Gift card amount

[BreTyPres87]

I'm going to Disney 6/23-30 and I want to get a gift card for my son so he can learn how to spend money (he's 5) I want the gift card to cover all of his souvenirs for the time we are there, what do you think would be a good amount?

 

[stacyalisa]

We are going for the first time in November. At the time my kids will be 7, 9 and 11. I'm going to purchase each of them a gift card from disneyshopping.com for $75. They will be expected to use these all week to buy whatever their little hearts desire, even if it's something as simple as a balloon or a bottle of water, but when it's gone, it's gone. They will have a good start though because I've already bought them cheap pins/lanyards from ebay, made passports and autograph books, taking them pressed penny tubes and glow sticks. We are on the Deluxe Dining plan too so they will also already have 2 snacks a day. We have a Disney distribution outlet in town and have already bought a couple t-shirts. I found my middle son a WDW t-shirt w/ 2010 on the front for only 2.50 the other day. Hmmm, now I'm thinkin $75 is too much. Maybe they need only $50.

The question I have is with the gift cards. Will they be able to use those in Disney for anything they want? I would hate to give them these and then half the stuff they want (light up toys, balloons, etc) can only be bought with cash. If that's the case I may just use cash and keep up with it for them.
Tks,
Stacy

 

[BreTyPres87]

Yeah I'm giving my son a pretty good head start too i'm going to get him a Welcome basket with Mickey ears an autograph book and a one time use camera and a balloon bouquet we're on the DxDDP too so i'm not as worried about snacks either we'll probably be too full for the credits we have
75 is probably a good amount and I wondered the same about where its accepted hopefully its almost everywhere!! I'm also going to have a 250 card for myself and my youngest son

 

[Handbag Lady]

I think the only thing you can't use giftcards on is ODV. This is outdoor vending, and would include balloons, popcorn carts, ice cream carts and soda carts.

I think. That is how it is at Disneyland at least.

 

[akcire]

I'm going to Disney 6/23-30 and I want to get a gift card for my son so he can learn how to spend money (he's 5) I want the gift card to cover all of his souvenirs for the time we are there, what do you think would be a good amount?

The thing about a gift card is that it looks the same if it has $100 or $10, and for a 5 year old a monetary unit that is that abstract is too hard to grasp. They have no idea how much money they have left, because the gift card never changes.

When my sister-in-law was younger (more than 20 years age difference between her and my husband) I used to give her a little plastic wallet with construction paper inside. The red construction papers were $10 (and I wrote this on the paper also), the blue were $5, and yellow were $1. Anytime she wanted to spend her money, she first had to count out the amount to me, and then I would checkout with her purchases. Often times upon seeing (and this is the key for kids this age) the amount of her money being used she would change her mind. [If you are wondering why I didn't give her cash--I would make each of the kids their own money--so there was no question who had what left--I didn't want to deal with the 9 year old robbing the 4 year old, etc.; also the younger kids would lose everything.]

If you go with the gift card option, don't be too surprised if your son just doesn't understand how "many monies" he has left to spend.

 

[BrettS]

I'm not a parent, so take this with a grain of salt, but I do live with my cousin and her 6 year old and I can tell you that I don't think someone at that age would really have a good understanding of budgeting... especially using a credit card or a gift card where the remaining balance is just a number.

I think it might be better just to go with cash... you'd have to be careful that he doesn't lose it... or maybe you could hold it for him, but that way (particularly if you gave it to him all in singles) he could see how much he has and would be able to count it out and see how much he has to spend for each item. I think it would be much easier for him to understand the concept that he has a certain amount of money and each time he buys something that he has less money than just looking at a number on a receipt.

If you're really really against cash, then I might suggest getting several smaller gift cards and give him one a day. That way he could practice his budgeting each day and if he ran out of money in the morning he could see that he can't buy anything in the afternoon and hopefully learn from that for the next day. If he just has one big gift card and spends it all in the first two days then he won't have any money to spend over the rest of the trip, which could still be a good learning experience, but I think he would get more practice (and have a better experience) if you limit it to a daily amount.

 

[BreTyPres87]

Akcire I really like the idea with the wallet I think i'll get him one and BrettS I will give him a daily budget in singles he'll love that!! I will just have to watch him because I can remember losing a wallet full of money and it made me soooo upset,and sometimes when i'm low on funds I still think about it Thanks

 

[BreTyPres87]

I found an alternative that combines both of what I want : Money for my son with a Disney touch... Disney Dollars!!! I didn't even know about them but i'm getting them for him when we get down there how cute!!

 

[QVCshopper]

I have a 4 and 5 year old. Honestly, I don't think they really understand money yet. I love budgeting and I try to teach them all the time what a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter are worth, and that they add up to dollars. I take them to the bank and give them all the money we find around town. They know what money is, and they know to use coupons and look for sales. We talk about how much things cost. But, they are too young to fully understand the entire concept beyond they can't get X if it's over X amount.

I think it will be easier on you to limit the souvies to 1 big ($20+) and 2 small (less than $10), or something like that. I've done that and it's worked well. Getting down to dollars and cents seems a little hard to me. And, I'd limit it to no more than $50 for that age. Just my honest opinion.