How much do you budget per child for souvenirs?

[annakris1973]

I think I may be budgeting too much at $100 per child and $100 for myself. DD is 12 and DS will be 8. The last two trips have been VERY tight budget-wise, and I felt like I was walking through the park saying NO all day long. So this year since they are older and have a good concept of money I wanted to give them each a seperate budget, and I am contemplating getting them each a Disney gift card so they won't have to handle the cash/change. I know many people buy things before their trips, but since the kids are older, I don't think that would work, plus they enjoy picking out their own things. Any suggestions? TIA

 

[hollyb]

We are giving them $50 each daily we will be there for 8 eight days. Of course if they need a few bucks we will give it to them. Its vacation after all . LOL We pay for all snacks, clothes and of course meals.

Kids are 10 and almost 7

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

We are giving them $50 each daily we will be there for 8 eight days. Of course if they need a few bucks we will give it to them. Its vacation after all . LOL We pay for all snacks, clothes and of course meals.

Kids are 10 and almost 7

Wow! You are some serious souvenier shoppers. I budget $100 per person, but we honestly do not spend that much. The kids can always find something, but DH and I are just glad that they are happy. Our kids are ages 9 and 5.

 

[KadysMom]

My daughter got $20.00 per day. She is 5. We did buy all the pins to trade before we left, so she did not have to spend money on those. We bought her a few things, but she did all her shopping herself

 

[denise5374]

My kids 14 and 10 will have about $130 for souviniers, all in Disney Dollars. They are responsibile for all their stuff except I will buy them one tshirt each.

I will proabably have the same amount for me and DH.

 

[hddanis]

I bought my kids each their own Disney Gift Card. At the moment, the 2 oldest have $100 each and the 2 youngest have $50 each. My parents plan on giving all of them some spending money that I will add to those cards (not sure how much. Also any extra money that they earn or get can/will go on the cards. I really like the idea of each one of them having their own card (I'm holding onto them though) I was able to order cards in several different designs from

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/reserve/specialOffers/detail?name=ResortCardSpecialOfferPage

(even though it's the Disneyland site, it can be used at Disney World!)

That way, each child has their own specific card that won't get mixed up with the others.

They can be reloaded in Disney World or you can add to them at a Disney Store.

 

[alamashdar]

We gave the kids $125.00 (as well as each of us) the last time we were there (4 days). This time I am budgeting $200.00 for each child and $250.00 each for hubby and myself. We are planning on 7 days this time. We will also buy their autographs books and a hat or shirt. We bought them autograph books and ears the last time. We also pay for ALL food and snacks, etc.

 

[mommapoppins]

What we did for our 13 year old this past year was we got her a Visa gift card from AAA with $250 on it for an 8 day trip. ($100 of that was birthday money though.) She thought that was so cool to have her own "credit card." There was no problem with her age. She did carry her school ID card though in case she needed ID. The nice thing about it was though that if she had any money left over at the end of the trip she could use it anywhere like Wal-mart, etc. I think she ended up using some of the money for Christmas gifts for the rest of the family. I think it cost about 5 bucks to load the card with $250. I think you can also get Visa Gift cards at some banks.

For our younger two girls, (4 and 2) we usually just give them a certain amount per day that they can spend on toys, etc. Usually we budget about $15 a day or $100/ trip for them. We also try to only buy things we can't buy at Target or Wal-Mart at home.

 

[bellarella]

Each of our children had $20, of which they spent $13. We also bought them hats ourselves (part practical, part souvenir). I believe those were $17 each.

Vacations are not about stuff for us, so we spend only a small amount on souvenirs.

 

[kfeuer]

Cheapskate here...my boys are 6 and 4 and they'll have $40 apiece for the week we'll be at DW (and $60 of that is from their piggy bank).

They'll have to choose wisely, and we'll guide them, but they can get a few neat things for that amount. We'll definitely hit the outlets while we're there.

The more times we go to DW the less important souvies get to me. I'd rather spend the money on an experience (like eating at a new restaurant) then on more stuff.

 

[Giggle]

I am taking my children to Disney for the first time in Sept. They are ds5 and dd2. I have to admit, I am a little blown away by how much you all spend on souvenirs. I figure my children will each get ears, they will probably share an autograph book and perhaps another toy each.

They both already have lightchasers from the Disney store. They already have matching Mickey t-shirts. DS also has Buzz and Nemo shirts. We plan on giving them the stuffed Mickey and Donald or Minnie before we leave on our trip (2 for $20 at the Disney store). Oh, and I also just came across the little light up spinning fans at Big Lots for $3 each. I am tucking those away to pull out at the parks.

