Do you bring back souvenirs for family members?

[Erica09M]

I'm just wondering what everyone else does.

I have 9 nieces and nephews, so if I brought something back for a couple of them... I'd have to bring back something for all of them.

Is this a good idea, or no?

My other thought was to order some small things from the Disney Store online about a month before our trip, have it shipped home, and then when we get back home I can give my nieces/nephews a little Disney gift. I'm just wondering if that would be cheaper (shipping) than to pay to ship things home from the resort while we're in Florida.

Or should I just send everyone a post card, and forget souvenirs?

What do you do? If you buy souvenirs, who do you buy them for?

 

[Heidijs]

If you can afford it, go for it. I won't be though.

 

[badblackpug]

I only bring back souvenirs for my mom because she watches the dog. She only wants one thing, though. A WDW hoodie sweatshirt.

I would go the postcard route if I had that many nieces/nephews. However, if you really wanted to bring something back for all of them I would choose something small and inexpensive. I have been known to use extra snack credits rorm DDP to bring back WDW themed candy and treats!

 

[EthansMom]

We don't buy souvenirs for anyone other than ourselves... and even then, we don't buy much.

I don't like cluttery gifts. While I wouldn't mind if a famiy member went on a trip and saw something that was "totally right for EthansMom", I would prefer that family members not buy me stuff just for the sake of giving me something. The same goes for my kids... they like gifts that are geared toward their personalities and interests but junk for the sake of buying them something doesn't get used (and eventually ends up donated or in the garbage).

If you feel like it, I would just send the nieces and nephews a postcard (say one per household). But we don't even do that.

 

[Erica09M]

We don't buy souvenirs for anyone other than ourselves... and even then, we don't buy much.

I don't like cluttery gifts. While I wouldn't mind if a famiy member went on a trip and saw something that was "totally right for EthansMom", I would prefer that family members not buy me stuff just for the sake of giving me something. The same goes for my kids... they like gifts that are geared toward their personalities and interests but junk for the sake of buying them something doesn't get used (and eventually ends up donated or in the garbage).

If you feel like it, I would just send the nieces and nephews a postcard (say one per household). But we don't even do that.

Any gift we bought someone would be geared towards their personalities and interests. I would never dream of buying someone a gift that wasn't.

The thing about our family is that we DO buy gifts just for the sake of buying something. If someone is walking through a store/shop and sees something that they know so-and-so would like, they buy it. We don't just give gifts at birthdays and Christmas. So this wouldn't be any different.

Still debating on what to do, good thing I have 5 months

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

I brought back mickey candies for everyone in my center last time and it was only around $20. (thats candy for 60ish) and even brought back some antena toppers for everyone at work. It wasnt so bad and well, its food! they loved it! I also sent postcards to a couple of classrooms with "learning" type infromation on the back.

 

[ShelShelsmommy]

I only have 1 nephew and 2 nieces so it is a little different for me, but my daughter does have a lot of good friends. (Okay between her and my niece there are quite a few good friends) We always get a big pack of suckers, and then just add extra Mickey Ears hats in with our potatoe head stuff. ( We have a potato head problem) So really they get a cute gift that they can only get at Disney World that cost us next to nothing. Everyone gets a kick out of it also. This year we plan on getting Potato head Minnie bows for the girls, and Donald hats for the boys. For my niece that didn't go with us (my husbands side of the family) I got her a decked out My little Pony. I just used some of the clothes from my daughters box (you can REALLY stuff those boxes) and bought her a pony when we got home then sent all that to her. Was really cute and once again just cost me the pony. I actually had enough of those clothes to give almost everyone a outfit. Between my mom and I we did get 2 boxes though. I spent quit a bit on my nephew, but he will be going with us this time so I should get out easy. hahaha

 

[mjkacmom]

We don't buy souvenirs for anyone other than ourselves... and even then, we don't buy much.

I don't like cluttery gifts. While I wouldn't mind if a famiy member went on a trip and saw something that was "totally right for EthansMom", I would prefer that family members not buy me stuff just for the sake of giving me something. The same goes for my kids... they like gifts that are geared toward their personalities and interests but junk for the sake of buying them something doesn't get used (and eventually ends up donated or in the garbage).

If you feel like it, I would just send the nieces and nephews a postcard (say one per household). But we don't even do that.

I agree - I don't want junk from my own vacation (we just do tshirts), never mind someone else's.

