How much do you give or allow for souvenirs for tweens and teens?

[ZephyrHawk]

Tweens and Teens buy their own souvenirs. At least, that's how my parents did it with me.

 

[Katy Belle]

My kids are not spenders. I usually have them each choose a shirt, and maybe one more thing. They also bring their own $. One year Grandpa gave them each $30 and all 3 came home with it.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We always get shirts before we go. My only daughter and my youngest son are the only ones interested in that. The older kids just don't care. As far as souvenir prices we don't have it set. We let them know they can get one item. We are a large family so they don't really go overboard. On the last trip my oldest son bought two mugs (yeah we broke the one souvenir rules as it was most likely his last Disney trip for awhile), my then 16 year old bought a watch, my 14 year old bought a hat from Germany, my daughter bought a Marie stuffed animal with the longest tail I have ever seen, and my youngest son after going to ever gift shop in MK bought two little stuffed animals from Fort Wilderness. We didn't spend very much at all. I think the watch and hat were the priciest at about $40 a piece.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Gift cards for things but an extra twenty in cash (in case) if they go separate and want a snack.

 

[SamSam]

My kids are way grown and out on their own, but when they were young....sorry, they they had to save up their money for sovenier. Our first two trips we gave them $20.00 each, all trips after that they knew to save...and they did.

 

[magicmomms]

My dad gave me $200 when I was a teen, but I only spent $60 and gave the rest back to him after the week was up.

 

[elaine amj]

Normally they know that nothing is to be purchased until the night before leaving at World of Disney in DTD. DS mentioned that he has missed out on some things (park specific) on previous trips not being allowed to purchase in parks. .

One trip, my kids were allowed to bring $50 each. We actually told them to buy whatever they wanted each day. On the last day, we sat down and looked over everything and returned whatever we didn't want to keep back to the resort gift shop.

 

[tasha99]

Up until very recently, I gave what I think souvenirs are worth--zero, nada, zilch, don't you bring your Disney clutter into my house. I did once remind DS that I wouldn't be giving spending money, and he had me hold his allowance for 2 months (he was pretty young, so that was like $20 he saved up). Last year, I softened up and gave each kid $50 (they were 16 and 21 at the time).

 

[MrsPete]

We discourage consumerism just for the sake of consumerism, so we give ZERO.
Incidentally, it's the same amount we ourselves spend on ourselves.

Seriously, when the kids were smaller, we used to give them a small amount of money, but it seemed to make the trip about the souveniers. So much wasted time choosing between this or that thing-a-ma-bob, which ended up in the next yard sale anyway. When we quit altogether, the kids never fussed, and this makes the trip completely about the experience.

Zero. You won't be sorry.

 

[SEA333]

Last trip, mine were 13, 10, and 8. They each got a $50 Disney Giftcard because we learned after the first time that if you give my kids cash, #1 will swear he didn't spend all of it and we "stole" it back from him, or he will continuously negotiate a deal where we pay so much for something and he covers the rest, or that a specific item falls under "mom and dad" responsibility because it is a food (like those long flavored sugar tubes), #2 won't buy anything because she is a saver and doesn't think that souvenirs are worth parting with her cash for, and #3 will buy something totally ridiculous the first second we are there (usually something Target also sells at 60% cheaper), then pouts the rest of the trip because he already spent his money.

So, each got a $50 GC, a set of rules about when/where/what they could spend it on, and let them go at it. SOOOO much easier!

Believe it or not, every single one of them ended up buying Christmas gifts (we went just before T-giving) for DH and I, and for each other. Crazy kids.

 

[jperrot1]

i give $10 a day, but all together on a gift card. So if we are going for 7 days they get $70. Anything else comes from them, like from birthday gifts or any work they have done (some babysitting or lawn mowing). I found that they made much more thoughtful purchases when they had a lump sum like that. one time my son wanted a video game so whatever was left on the disney gift card i bough back from him when we got home.

Yes. 10 dollars x number of days on the trip. That was August 2013 trip. This upcoming August 2015 trip we will increase a little, maybe 12 dollars per day.

