How much do you spend on souvenirs?

[bmd1206]

What are your favorite souvenirs? What's the average for a 5 days trip? I read on here that some go to outside of disney outlets to get disney souvenirs. We'll be going milk/snack shopping, but I don't want to take away from our trip to go to the outlet shopping. Are the prices that much different?

 

[kabbie]

I've only been to a Disney outlet once while in the Orlando area and wasn't too impressed. I went to the Orlando Premium Outlets on Vineland, but have heard that the Belz outlet is better. Maybe someone can speak up about that one. The price wasn't all that much lower, but the variety & quality sure was.

My favorite souveniers are photo albums, pins, coffee mugs, posters and tops. I love Mousegears at Epcot, Art of Disney at DHS and all of the World Showcase shops. World of Disney is always too crowded and chaotic to me. I would usually spend $200 in the 5 day timeframe. All depends on you though.

 

[amyemann]

We do not go overboard with souveniers. Being a single mom to four kids I just cant go overboard. I usually let them each pick out a tshirt and one other thing (toy, stuffed animal, etc.) I also then buy myself a tshirt, a picture frame, and photo album. I take a lot of pictures during our trip so those serve as sounveniers as well.

We typically will buy our souveniers at World of Disney in DTD or at shops in Magic Kingdom or the one big one in Epcot.

 

[StacieDreaminODisney]

I've never done the outlets.

As for how much I spend....I'd say probably $275ish on souvenirs for me and my hubby, and probably another $100 on stuff for friends and family.
My personal faves would have to be the pins! I love adding a pin to my jacket to wear to work. It's a nice reminder of all the fun we had!

 

[KellyNY]

I would suggest to keep your spending until you hit Epcot. Our major spending is in World Showcase, just so many gifts ideas from around the world. For us, silver at Mexica, Christmas ornaments in Germany, parfumes at Noway, Italy, France, Japan, England. bags at China, Kimonos(SP) at Japan, Jewerly at Italy, fine china at England, just few highlights. As for Disney related items buy towels, hats, charm bracelets, cups.

 

[agame2323]

I always spend way more than I buget out. I normally try to budget around 10% of vacation money towards souvees but I seems to work out to around 15%

 

[RMulieri]

Hardly anything...My DD has $50 to spend and the only thing Dh and I buy is a Christmas ornament for the tree and a Coffee mug

 

[PolyndianPrincessJes]

We hit the outlet and find great deals! The majority, if not all, of the items were from WDW, so the quality is comparable. We got some light-up toys for $1, Halloween jewelry (flashing light necklaces, bracelets) for about $3 a pop, frames for $.39 and 2008 Christmas ornaments (we were there in December 2008) for $1.99. I also like to get trading pins here. They're ridiculously inexpensive, and the kids don't care about trading them because they're not usually a character/theme of interest to them.

That said, we still spend a lot in the parks. I don't budget (we're on vacation, so we pretty much do what we want finance-wise), but we end up spending about $600 over a week (that's for four adults and two kids) on souvenirs. The kids always buy a new playset (DS is always adding to his monorail), we get several shirts for the kids and a few for ourselves. I always like the pick up a CD or two. My niece has to buy every ride picture she's in. Not too much when you buy it one at a time, but when you add up all the receipts, it can add up quickly.

It's easy not to spend money, though. There's so much to do that you can go a while without even stepping into a store (save exiting a ride) for souvenirs. I also like the free souvenirs (stickers, Kidcot masks, we always save a cup if it's themed, etc.).

 

[henry72]

We buy photo albums and Christmas ornaments. This year there will be t-shirts and a toy for the kids. We try not to go too wild with our spending. I think last time for 5 days (2 adults, 1 kid) we spent $200 total but that price includes snacks charged to the room. This year I plan to buy the t-shirts for the kids and then give them $25 to spend on what they want.

 

[Tara922c]

Last year we spent around 250 for 7 days. It was me, dh, and dd2. This year I plan on spending a little more. I figure around 100 for DDs princess dress, then maybe another 150 for her souvies. I may get a shirt, DH will most likely get a shot glass. We will get our parents each a little something (they are taking turns watching our house, and cat), and I will get my bestfriend's baby a little something. I say bring what you can afford to bring. Give each kid a spending limit.