 

[happymommy]

I never get souvenirs for anyone else on my vacations. I also don't send postcards either.

My brother in law and his wife always bring us back tee shirts from a trip, and we honestly don't want them! Many times, they go straight into the giveaway pile. For them it's a cultural thing - I am caucasian but they are asian. Gifts are big to them, but it's usually something the other person really doesn't want.

 

[Erica09M]

Perhaps I'll just take the PPs advice and just bring back special Disney snacks for them... who doesn't like snacks?! LOL

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I never do unless I see something not so much a souvenier as a gift you can only find there I would, but just to get a bunch of people something, no. It irritates me when other people bring me souvies from their vacations, I didn't go there, why on earth do I want a snowglobe/ornament/t-shirt/whatever that says I did??


So I agree with the treat or snack idea. One year I brought back 2 bouquets of Mickey suckers, one for my kids and one for them to split up and pass out to their friends. That was a big hit and very inexpensive.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We sometimes will get a little something for them, but not always. Probably the best thing we got was a Lego keychain for my oldest nephew who was just learning to drive. It was an actual Lego brick and I had his name engraved on it.

What I like to do is get a Christmas tree ornament for the family. And sometimes a treat for the kids: suckers or peanut brittle or Rice Krispie treat. One year when my oldest missed school for our trip, we brought pencils for his classmates, so that's another idea for you.

 

[dsaville]

We really will only send post cards to the family members whenever we go on a trip disney or otherwise. Our last trip was to disney and we bought my dad a shirt because his birthday was coming up and it suited him perfectly. My mom has always said "if people want things from disney then they need to come themselves" I guess if there is extra money you can always buy the mickey suckers I don't remember how much those were.

 

[Erica09M]

I guess I didn't actually mean a touristy souvenier... but more of a toy for all of the kids of their favorite movie/character, or a bag/purse/bracelet etc. type thing for my 13 (almost 14 at our trip) year old niece. We love buying our nieces & nephews things, I just can't decide to what extent we should buy. Now I'm thinking just keep it simple, like a treat... and if we find something that we want to get them we could always re-evaluate. But if we buy for one or two, we have to buy for them all.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

it depends on the person. i used to bring back for everyone. folks, inlaws, grandmother, friends. on our second trip to disney together after giving my mil a minature eiffle tower from paris- she said to dh- i could of bought one when we go away there next month. what a slap to the face. that was her last present ever from me on vacay.

this trip we brought back for our wonderful travel agent and that was it!

 

[Mathfailure]

No, I don't buy anything, mainly because I do not enjoy shopping and do not want to do it even in Disney.

The only shops I end up in are the ones you are forced to by the way the rides let out.

My children know that they can chose 1 thing on the way home from somewhere, and that holds true at Disney also.

In this economic climate, I would not bring anything even if I was inclinded to.

 

[mousebymarriage]

We don't usually bring home souvies for the nieces and nephews, there are just too many of them. However, my DD always wants to bring back something for her BFF's . She has alot of friends but, on our block there are 4 girls (all her in class) that she has know since she was a baby, so she always wants to bring them back a souvie. We have found that shopping at the souvie shops off Disney property are a great way to let our DD buy for her friends. Many of the off site shops have Disney T-'s 3 or 4 for $20, plust they have great deals on totes, mugs etc.

 

[sl_underwood]

We do buy souveniers for our neices and nephews, though there are only 4 of them, and we buy the family who watches our dog, and my mom who cares for our kitties. We usually buy my aunt something as well as she drives us to the airport. Some cheap but nice gift ideas for your neice would be the smaller glass slippers in the glass shop in DTD (sorry, cant remember the name). They were around $10 and just adorable. We also did Mr. Potato Heads for littler ones. I think they were less than $20.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I always bring back things for the kids in my daycare. So usually about 7 kids. I never spend more than $5.00 each, and the kids are always really excited to see what I brought them. The girls love little pads of paper. I've bought pirate playing cards for the boys. Once I got little mickey hair clips for the girls. I always try to get them something they can actually use. If I'm not finding anything good then I get a food item. Once I brought each family Mickey shaped pasta. They loved that!

 

[Tricia's mom]

No souviners from me while I'm on MY vacation. Why would someone want a reminder of MY vacation??? sorry. I don't need ANOTHER key chain from your trip to cancun...sorry.