How do you manage your childrens allowance at Disney

[lovemesomepooh]

Hi,

Last year we got the kids disney cards for them to purchase stuff and once it was empty that was it. We are trying to avoid bringing and keeping track of so much while in the parks. Can you put money on their magic bands? Also can you link your credit card to just one magic adult band or will credit card be linked to both adults.

How do you keep your children's wants in check?

 

[pixarmom]

Our boys are now 15, 14 and 7, but we've been taking them to Disney since they were tiny and we did the gift cards for years. (We gave them the cards as gifts for bdays, christmas, etc. and they saved them until the trip.)

Several years ago, we decided that wasn't working for us. So we just stopped with the gift cards. They can bring their own money along. Sometimes they choose to spend it and sometimes they don't. Now when they spend their money (even our youngest) they do it relatively wisely. And once in a while, when they are really interested in something and we think it's useful/worth buying, we offer on the spot to buy it as a fun surprise. It's fun for them because they don't expect it, and fun for us because they don't expect it. We usually get each of the kids at least a new Disney t-shirt, but again, only if we see ones that we/they like. We are all so much happier this way - really takes away the shopping pressure and keeps the focus where we want for it to be.

 

[Itinkso]

Hi, Last year we got the kids disney cards for them to purchase stuff and once it was empty that was it. We are trying to avoid bringing and keeping track of so much while in the parks. Can you put money on their magic bands? Also can you link your credit card to just one magic adult band or will credit card be linked to both adults?

The credit card is linked to your resort room account. Anything charged using your MagicBands gets posted to your room account. Your credit card is charged when you reached your charging limit and then your limit is reset. Final charges get applied to your credit card before you leave.

Your kids can also use their MBs for purchases. You can ask the Front Desk to remove their charging privileges if you'd like.

 

[parkluvr]

I usually will tell the kids in advance to save their money for vacation if they want to buy souvenirs. The truth of the matter is I am pretty liberal/generous with money when we are at Disney. I like to have fun when I'm on vacation and buy things that I normally wouldn't, so I pass that luxury on to the kids. Usually I'll get each of them a couple of souvenirs that they really like and give them reasonable amounts when they want to play in the arcades or buy treats. What can I say? I'm a pushover.

 

[hsmamato2]

when Mine were young, (age 4-5 and up) I had them save their pennies till they got to Disney, and they got what they wanted. I bought the room/tickets,all foods, they got their own souvies. I have boys,so it was usually a Lego item from that store,or a plush creature. I like to buy little gifts for them too,as a surprise, like one trip I had us all pick out a a favorite mug to bring back,or a t-shirt just b/c I want to..... I noticed while they were young that their own money meant more to them than mine. Usually they managed to save enough for what they wanted,like 30-40 bucks.

 

[Mikie]

We get them some gift cards and encourage them to save their allowance. We tell them a little about things they might like and the price ranges ("with $50 you can get 2 shirts or a big toy, etc") . When their amount is gone, it's gone. I also always plan on buying them 1-2 things myself but don't tell them ahead of time.

I wanted to put the gift cards on our room account at checkin, hoping that cards would be used as payment before the assigned credit card. Unfortunately they can't do this, and I had to go to the front desk periodically to have them apply gift cards after we had a balance charged to the room. We keep all receipts and one daughter got cash back from us at the end of the trip because she didn't use all her gift card. The other two probably went over by a couple of bucks (tax) and we just left that alone.

I like getting them to spend freely on their own, but knowing that money isn't unlimited. It's convenient that you can return anything, with receipt, to any other store. I.e. If you buy something at MK on day 1 but eventually fall in love with something at Epcot on day 4 that puts you over budget, you can return thst first purchase at your resort gift shop.

 

[Mome Rath]

Back before we had our own money, my parents would tell my brother and I that we could pick out one main thing they would buy us each. Of course, they would buy us something if they wanted to in addition to that, but we were limited to one choice of one thing. I actually like that they did it that way, it taught us to really think things through and make sure that we chose wisely, because once we picked it out, there was no going back. lol

 

[AngiTN]

This past trip was the first time DGD was old enough to track her own money. She was 6 on our last trip

I gave her a $50 gift card that she got to spend on anything she wanted and when it was gone it was gone.

