Can you find cheap gifts for classmates in WDW?

[onescgirl]

I'm taking my kids out of school next week to go to Disney.
I thought it would be neat if we brought something back for their classmates.I don't want to spend $ much at all, so I don't know if it's possible.
One idea I had was Disney pencils. Does anyone know if there is a place that sells cheap packs of WDW pencils?
Or does anyone have any other ideas of something cheap?

Thanks so much!

 

[disneydreamersx4]

The pencils sound good. For girls, I remember we went one time and they had Minnie head shaped clips for your hair. I forget how much money there were though but very cute!

 

[Dizfan4life]

The last two years we took DD out of school for our trips. Our DD wanted to bring something home for her classmates. We looked at pencils, but we would've ended spending over $20 for the amount of pencils we needed. We then found and decided on chocolate coins with your Mickey and friends on the foil. It came in a little net bag and I think we might've spent $12 but no more than that and it was a hit with the kids at school! What kid doesn't like candy as a gift?

 

[jemgumby]

Yep second the chocolate coins. That is what we always did and it was a big hit and cheap too!

 

[mickeytattoo95]

I saw the cutest silly bands at Target this week! There was one pack of girly colors that were Tink and other fairy shapes. Another pack had blue and gold that were Cinderella shapes. The other pack was black, yellow and red and had Mickey and friend shapes. Each pack had 20 bands and sold for $4.99. You could buy a couple of those and save some $$$.

Some were over with the party supplies and others were over with band aids and nail polish.

 

[Chelley00]

We bring back Mickey shaped suckers. They were pretty cheap and wrapped so that the kids could take them home.

 

[DontRushMe]

We collected all the FREE Mickey stickers we received from the cast members and then my girls shared them with the whole class when we got home. A Mickey Sticker, who doesn't love that!

 

[ceecee]

Dollar Tree had a 10 pk of Disney pencils for $1, much more if you buy them at Disney!

 

[D L and K's Mom]

The first time we did the chocolate coins. The second the lollypops and the last time they let us buy some of the mickey straws from Cinderellas castle. I think they charged me a 5 cents ......awesome!!

 

[daisyduck123]

1st grade public school teacher chiming in

Many of these suggestions have me shaking my head because at my school the following are forbidden:

1) bringing SillyBandz to school
2) distributing candy (so there goes the chocolate coins & suckers)

Personally, I would discourage you from getting the other students anything, as it's not necessary and (not sure of the kids ages) but many will just end up on the floor and not make it into their backpacks anyway....but if you feel you must bring the class something, go with the STICKERS.

 

[beccasmom]

Also, check out Mickey's Mart @DTD ~~ everthing's under $10.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I know you mean well. This is not meant to be snarky or rude.

But has it occurred to you that some families might not appreciate these gifts?? Sort of rubbing it in, that your family can afford such a trip while many others cannot? I pictured many "Mommy why can't WE go to WDW, too?" discussions. Also, schools usually wants families who pull their kids out of class for vacation, to keep sort of a low profile about it...... (I, personally am ALL FOR pulling them out for trips if their grades and behavior are ok).

I guess I just don't think it is necessary to buy the class gifts. Do other kids ho go on family vacations to WDW or other destinations buy gifts for the entire class? My daughter did sometimes buy a small item for her 2-3 closest girlfriends, but these were distributed outside of school.....

 

[ceecee]

Yes, I agree. Get a little gift for their close friends and forget a class gift.

 

[savannahcat]

I guess it's all relative. I can't think of a single child that has gone on vacation from my daughter's class who has NOT brought back a gift for the entire class.

We've gotten lots of lollipops, candy, stickers, etc. At least 6 or 7 kids from her class went to WDW last year and we received something from each of them. I've never heard any of the parents complain.

 

[mrs.sammich]

My son was in PreK for our last trip. We brought back a gift for the class room. His teacher was awesome, giving us worksheets, crayons for the ride down, things to read in the car etc.... So in a sense she got to 'keep' the gift for years to come. The class was learning/ playing with magnets the week before we left. We found a bag of magnet 'rocks' in China of Epcot. Ds told the class about the area we were in and things he saw at the time. They were a huge hit and all the kids enjoyed adding them to the other magnet set in the class.

 

[kacaju]

Dollar Tree had a 10 pk of Disney pencils for $1, much more if you buy them at Disney!

OK... REALLY?? I am really sorry, but first off, I really don't want ANYTHING from your vacation...second off, if you are really considering going to the dollar store instead of actually buying it on vacation..please don't bother at all!

 

[Ericandjenng]

I know you mean well. This is not meant to be snarky or rude.

But has it occurred to you that some families might not appreciate these gifts?? Sort of rubbing it in, that your family can afford such a trip while many others cannot? I pictured many "Mommy why can't WE go to WDW, too?" discussions. Also, schools usually wants families who pull their kids out of class for vacation, to keep sort of a low profile about it...... (I, personally am ALL FOR pulling them out for trips if their grades and behavior are ok).

I guess I just don't think it is necessary to buy the class gifts. Do other kids ho go on family vacations to WDW or other destinations buy gifts for the entire class? My daughter did sometimes buy a small item for her 2-3 closest girlfriends, but these were distributed outside of school.....

The only thing about this is unless your child has kept totally quiet and then doesn't explain why they were out for a week every classmate is going to already know about the Disney trip. Is going to do more damage not bringing something small back as compared to rubbing it in? We are going to face this twice in the next six months. Our DS will be missing one day for MNSSHP and then we are going to be gone for several days after the first of year for our anniversary trip.

1st grade public school teacher chiming in

Many of these suggestions have me shaking my head because at my school the following are forbidden:

1) bringing SillyBandz to school
2) distributing candy (so there goes the chocolate coins & suckers)

Personally, I would discourage you from getting the other students anything, as it's not necessary and (not sure of the kids ages) but many will just end up on the floor and not make it into their backpacks anyway....but if you feel you must bring the class something, go with the STICKERS.

I agree!!! I actually brought stickers back to one of the teaching assts because she also does lunchroom duty and gives out stickers to the kids. You could do something similar and buy for a "treasure box" if available or give them to the teacher to give as a treat when the students reach a particular goal--depends on the kids' ages.

I think silly bands are allowed but I wish they would ban them. I find them everywhere. We do have the same policy about candy/sweets at our school. We even have a specific birthday policy--no cupcakes, you can only purchase "ice cream"-really frozen yogurt-from the cafeteria for the kids in your child's class

I found our stickers in the little shop near Little Mermaid in HS. I got some that were the Fab 5 and Cars. Also, spend time looking around at the multipack of pens, pencils, key chains, etc. You may have to buy a couple of packs but it is cheaper than individual items. Also, ask at guest services, maybe they have a celebration button or some other that they would give you "x" number and they're free.

 

[mamaLori05]

I have to agree with the PP who said to just get small gifts for their 2 or 3 closest friends. I also agree that getting a gift for everyone in the class may not be the best idea. Some parents may not appreciate that.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Some things I have seen at our school. The pencils, post cards, candy, those big suckers were a HUGE hit, a bag of Mickey pretzels to share at snack time( teacher's favorite )

I agree that a trip to the $ store before you go is a GREAT trick and the kids will never know!!!

Include a small treat for the teacher if she had to do any extra work for your child missing school.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

OK... REALLY?? I am really sorry, but first off, I really don't want ANYTHING from your vacation...second off, if you are really considering going to the dollar store instead of actually buying it on vacation..please don't bother at all!

I think that's rather rude. If someone wants to bring you something back from their vacation and gets it from the dollar store because it has the theme of their vacation I think that is a nice gesture of them to do that. Wow!