So, I am just wondering what all you buy with that much souvenir money? How much do the ears and autograph book usually run? Am I not planning enough?

 

[sylvenmaid]

We are not that big into souveneirs either. I do LOVE my fridge magnets so I will buy at least one or 2. I already have some cool offical WDW stuff like photo albums, t-shirts, hats and such already to give out while there. DH wants a keychain like mine. My sil went in Jan and she bought us each a keychain. She got me a nice pewter B with mickey on it and dh a moveable mickey. His broke within 1 week!

We already got over 20 pins to trade when we get there and lanyards already. So I will still give him about $50 and then he will have Christmas and B-day money to use. He can spend it anyway he likes but I have a feeling we are coming home with a big lego set. LOL!

DH and I are getting $100 each and my mom is bringing her own money. We are completely paying her way including food, tix, and lodging. So she said then she would bring her own money for spending. I felt like that was a fair. I am bringing over $500 just in case but hoping not to spend it all.

 

[sylvenmaid]

Oh, and I also just came across the little light up spinning fans at Big Lots for $3 each. I am tucking those away to pull out at the parks.


Me too. I just picked it up yesterday and good thing b/c they only had 2 Buzz ones left! I got a few brand new WDW items at a yard sale dirt cheap. I got him a hat that still had the Tags on it for $3! I also got a small picture album that was never used for 50 cents!

 

[Barbers2005]

Last year, dd4 didn't have a set amount, per se, but we figured on paying for her princess outfit for PSB and we had a pool of $350 for dh, dd and myself. We didn't spend even half of what we budgeted, but we had the inlaws with us, so dd had some new toy everytime we turned around. This year we've budgeted $100 for dd's princess dress and crown, and $100-150 for her to spend on toys and souveniers.

 

[Plantlady]

we did $20 per kid, to be spent on the last day. This way I didn't have to say "no" the entire time.

We did buy them each mickey ears, no included in the budget, they were $11, last july. They also had trading pins thanks to the Easter bunny, so none of there money went towards pins.

The started saving quarters on their own, about 4 months before we left. I matched every quarter they saved. (this varied from around $30 to about $10).. but they didn't get around to spending all of those quarters. (it was suppose to be arcade money).

 

[ohiominnie]

Our kids (12 and 10) get $100 each, but we usually go for 2 weeks, so they have to make that last. What I love is that they are very very choosy about what they get since it's THEIR money. Our first trip (when mom and dad didn't have a set limit) they wanted EVERYTHING (and got a lot of it) Now they each get their Disney gift card with $100 and that's it. Usually they are SO choosy about stuff they have money left over at the end of the trip. They also do a lot of "splitting" the cost of something if it's something they'll both play with.

And typically they'll use some of their money to buy something for someone else. Dd will buy something for ds as a suprise or vice versa. If we go in December, they'll usually pick something up for someone else in the family. Or for this May trip coming up, they'll probably buy dh something for Father's Day.

I do love the fact that they have to budget wisely. The first time we did this, dd saw an $85 Mickey lamp she wanted. So for 13 days she only spent $15 total....and then on the last day she bought the lamp. It's still in her room and she loves it and is very proud of the fact that SHE bought it herself!

 

[kfeuer]

So, I am just wondering what all you buy with that much souvenir money? How much do the ears and autograph book usually run? Am I not planning enough?

Ears were $7 and autograph books were about the same on our last trip.

There's opportunities to spend money everywhere at Disney. Almost every ride exits through a gift shop (plus there's other gift stores in every park). It's easy to get carried away, but it sounds like you've got a good plan. T-shirts are quite expensive in the parks, if you want any of those hit the outlets.

 

[Minnie824]

We don't really budget spending money. Our DDs (at last trip) were 5yo and 2.5yo. We were there for 6 nights. We told them they could get one souvenier a day, normally after dinner. It kept them occupied in the evening as well while waiting for parades/fireworks. In addition, we had a shopping 1/2 day at downtown disney where we all got stuff. Not really sure what we spent there.

 

[meandtheguys2]

The boys had each earned between $50 and $100 our last trip (2 weeks). That was their souvenier money. It was plenty. I did buy them each a Tshirt, though.

 

[Giggle]

Me too. I just picked it up yesterday and good thing b/c they only had 2 Buzz ones left! I got a few brand new WDW items at a yard sale dirt cheap. I got him a hat that still had the Tags on it for $3! I also got a small picture album that was never used for 50 cents!

Ther were only 3 Buzz ones left at my Big Lots. But, tons of Princess, Little Mermaid and Tinkerbell ones. I love a deal, which is why I think I will have a hard time shelling out the big bucks for full priced souvenirs.