how much souvenir money do you budget?

[RachSal]

I know that every family is different and of course we can manage in whatever budget we set. I haven't been to WDW since I was a kid so I really don't remember what my parents budgeted. This will be my kids first trip and generally speaking we try not to be scrooges, but we also try to be reasonable (what parent doesn't) So to give me a general idea how much do you budget for souvenirs for a week at WDW?
TIA!

 

[luvmy3]

My kids are getting $100 GCs as their spending money. I don't expect them to buy tons of things, but I know my dd wants a pillow pet ($30) and mouse ears and some kind of jewelry item.
My oldest ds will probably opt to use his for the arcade at the resort and the rest at the Lego store.
My youngest wants a pillow pet and Jack Sparrow hat/braids if he can find it.
They also have to use them for anything they may want to pick of for friends back home.
Its sounds like alot but my kids are older so they don't really go for the little toys or stuffies anymore.

 

[Meshell2002]

We are budgeting under $50 per child(3). BUT my kids that r older are also getting the opportunity to earn extra spending money from now until the trip (2 mos) They have a chore list and a penalty list. Each chore is 25 cents and each penalty is 25 cents.....I calculated if they did every chore each they would earn no more than $40 each. My olders r 4 & 6... Will see how they do.

 

[joedplumber]

My kid's each get a prepaid credit card with $100 on it. When it's gone it's gone.

 

[ColonelHathi]

My kids will both have about $125 in GCs for a 10-day stay (or about $20 for each park day) - grandparents helped out with that as gifts for Christmas, Easter, Birthdays over the past year. I will pretty much set that as their overall souvenir budget.

 

[Jennybump]

Right now each kid has a $50 gc for our 8 day trip, but ideally I'd like to double that. When you consider how spendy stuff is, and that we are doing Sea World also, $100 would allow them to get a few significant souvenirs as well as several smaller incidentals and have that feeling of abundance that is so lovely when on vacation, without making it unreasonably expensive for us parents.

 

[Crazie4daMouse]

For the 5 of us, we generally spend about $1000. Some of us spend more than others and some less, but it averages out to about that every trip. DD 22, DS 18, DS 4, DH, and myself. We don't really give each person a budget, if we see something we want we get it. That's what vacation is about to us! Letting your hair down and relaxing. We sacrifice so much all year to be able to take these trips that I don't want to feel like we are having to sacrifice while there, too.

 

[Snooks23]

We honestly didn't spend as much as I thought we would. I think we spent between 600-900$. I saved almost all of my receipts, so one day ill add it lol. We were there a week & although on the dining plan we did pay OOP for food, drinks & some snacks.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We will each (adults included) have a $100 GC. This will include any candy/snacks above the ddp, souvenirs, arcade, etc.

 

[Happyjen27]

My twins were 5 when we went in December. They each had $25 cash from their grandparents, and $25 in a gift card from their aunt and uncle. That was it.

They didn't even spend it all. My daughter got mouse ears and a nylar balloon. My son got a Buzz Lightyear matchbox car and a balloon. That's it.

We bought all snacks and food for them.

They are young, and not big shoppers. Without TV commercials to send them cues, they don't know they are supposed to want, want, want, LOL.

 

[Woodmnky]

We are budgeting $250 for our family. $75 each for DH and I and $100 for DS who will be almost 3. DH and I tend to pick out 1 souvenir per trip and then pick out a couple things for DS. I bought DS Mickey & Minnie plush dolls when I found them on sale so he will be getting those in addition to his budget.

 

[Kristibo42]

We buy thought out the year. Wal-Mart, Dollar Store, Target and even Michaels. I ship down a box a lot cheaper. Each morning there is something new. Helps cut down on the money that is spent on souvenirs. That is for the older kids too. My sister and her family along with my daughter just went down for 10 days. They have 3 kids. I shipped a box down with this for the kids everyday. They loved it. She said they never ask for anything in the parks. I spend maybe $100 on the box. I even send down the glow in the dark bracelets (over 200 they shared with the other kids in the resorts).

 

[Julie711]

My kids (5yrs & almost 2yrs) get $50 each for our 6-7 day trips, that's just their own. We take $350-400 and that will cover snacks & anything DH or myself might want. We go often 1-2 x per year so this amount covers our family just fine. DD ( the 5 yr old) can usually get 2 items , she always collects some Minnie Mouse or princess stuffed doll & another little toy. DH & myself do always buy them a tshirt out of " our" spending money!!

 

[verleniahall]

We are saving all our change between now and our vacation and we will cash it in for disney gift cards to take

 

[maplevale]

We wnet in March 2011 with DH, I, ODD (4) and YDD (<1). We spent about $500 (that included some tips too with free dining on 6 days). Since our kids were so young it was pretty easy to just not let them go into shops! We let ODD pick one 'thing' a day - it averaged about $15 (autograph book, stuffed Minnie, Spray Mister and a Glow Minnie and having her hair wrapped). We picked up a few things that we took home and used as Christmas Gifts.

We also did a few small items in the room from the dollar store. My 'rule' was no consumables (face painting, balloons, glow sticks) so at least she would have a trinket to take home.

This trip I imagine we will spend about the same (there will be an item for each kid - but DH and I will want less).

 

[1000HappyWishes]

I think it depends on the age of the kids who are going. When I turned eight, that's when I had to earn all my own money for things by doing chores. That's held true since then and if I want money on my vacations I have to do quite a bit of work if I want spending money for the trip. On my last trip, I pulled around $200 in about six months.

 

[ABCastillo]

We are budgeting under $50 per child(3). BUT my kids that r older are also getting the opportunity to earn extra spending money from now until the trip (2 mos) They have a chore list and a penalty list. Each chore is 25 cents and each penalty is 25 cents.....I calculated if they did every chore each they would earn no more than $40 each. My olders r 4 & 6... Will see how they do.

What a great idea!

 

[smallblackstars]

I am giving my DD $10 per day on our upcoming trip. We are there for 20 days so that is $200 potentially but as she will be 4 on our trip I really don't think she will be spending that money everyday. It's more to get her used to having her own money and knowing that when it's gone, it's gone. I would say for little bits and bobs she might want (not including Birthday gifts as obviously we will spoil her for her Birthday!!) she will get around $100 but as she is doing very basic math with numbers up to 10 I am 'giving' her a new $10 at the start of each day so we can do math with her and keep it fresh in her head for going back to nursery school!

 

[Meshell2002]

What a great idea!

My DH thinks I'm nuts, he thinks it's too much but I think that in 45 days it will set good habits. Penalties include whining, being bossy, arguing, and waking up baby sister without permission to name a few.....it's been great so far!

 

[Meshell2002]

I am giving my DD $10 per day on our upcoming trip. We are there for 20 days so that is $200 potentially but as she will be 4 on our trip I really don't think she will be spending that money everyday. It's more to get her used to having her own money and knowing that when it's gone, it's gone. I would say for little bits and bobs she might want (not including Birthday gifts as obviously we will spoil her for her Birthday!!) she will get around $100 but as she is doing very basic math with numbers up to 10 I am 'giving' her a new $10 at the start of each day so we can do math with her and keep it fresh in her head for going back to nursery school!

I get what your saying about the math, DS is doing second grade math with subtraction, that's why we added penalties.