How much should we give our kids to spend ??

[digman6]

2 of our kids who are much younger 5 and 2 have never been, the other 2 have gone but don't remember it much ages 11 and 8.

What should I give them to spend for there trip ???
I am hoping I can encourage them to buy things that will not get thrown in the corner when we get home. I know they want ears and I am sure a T-shirt or something along those lines.

We have the DDP I just really don't know how much to bring and how much we should let them spend. I think the envelope idea is great for them , but what amount should we put in the envelope??

I am planning on having snacks and H2o and juice from home, the room is covered as is meals.

Thanks for the help!

 

[PrincessPoohsMom]

Do you give them allowances? When my brothers & I were young my parents would typically give us our allowance for the month in Disney dollars for each trip. When we were very young they would do the daily envelope thing; as we got older they just handed us the full amount and let us decide how to spend it.

 

[bigmama67]

We just got back from a week in Orlando for our son's first trip (he just turned 5 shortly after we got home.)

I got him $25 in Disney Dollars, which amounted to $5 per day in the parks, but I started him off with $10 and then added to it. We told him he couldn't use it for junk food/snacks but we covered that. He ended up picking out a Mr. Incredible car ($5), a Spiderman Mr. Potato Head at Once Upon A Toy ($10) and a Stitch car which converts to a surfboard ($10) and I think he made great choices.

A few times he wanted something on impulse and we suggested that he wait and see what was at the other parks.

We did buy him a few other things he asked for - the occasional lollipop and a Winnie The Pooh game - and the last day we picked him up a Sorcerer Mickey doll (at Walgreen's - by the way, many of the local stores such as Publix and Walgreens have basic Disney stuff for much less than at the parks.) That being said, I thought he made good choices and really seems to enjoy all 3 of his souvenirs. He was very proud to be able to pay with his own $$...

Have fun!

 

[Elmo888]

DD6 at the time had $35 in Disney Dollars, and that was plenty. I had already planned to buy ears, a stuffed toy, and something else of her choice, and I made that clear ahead of time. I really wanted her to have the ears and the stuffed toy, so that was important to me. I just didn't her to not have the ears because she didn't want to spend her money on it. I think that she would have been fine with just $25, and that is what she will get (at age 7) for this January (This time, she will BYOEars! LOL!).

We were on the DDP and provided snacks (brought from home and bought in the parks). I didn't want her to worry about that type of stuff.

Have a great trip!

 

[mickeylove2]

My 4 & 6 year old girls each had $175 of their own (we were there for 5 days), we bought their ears, autograph books, Mickey balloons, Pal Mickey, new crocs and Jibbitz, some other stuff, and of course their food. Any candy or snack food they wanted had to come out of their own money, and anything else they wanted they could buy. My DD6 came home with a shirt, outfit for her My Disney Girl doll, charms for her bracelet, she bought some pins of her favorite rides, a Tink purse, and I think one of every Princess necklace, My DD4 came home with an outfit for her doll, charms, a Princess mirror (it's really nice) some necklaces and some stuffed animals (she LOVES stuffed animals-sleeps with about 50 of them in bed) oh and they both got a Safari outfit from AK- don't ask me, they are kinda cute though!! I honestly don't know how people do it by only giving their kids $20-$30, my DD6 shirt was $22! Don't get me wrong, it's great that they can limit their kid to only 1 or 2 things, but my girls saved up their money and were really looking forward to spending it in the parks for stuff that they wanted. Sorry for rambling!

 

[Mickeyluver37]

My 4 & 6 year old girls each had $175 of their own (we were there for 5 days), we bought their ears, autograph books, Mickey balloons, Pal Mickey, new crocs and Jibbitz, some other stuff, and of course their food. Any candy or snack food they wanted had to come out of their own money, and anything else they wanted they could buy. My DD6 came home with a shirt, outfit for her My Disney Girl doll, charms for her bracelet, she bought some pins of her favorite rides, a Tink purse, and I think one of every Princess necklace, My DD4 came home with an outfit for her doll, charms, a Princess mirror (it's really nice) some necklaces and some stuffed animals (she LOVES stuffed animals-sleeps with about 50 of them in bed) oh and they both got a Safari outfit from AK- don't ask me, they are kinda cute though!! I honestly don't know how people do it by only giving their kids $20-$30, my DD6 shirt was $22! Don't get me wrong, it's great that they can limit their kid to only 1 or 2 things, but my girls saved up their money and were really looking forward to spending it in the parks for stuff that they wanted. Sorry for rambling!

Ok, now I feel better sharing, LOL. My kids (DD10 and DS8) had about $100 each, and with only $100 for the week, they were very careful about what they bought, and wanted to make sure they had money for each park. We let them buy whatever they want, but in addition to their spending money, I had already promised each of them an article of clothing and a pearl with setting from Japan. We ended up going to MNSSHP and getting a bunch of pirate gear for both of them before we went, and they didn't have to pay for that stuff out of their money either. We also covered all food/snack items.

 

[fizz13]

Leaving on wednesday for a 10 day trip and my kids have $100 each, so $10 per day, they are 8, 6 and 3 although of course my 3 year old won't actually be in charge of his money I will cover one snack a day plus all drinks so if they want extra candy or ice cream then they pay, that should make them think twice

 

[disneyjunkie]

OP, I think $100.00 per child is a good place to start.

