How much $ do you allow your children to spend?

[goofyernmost]

I wish I could be 5 again so I could have that much "change". Where does a 5 year old get that much money to have $450.00 in change? I want in! LOL

 

[Terry S]

We go twice a year and this is our spending rule for each trip. We will buy 2 pins for each child, 1 T-Shirt for each child and they each get $40 to spend towards Toys. Above and beyond that they have to use their allowance money.

 

[mrsltg]

I have to say, this has been one of the most eye-opeing threads I have seen. I hadn't really thought about how to handle this with DD. She will turn 3 while we're at WDW. I think that 3 is a little too young to understand the "you have $50 to spend" concept, but I definitely want to incorporate the "you can have this, or that - not both" idea. I will get her Disney Dollars and explain that things cost "3 Mickey Mouses", and maybe that will help. I also plan to spoil her somewhat as this is her birthday present - I just don't want to end up with 15 stuffed mickey's!

Erin

 

[missypie]

Mrsltg, I like your idea, but I would encourage you to use real dollars with your daughter and call them that. When we use Disney Dollars - or even foreign money on vacation - it tends to seem like "play money" (maybe even more for you than for her) and is thus easier to spend. If you want to use Disney Dollars, please call them that ... little kids will learn any words you use with them - their brains are little sponges - so you might as well use the correct name.

 

[mrsltg]

Good point, Missy, thanks!

I agree, when I've travelled abroad the foreign money does become "play" money.

Thanks, again!

Erin

 

[TexasAggie]

One thing we found really helpful is to carry a small notebook so the kids could write what they want in it and how much, and what store so that at the end of out time there , they could decide what they really wanted. If we didn't do that our DD would be out of money the first day.

 

[missypie]

Hey, Aggie, I find that it saves money to do just the opposite, under the impression that if they really want something they will remember it and if they don't, they won't.

I actually play this game with myself on a regular basis. Say I'm out at the mall looking for a gift for someone else and while I am there I pass a cute sweater that I like for myself. I tell myself that if I'm still thinking about the sweater when it's time to leave the mall, I'll go back and buy it. Almost all of the time I either totally forget about the item OR don't want to bother to walk back to buy the item.

Also, as a parent, you can probably judge better than your kids if the item is going to be available only at that one particular store, or whether you can get it just about anywhere. You wouldn't want to have to make a special trip to AKL, for example, on your last day, just to pick up one item.

 

[Mike Jones]

We encourage the kids to save for each trip, by giving them 50 cents extra for every dollar they manage to save up. Typically they have taken a total of about $100 each and usually spent it over the two weeks. We still pay for treats, ices etc, but expect them to pay their own way for anything else of a souvenir nature.

 

[disneyatl]

What great ideas! Our last WDW trip DD was 5 and we didn't give her any money to spend but still came home with several gifts for her. I wanted to give her some money for our July '04 trip. We've already talked about taking any money she saves but also wanted to treat her with some extra. I like giving a certain amount a day to spend and if there's any money left over she can roll it into the next day.

Thanks for the great ideas!

 

[SnowWhite33]

Last year we took what change ds7 had saved and added enough so that he would have $15/day and at that point the money was his for whatever he wanted. When he would want some of those "impulse" souveniers we would say ok, but it's your money and he almost always put the item back. We also let him carry over or borrow. For example he wanted a Lego set from the Lego store that cost like $25 so we let him borrow from the next day with the understanding that the next day he would only get $10. At the time there was a new PS2 game out that he really wanted and he figured that he could save his money and buy it when we got home, so that really helped him in making a lot of his spending decisions. BTW, we would buy his snacks and goodies-but only if everyone else was having one!

We are planning the same this year, but since he's been saving since the last trip we won't have to add any $$ and he already has enough to spend up to $20/day!

 

[mom-2greatkids]

We have always told DD4 that she can choose one item of clothes and one toy. Usually she spends most of the vacation looking at everything and doesn't make her choices until the last couple days of the trip.

We've done the same thing for DS2, who hasn't gone to DW yet. January will be his first trip (he stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's the last two trips). We always brought him back an item of clothes and a toy.

Works great for us, although usually I end up buying one or two additional things that we can't pass up.

