budgets I'm thinking mine may be a bit too much. Then again, this is the our first trip to Disney so I want to splurge a little. Maybe $75 per child would be more reasonable than $150.

 

[Donald'sGirl]

We usually budget $50 for each kid to spend on anything they want. Snacks, souvies, pirate makeup, whatever. Then they get to decide how they spend it and they aren't pawing at Dad asking for money for ice cream bars and pins and hats. Obviously your 3&5 year olds won't be able to. Your budget is probably in line.

We go to Disney a lot. This past trip, I gave my two (4 and 5) a $25 gift card. When they spent it, that was it. I was skeptical, but it actually worked out great, and stopped the begging. There’s a $10 and under store at Downtown Disney, which has a 4 for $10 section. Plus, my DS went on a “shopping spree” as he calls it, at TRex. We're going to do this again in Oct.

I do the same. My DS is 13 now but we have been going since he was 7 and each year I add a little more to his budget as his tastes change. For our trip in Sept we are giving him $50 to spend. However because he is older he has also saved up some of his own money from birthdays and chores that he is also going to take. I think this gives him a good learning experience for the budgeting in the future plus he gets the enjoyment of telling me "Its my money!"

 

[wlake]

I'm a "buy ahead of time" person. It's worked reasonably for us at events like Thomas the Train. It wasn't as great at Disney last summer, but it wasn't awful either. The Disney store has t-shirts 2/$18 dollars and plush characters 2/$22 (I think) right now, plus free shipping.

 

[Familyof4lovesDW]

My kids had $50 each from Grandma to buy things which mickey ears had to be one of the things. DS got mickey ears and a buzz lightyear toy and DD got minnie earrings, tinkerbell doll and minnie ears. We bought them a shirt and autograph book each and one pin. We got the autograph book and pin at the 10 and under store. They were 4 & 5 when we went. The autograph books were under $10 and the ears were $14-$20ish depending on the style. It was our first trip. We are hoping Grandma gives them $50 again this trip lol.

 

[fakereadhed]

$125 per child? That's a week and a half of groceries at my house!

I do some buy ahead for the plane ride and have a budget of $50/kid, but usually they end up in the $20-$30 range when they pick things out. But my kids like home made autograph books and custom t-s(check out CreativeDISigns board) better than the ones in the parks. They always get comments from the characters about them too, which they enjoy.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Well I guess we do a combo..we take 500.00 for the week and also make our tshirts with the help of the DISigners on the creative thread. Our trip in August we all got what we wanted plus paid for tips and the refridge and still came in under budget so I was pretty jazzed.

 

[jkluttrell]

I haven't decided how much I going to give my kids but I am thinking around $30-50 each. We are not big souvenir people and my kids will probably spend a lot of it on ice cream and such.

I am also going to give them some money for pressed pennies, make them autograph books and passport books, and get them a lanyard with about 4-5 pins to trade. Plus we are going to the MNSSHP and they will get candy from that. They will think those are the best souvenirs.

 

[wjchiefs]

i gave each person in the family $100 for 10 days to do what they want