My 4 & 6 year old girls each had $175 of their own (we were there for 5 days), we bought their ears, autograph books, Mickey balloons, Pal Mickey, new crocs and Jibbitz, some other stuff, and of course their food. Any candy or snack food they wanted had to come out of their own money, and anything else they wanted they could buy. My DD6 came home with a shirt, outfit for her My Disney Girl doll, charms for her bracelet, she bought some pins of her favorite rides, a Tink purse, and I think one of every Princess necklace, My DD4 came home with an outfit for her doll, charms, a Princess mirror (it's really nice) some necklaces and some stuffed animals (she LOVES stuffed animals-sleeps with about 50 of them in bed) oh and they both got a Safari outfit from AK- don't ask me, they are kinda cute though!! I honestly don't know how people do it by only giving their kids $20-$30, my DD6 shirt was $22! Don't get me wrong, it's great that they can limit their kid to only 1 or 2 things, but my girls saved up their money and were really looking forward to spending it in the parks for stuff that they wanted. Sorry for rambling!

Sounds like they had a great time.

 

[hddanis]

I give each of them $100 and then they also have whatever they save or Birthday/Christmas money they get (so they'll prbably have about $125-175 depending on the child). We're on the Deluxe Dining Plan, so no need to worry about extra snacks (we'll be having snacks coming out of our ears) Anything they want, they buy. They all love pins so I'm guessing that's where the majority of their money will go.

For the people who say they only give their children $25-$30, but then buy this and that (shirts, ears, autograph book, etc..) How much did you actually spend on them? And how much do you plan for your total souvenir budget? (Just curious) For my kids, all of that has to come out of their money, which is why I start at $100 each..and then my spending budget is around $250..which includes any unexpected expenses, stroller rental and gifts for DH and DS who are staying home.

 

[dbmarie]

I give each of them $100 and then they also have whatever they save or Birthday/Christmas money they get (so they'll prbably have about $125-175 depending on the child).

We do the same for our dd's. We usually go for 10+ days and they get about $10 a day (we started this because they wanted to spend it all on day 1 ). That's all they get for their autograph books, pins, ex. snacks outside of ddp, etc... We acually spent less on our trip since we started this.

 

[OhioDisneyDad]

We buy the Disney Shopping gift cards for DS11 and DS7 and put $50 on each one. We buy the snacks and t-shirts. We don't put any restrictions on what they can buy or when they can buy it. They work just like a credit card and the kids love it. There's no discussions or "I want this" every five minutes. When it's gone - it's gone. Plus it makes them feel independent and makes them put thought in to their purchases.

 

[Elmo888]

For the people who say they only give their children $25-$30, but then buy this and that (shirts, ears, autograph book, etc..) How much did you actually spend on them? And how much do you plan for your total souvenir budget? (Just curious) For my kids, all of that has to come out of their money, which is why I start at $100 each..and then my spending budget is around $250..which includes any unexpected expenses, stroller rental and gifts for DH and DS who are staying home.

I bought ears, a stuffed Minnie, and a necklace for DD6 at the time. I am guessing, but that was probably an extra $40 ($20 for Minnie, and $10 each for necklace and ears).

I bought ears, a stuffed Minnie, and Potato Head parts for DD2 at the time. I would bet that it was about $40, too. (She didn't get extra spending money like my DD6 since she was too young to ask for things.)

I budgeted $100 for souvenirs for the kids ($50 per child) in addition to DD6's $35 Disney Dollars. And I probably spent maybe another $100 on souvenirs for me and DH.

I didn't spend any extra money on food since we were on the DDP. We did need spending money for beer and wine at the parks. I didn't want DD6 to use her money for extra snacks. We had plenty of food on the DDP and brought healthy snacks into the parks. I let her have that when she was hungry.

We are going again in January, and I am giving DDs $25 in Disney Dollars. I am not planning to buy them anything above that since they can BYOEars and BYOStuffed Character from our previous trip, although I am considering adding a few dollars after reading this thread! I can see some kids needing more money for clothes, but I tried to buy a tee for DD6 last time and she just wasn't interested. And if your kids are buying their own snacks, I would factor that into the amount of spending money.

Although I love the souvenirs, I just want DDs to value the experience and not just the stuff, esp. since we are going back for the second year in a row.

Have a great trip!

 

[JenH1969]

I am thinking of getting them the gift card but also giving them monopoly money- if they use the card only they can't "see" that the money is disappearing and getting low- or that they only have $10 left and better make it last and chose wisely- so I may let them hold the monopoly money- then they can pay me with the m money and I will hand them the card to use then keep it safe for them till the next time- also this way I don't have to worry about them losing real money-

Do you think this will work- it is our first time so any suggestions are appreciated- Jen

 

[ispeak_Tink]

I have a very large family and when we went to Orlando we each got an envelope every day. It had like 30$ that we could spend on waster, gatorade or just random silvineers. Personally when i bought silvineers i stayed away from things like cloths cuz i was going to grow out of them. So I started collecting pins!!! I love them!!

 

[Elmo888]

I am thinking of getting them the gift card but also giving them monopoly money- if they use the card only they can't "see" that the money is disappearing and getting low- or that they only have $10 left and better make it last and chose wisely- so I may let them hold the monopoly money- then they can pay me with the m money and I will hand them the card to use then keep it safe for them till the next time- also this way I don't have to worry about them losing real money-

Do you think this will work- it is our first time so any suggestions are appreciated- Jen

Disney Dollars are a neat as an alternative to a gift card. Kids can see the money being used. And the Disney Dollars are cute (with characters). I've seen them in different denominations ($5, $10, $20). I think that you can find them at your local Disney Store. (You will still need to hold onto it.)

Have a great trip!