To help her keep track of it I made her a sort of punch card, the same size as the gift card. I put 50 Mickey heads on it. We had sharpies for autographs so when she wanted to buy something she checked off 1 Mickey head for each $1 the item cost. That helped her visualize how much something was going to take of her money and kept track of it. We kept both items in the pouch on her pin lanyard. The pouch used to hold a KTTW card so it was super easy to just have her gift card in there instead

 

[LSUfan4444]

Depending on how many cards you have, you can assign different MBs to different cards.

 

[DISNEYD14]

We do gifts cards plus I bring little daily prizes from Disney Store at home.
And we make our final day shopping day. I want them to visit each park and browse before making purchasing decisions.
DD10, DS7 and DD4

 

[chelseabun76]

My 9 year old dd has money saved up to spend, and I'm letting her buy whatever she wants until it's gone... my only stipulation, is that she shouldn't buy anything our first day in MK. We have 3 MK days planned, so I'd rather her look around a bit the first day and get some ideas on what she wants and I'll jot them down so we can go back if she still wants on the next MK day. Once her money is gone, I will have no problem buying her one or two things, within reason (we aren't well off, Christmas is coming, etc. etc. so spending money will be at a minimum) but mostly she will be told that she has whatever money she takes, and to use it wisely because once it's gone, it's gone.

I'll be holding her money in my purse though, not letting her walk around with it. lol

 

[Memaw2Wm]

When my GK were younger I used Disney dollars. I gave them $10 a day and they could spend it or save it. This way they didn't bug me for money for drinks, snacks, or souvies.

That said, if *I* felt like a treat, I treated them to one too. And I usually bought them a tee-shirt at some point. They usually came back with money and I traded them real dollars for the Disney dollars.

Now it's just me and my just turned 18 y.o. granddaughter going. She rarely asks for anything as she's happy with just being at Disney, so spending money isn't an issue. Last trip she didn't want anything, in spite of me pestering her.

 

[lilbuddy88]

My husband hates Disneyworld and I have come to accept that fact and knows he will not be accompanying us when we head to the world each year. I think he tries to make up for that by giving our children $100 each to spend while there. Which is insane because my kids are 2 and 5. So for the most part I still guide their purchases and they both usually come home with at least half of it to add to their bank account at home. We're headed down next week so I went to check my daughter's purse (she's very good at getting dollars from people and stashing them in her purse), she has $67 in there and he is STILL giving her the $100 to take with her. Guilt is a heck of an emotion

 

[Mikie]

Depending on how many cards you have, you can assign different MBs to different cards.

What do you mean? I wanted to tag gift cards to our MBs, but not only did our room have to all be linked to one credit card (couldn't use different cards for different family members) I couldn't put a gift card "on" a magic band. They could only be used as a form of payment after we had charged things to our room. I'd love to know if this could work differently and I just had a CM who didn't know how to do it.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

My kids were never real big spenders at Disney. However, I used to see how much they had saved. All of their money was money that they saved from birthdays, allowances, whatever. The trip costs enough, so they did not get additional souvenir money. We would divide it by the number of days we would be there. And that would be the amount they would carry per day. They carried cash once they hit age 7, but if it hit a big amount I would carry it for them. If they did not spend their whole designated amount for one day, they would have that much more for the next day.

As for putting it on their magic bands. Don't think it is possible, unless you just link a credit card to it and let them charge. Then take what they spent out of their money at the end of the day. This should work if they are not old enough to go off on their own and charge up a storm.

 

[AngiTN]

What do you mean? I wanted to tag gift cards to our MBs, but not only did our room have to all be linked to one credit card (couldn't use different cards for different family members) I couldn't put a gift card "on" a magic band. They could only be used as a form of payment after we had charged things to our room. I'd love to know if this could work differently and I just had a CM who didn't know how to do it.

Pretty sure PP was talking about different credit cards

 

[LSUfan4444]

Yes, I am talking about credit cards. They can link different bands to different credit cards for payment.

 

[Jkpark]

I use the Disney gift card app. I log each kid's card and then it tracks their spending. Phones are always with us anyway and it is nice to pull it out and say "you have 32 left and we have 2 days left" and then let them decide. I thought about all the magic band options but I always carry my phone and ID anyway - so that was easiest for us.