 

[pookybean]

Last trip, mine were 13, 10, and 8. They each got a $50 Disney Giftcard because we learned after the first time that if you give my kids cash, #1 will swear he didn't spend all of it and we "stole" it back from him, or he will continuously negotiate a deal where we pay so much for something and he covers the rest, or that a specific item falls under "mom and dad" responsibility because it is a food (like those long flavored sugar tubes),

So, each got a $50 GC, a set of rules about when/where/what they could spend it on, and let them go at it. SOOOO much easier!

Sorry, the first part made me LOL! Stole it back and parental responsibility! lol

Parental responsibility to me are things I want you to have... ie. your first set of ears, not new ears every single trip.

We also have a set of rules, no buying when the ride dumps you in the store. The only exception to that is star tours and pirates, only because you can get such specific things. For the most part they wait until they are at one of the bigger stores. It works to stop wanting to buy every 5 minutes.

 

[emma'smom]

Mostly we just tell them (DD's 12 and 10) we'll let them pick out one thing each...but inevitably we see other fun things along the way that we might pick up as well. Both kids have money that they bring along, so if there is something one really wants that I don't think is worth it...then they can always spend there own $$. I'd say we end up spending about 50 bucks per kid on week-long trip.

 

[GoofyFairie]

I bought each a shirt of their choice and they saved their own spending money to buy anything else. We always made sure they had money to spend. We don't get to go very often, about every 3-4 years. We also had a rule that they couldn't buy anything for the first couple of days until they had a chance to see what they really wanted. I also just do cash. I don't like gift cards, because once the cash is converted then it is stuck and you can't bring it home to spend on anything else. Yes, we do bring cash home! I am not a "stuff" person. I LOVE Disney, but I tend to buy things that have use that I will see often or everyday, like clothes and mugs, towels, etc. I am probably odd in that way, but my kids and I enjoy drinking our favorite beverage out of a Disney glass with Mickey head ice cubes on an other wise dreadfully dull day in the boonies of PA.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Our first trip to Orlando was for our DS's 13th birthday. We have been five additional times since. Each time, he has been responsible for saving his own spending money (though when he was younger, I would usually cover the conversion fees from Canadian to USD). As much or as little as he wanted to take.

We believe in teaching financial responsibility from a very young age. Even small children can learn about currency and spending in very simple terms. A trip to Disney, Universal, SeaWorld or wherever was always planned far enough in advance to facilitate some saving for special purchases, whether the funds were gleaned from a paper route, babysitting, or birthday and Christmas money. Mom and Dad covered the cost of the trip in its entirety (including special things that we each wanted to do), but souvenirs were his responsibility. It made it so he had full ownership of his budget, and for less impulse buying. When it was coming out of HIS pocket, a lot more thought went into the decisions.

 

[CookiesNcream]

My grandson isn't old enough yet to carry his own money but I'd say I spend probably $20-$30 per day on things that catch his eye. Goodness, not everything though - just the items that make sense to me otherwise it would probably be much more!

 

[SEA333]

Sorry, the first part made me LOL! Stole it back and parental responsibility! lol

Parental responsibility to me are things I want you to have... ie. your first set of ears, not new ears every single trip.

We also have a set of rules, no buying when the ride dumps you in the store. The only exception to that is star tours and pirates, only because you can get such specific things. For the most part they wait until they are at one of the bigger stores. It works to stop wanting to buy every 5 minutes.

Haha, I know! This kid is a 14 year old master negotiator. I tell him he should be in politics someday. He can argue his point until you give up just so that he will stop talking. When he was little, I sounded like a broken record "End. Of. Conversation." (not that it stopped him...) And he is a good kid....but when he get's going on what he thinks is "right" - watch out!!

 

[dprincessmom]

I might have to try this on our upcoming Disney cruise. Although DS being an only child might be able to pull my heart strings enough that I end up buying things for him and he comes out ahead

Here's the workaround for that - if it is something that he really wants and doesn't have the cash, buy on the sly and save for a birthday/Christmas. This helps him learn about budgeting, but also let's you pick up something he really wants and add a little magic at a later time.

OP - we do $25 typically (doing $50 this trip because she wants to buy a Vera Bradly Backpack for next school year and I would have spent $25 on a backpack anyway) - anything else is on her. She has a list of what she is looking for this trip. The backpack, a large tsum tsum and a new phone case are on her list of must haves. She will also usually buy a book if there is one that interests her.