How Much Spending Money?

[4butlers]

We want to give our kids gift cards for some spending money on our trip. They are 7 and 10. We'll be at WDW for 6 nights and then onto the Dream right after.
Just wondering how much everyone typically gives their kids? We don't want to give them too much, but we want to be sure they have enough for the entire trip and cruise.

 

[macbitt]

In addition to answers for kids I wouldn't mind some adult level answers myself. The DGF is getting a surprise trip and thought I'd tell family they can get her gift cards for Christmas.

 

[lookame]

We are going for 7(ish) days to Disney and we decided to give our son (age 5) a gift card worth $150 to spend however he chooses. I am saving up a good amount for my fiance and I(right now $472) theres still a few weeks which I plan to take out money to add to our Disney fund. I'm not sure how much spending we'll do but I'd like to have a good amount saved for all circumstances.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

We don't give our kids spending money just to give it to them. We start them out months away with a Disney earnings chart. We do give them gift cards at holidays, which gives them a bit more to use. This year the kids will probably be Disney rich b/c we have over a year of holidays and saving time! We usually give them $50 each as part of an early Christmas present. We don't pay for chores in our home, but they can earn money for doing our chores. We write it all down, and buy them gift cards to use. For our 2011 trip the girls earned enough to buy their own princess dresses, accessories, and Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique hairstyle, nail polish, and makeup visit. They also had some extra for souvenirs. My son decided to not earn as much, so he was able to buy some stuffed animals beforehand and his Aerosmith shirt, guitar pick, and some additional items. Anyway, I'm just trying to give you an idea of what they took with them. I would say they each had between $150 and $200. Our 2010 trip they only had their $50 Christmas presents to spend.

As for us, we take about $1000 in cash and gift cards. We like to have a cushion just in case we need it. We still have to pay tips for ADR's and such, so we make sure to have a nice amount of money with us. We aren't lavish either though. We always have money in our account just in case we need it for something also. We like to charge everything to our room and then pay it down with gift cards. It's just so much easier, and we get fuelperks from Giant Eagle for buying the cards. Hope that helps.

 

[Trinity524]

Hello!

We find that for our family of 3 (DH, DS3, and I) that if we bring 100 dollars a night that we are there. We always have the dining plan, and so 100 dollars a day for tips, mousekeeping and misc is normally more than enough. I will say we have been many times though and RARELY buy souvenirs for DH and I. He normally gets a new coffee mug and I get something in the worldshow case that I don't need but absolutely have to have! DS normally gets 100 giftcard from his Grandpa.

There is always money left over; however, if you have never been before or you are not including the dining plan, the variables can make it a lot more.

HTHs

 

[DisneyMomKelli]

Each of my kids take between $100-$150 per trip- we usually go for 10 days. To make it easier financially, they get smaller gift cards for holidays and birthdays and we save them up for the trip.

It works out great because they are never asking us to buy them stuff, and they know when it's gone, it's gone, so they are careful about their choices. They usually spend the first 5 days or so "deciding" what they really want and then we make most of the purchases later in the week.

It's amazing all the stuff they want then it's your money! When it theirs, that's a different story!

 

[joell51868]

My kids usually have around 100-125 each on GC's or Disney dollars, they save from the time the trip is booked. They get GC's for their bdays, ect. But when they have their own $ in their piggy bank I always give them the option to put it towards Disney.
We allot 100-150 per day. We always have the DP. Thats not including our stroller rental. I purchased GC's to cover my daily stroller rentals. We rarely spend 100$ per day but I like knowing I have it.

 

[kwdw]

We want to give our kids gift cards for some spending money on our trip. They are 7 and 10. We'll be at WDW for 6 nights and then onto the Dream right after.
Just wondering how much everyone typically gives their kids? We don't want to give them too much, but we want to be sure they have enough for the entire trip and cruise.

I'd suggest dividing the amount from the beginning between WDW and the cruise. They aren't going to know how they "might" spend it on the cruise - so they aren't going to have any concept of how to budget their money. They can see in the stores very early on what things cost at WDW and you can talk about browsing and deciding later to buy what they really want. But they can't "see" what they might want to buy on the cruise.

I'd also maybe talk about "fun food or drink" spending money vs. souvenirs. They might really want POPCORN one day. Okay - so are you going to buy that for them or does it need to come out of their total amount? Maybe you say they are each allowed three "snacks" during the six days - but they have to pick. Or do you want to set a dollar limit? (Or are you on the dining plan?)

For for souvenir money - what do you think might be reasonable for them to buy? In your world - is the cost of a T-shirt, stuffed toy, and a silly mug appropriate? Or is that too high for your budget? Or are you expecting them to be able to buy more than that? $20 the entire trip might be what some parents would allow for the whole trip. Other parents might think $200 is appropriate. And I've seen some young kids have ALOT more than that spent on them. Are you going to buy some things for them - or is this ALL that they get to spend?

This is really a question that is hard to answer without knowing your parenting style and what you normally pay for vs. expect them to budget for.

And do YOU know what things cost such that you can really estimate what you think is reasonable? You could not talk about it until after you see one day of what things attract them in the stores, buy nothing on the first day or two in souvenirs, and then give them a limit to work with once there.

I do think at that age a bit of money to spend as they please without your input can be a good lesson in budgeting - but how much depends upon if you expect that to all of their souvenir money or if this is just the silly little stuff that kids want to spend along the way?

 

[Lumiere Lover]

We are huge souvenir people. Last September DH and I went alone and spent $1500 without the kids. We expect they will spend about $50 per day of the trip. Sometimes more. When we took the kids in 2010, DH said to give the kids more $, because they really didn't spend much this trip. Older teenagers don't tend to buy as much as younger kids. When the kids were young, we rarely said no to anything, it is afterall, WDW.

I don't allow purchases of balloons. Nothing can be gained from those purchases. Items that will be used again can always be purchased. I don't like to say no at WDW!

 

[Trinity524]

We are huge souvenir people. Last September DH and I went alone and spent $1500 without the kids. We expect they will spend about $50 per day of the trip. Sometimes more. When we took the kids in 2010, DH said to give the kids more $, because they really didn't spend much this trip. Older teenagers don't tend to buy as much as younger kids. When the kids were young, we rarely said no to anything, it is afterall, WDW.

I don't allow purchases of balloons. Nothing can be gained from those purchases. Items that will be used again can always be purchased. I don't like to say no at WDW!

How may days did you go for last September? Did you have the DDP?

 

[LovesTimone]

It really depends on your parenting style.

For us when the DD's where little. They were told that they were allowed X (50.00) amount to spend on souvenirs their choice... and that we would buy 1 big souvenir amount around 35 to 50 dollars. They would let us buy the clothing items, pj's and jackets. DH would keep a sheet of paper that showed them what they would have left if they bought whatever. Most of the time they would wait. If they did spend we knew it was something that they really wanted.

As they hit teenage years,it was GC and... when it's gone it gone. They both would have money to spend at the WOD at DTD our last day.

Now when it's DH and I we budget 100 to 150 for adult beverages and tips, then souvenirs whatever, and it depends on what time of year we go, For our upcoming trip in Dec, we will spend more as we are a disney family and everyone must get something from Disney.