 

[KdawnLily's Mom]

Originally posted by goofyernmost
I wish I could be 5 again so I could have that much "change". Where does a 5 year old get that much money to have $450.00 in change? I want in! LOL

I should mention... It's $450 CDN. So with today's exchange rate... about $325 US. so about $19US a day.

And where does he get that change you ask???
His grandparents and parents pockets, of course.....

He does little things to 'earn' the change- take the dishes to the kitchen, bring in our recycling bins, 'sweep' the floor (always have to redo that but it's the attempt he is rewarded for), it adds up- especially when we have those $2 coins in our pockets.
It helps that we live so close and can help him earn his extra coins easily.

I'm sure that Grandpa (my DH) slips in extra when us girls aren't looking.

KdawnLily's Mom (not KdawnLily who finally got her user name working again and can stop using mine)

 

[KDawnLily]

Originally posted by goofyernmost
I wish I could be 5 again so I could have that much "change". Where does a 5 year old get that much money to have $450.00 in change? I want in! LOL

You can come up and do my dishes for me if you like goofyernmost.



Mom, Check your answering machine...

 

[TwingleMum]

Great thread!! Thanks for all the wonderful ideas!

 

[shelleyz]

I have a feeling on our first trip in October I am going to buy my DS2 and DS4 quite a bit of stuff. They both have Pooh banks with money they have been saving for Mickeys House(thats what my 4 year old calls it)so I will let them buy something themselves. MIL is coming with us with 2 of our nieces that she has custody of. DH and I are paying for everything. They will have some spending money to buy themselves what they want. They are 6 and 7. I just hope they don't want everything that I buy my kids. This vacation is already costing me a fortune, but I have a feeling it will be worth every penny.

 

[sm4987]

Three to four months before the trip, I begin the going to Disney fund for our kids. Mind you our children are pretty young. However, they have saved as much as $60 a piece for the trip. I put away their christmas and birthday money, then allow them to add by being good, doing chores, etc. They save quite a bit. My 7 year old wants to start early to have $1oo to spend next summer. He wants to start now

 

[jacksmom]

We have an "only child" ds 6, and we never go on a really tight budget! But, ds never spends but about $150. He loves pins and mickey ice cream bars and finds some misc. he asks for, but nothing really extravagent! I think he enjoys collecting pressed pennies and doing the mask (free) in Epcot the most!

 

[sln88]

My kids only got about $5 each for a souvenier(from Grandma).

I figure I am buying them an airline ticket, park tickets, hotel and food, and that is enough of a treat.

I never went on a vacation like this when I was a kid, so I figure I am being generous the way it is.

We don't spend alot of time shopping- the rides and shows are more fun to us.

My kids don't bug me too much about wanting stuff while we are there- they are too busy looking forward to their next ride.

I just don't need more overpriced STUFF at my house.

I did put together a goody bag of stuff I found at the dollar stores for them to get when we get there.

And, I don't buy souveniers for myself, either!

 

[goofyernmost]

I hear what your saying sln88, I am pretty much the same way (or as my kids used to say "cheap") LOL!

To this day I can just barely bring myself to part with money for trinkets. I usually limit my shopping to some small stuff for the grandkids and a t-shirt for myself and a "collectable" golf ball. Other than that, I can look at the stuff for hours and am never tempted to buy anything. Not one of Disneys best customers, I'm afraid. I guess that's why I never get a Christmas Card from Mr. Eisner.

If I would have had $150.00 to spend at age 6, I would have thought I was in heaven. (Course, when I was 6 you could buy a cottage by the sea for $150.00) I can't remember ever having over $10.00 to spend on vacation as a child. I guess if the truth were known I don't remember us even taking a vacation until I was about 12 years old and that was a road trip to Boston. Oh well, I guess all things are relative.

 

[The Maughan's]

Everytime we go on a vacation, I give each of my DS (11 and 8) a roll of quarters at the beginning of each day.($10) If they are arguing or not doing what I ask them to, I tell them to give me a quarter. At the end of the day they get to keep whatever money they have left to spend however they choose. You would be amazed how quickly the fighting stops when they start loosing their money. LOL

They also bring their own spending money from home that they have earned themselved. Approximately $50.00 each.