 

[FigNewton]

We usually spend about $70-80 on pins, each of us will get a shirt or hoody/jacket, maybe a couple knicknacks like mugs, ornaments. All in all probably around $200-$300 depending on the year and what we find. This is two adults btw.

 

[Disneychix]

We don't really spend that much. I get an ornament and a photo-album. Dh might get one thing like a t-shirt or something. We only bought DS 1 or 2 things in March. I'd say $100 max. We're just not really souvenir people though. I'd rather buy mickey ice-creams and fun drinks!

 

[james'mommy]

We hardly ever buy stuff for ourselves. I do once in a while buy a sweatshirt at the outlet for myself. We probably spend $200 on things for DS. Although once DH did treat me to diamond mickey earrings. It was our anniversary and I had to agree to give up my quest for diamond solitares. It wasn't cheap but DH said I was worth it. I wear the earrings every day.

 

[heath-and-javens-mom]

We spend approx. $1000 for the whole trip (7 days), but that includes any pirate cruises, pirate leagues, pick a pearl, special ordered Birthday cakes, etc.
We always have the dining plan so most food is covered, but if we add a extra meal we pay oop.
Also we buy alot of shirts, mugs, pins, plushes etc. Its all over priced but I figure we all saved ALL year, and if we want something were gonna get it.

BTW that is 2 adults and 2 children.

 

[cbg1027]

Last April I spent about $300 on myself and a few gifts. I hadn't been to WDW in 2.5 years so I needed a "fix" or merchandise!

When I went back a few weeks ago, it had only been 7 months between trips. I spent less than $100 on a couple items since the merchandise hadn't really changed since my last trip.

I'm going again in 2.5 weeks and don't really plan to budget anything for shopping.

 

[texasteacher35]

I give each of my kids a pre-paid gift card for $300 each! Once they are out of funds,the souvineers are over! I have a dd14 and a ds4...that gives them plenty of money to buy almost anything, or small stuff every day! My ds4 does not really control his, it just keeps me from spending more! It is great for my dd14...I just bought them today from the Disney Store and we leave in 2 days!

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

I would guess(haven't been yet) between me, the wife, and the kiddo, we will spend easily 50 per person per day on things like shirts, toys, and stuff like that.
Let the wife get on a roll and she could spend a few hundred bucks like nothing
I plan on having a clean credit card when I go to disney so I won't really worry too much about spending...having said that, I have always been rather careful where I spend.

 

[brerdawg]

Counting photos and frames: $500.00 to $1,000.00.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Now we spend under $100 each trip, but we have been alot and now that they merchandise is similar everywhere we are spending less and less. We usually buy some pins, (special edition or ones w/ the date) and I get a new purse every year. Last trip we spent only $9 (DH maxed out on Buzz and had to have the badge to prove it).

We stopped at the Charector premiere outlet in St Augustine on our way in and spent $80 on over $250 worth of stuff. We mostly got stuff to bring back to the kids and for Xmas (pin sets for each, star wars potato heads, HSM toys & baseball, Christmas ornament, a photo frame), but we each got a shirt to wear in the parks and DH got a new hat. I normally hate doing anything that takes away from time at Disney (We don't set foot off property until its time go home) but it was definately worth stopping on the way down to check out. Anytime we drive we will be stopping at one of the locations on oru way in to town.

 

[breagirl]

We spent more than we planned on our last trip, but mainly because we didn't plan for the cold front that came through and we ended up buying warm clothes. I think we spent around $500 on clothes, hats, and a few pins and that was for 2 adults and 4 kids.

I buy stuff at our local Disney outlet prior to the trip and "Mickey" leaves special items on their beds each morning (he comes in while they are sleeping). This cuts WAY back on them begging for stuff while in the parks and they are so excited to show off what Mickey brought them to CMs.

We also really reminded the kids to save their money for this trip so anything that was really a waste of money they had to use their own money for. It's amazing how they rethink that purchase when they are using their OWN money.