How much?

[melmacd]

How much do you typically allot for your children's spending money? Do you split it up to equal so much per day? We've been saving our spare change for DD(5) and with a bit of birthday money she has somewhere in the neighborhood of $220US, do you think that will be enough? Or should we add to it?

~mel

 

[mamatojade]

Wow, I thought that my 5 yo dd and her $75 CDN was overboard. We will be there for four days and she will not have to buy food.

 

[hlbtimes2]

My kids dont get anywhere near that much! We probably dont even spend that much total as a family of 4. Unless one of us gets a new coat or something like that. I usually let them buy a few little things (maybe a total of $25-$35) and I buy them a tshirt or sweatshirt. Oh, and they usually get $20 to spend at build a bear. They can either get an outfit for an animal they have or a cheap animal and an outfit. We usually have a $5 off $25 purchase so that helps. This trip we also have $10 off at BAB, so that will help.

 

[melmacd]

We'll be at DL for five days and at Seaworld for one -- but since this is her birthday present from us, and she was given money from family members (grandma and DH's aunt), she'll most likely want to do things like Build-a-bear ontop of the Disney-thing. We figured that if there's something she wants, souvie-wise, she can use her money to purchase it. Obviously all food and snacks are parent-purchase items.

Ok, I'm guessing that by the above response, she has an adequate amt. of money.

~mel

 

[melbarkwith]

Both my 4 & 5YO DD's will have $130 US each.
We will buy them t-shirts etc, but this is for those other things that we would normally say no to. The only requirement is that they must buy their sister a birthday present (1st b'day the week after we get home), but otherwise they can do as they please. Oh, and we are there 11 days (incl Knotts and SeaWorld)

Mel

 

[pindecisive]

Thats a good amount.

When I was 15 I was supposed to get a hundred a day and i'da been be paying for food.

I ended up getting 40 for a 3 days trip...

Yea...gives new meaning to evil stepmother

200 sounds good though. Thats about how much i'd spend on gewgaws and pins. Gotta have the pins.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I usually just save "fun money" and don't really separate it per person. If I do I look at it this way, I'll have to have a snow globe, and few other things. DH likes to get a hat and shirt, and the rest goes to my son. We typically bring around $500 in "fun money" but I'm embarassed to say during the 50th one year I spent more. hehe

I would say at 5 the $220 is good, maybe $250 if you want to add to it. One of my fondest memories as a kid was going back to the DLH on the monorail holding the biggest Goofy they had on mainstreet. So I had to do that for my son, he got second to the biggest Mickey on mainstreet (the biggest dang, a lot bigger then my Goofy was! LOL).

 

[Andrew812]

WOW you guys are way to genorous. We gave our kids, who were10 and 8 50 doolars and they were told that this was all they were getting. We bought them some T-shirts from the places we whent aswell as other nick knacks. The 50 was for what they wanted to buy themselves.
We useally take fun money for things and that is all it's used for,

 

[labagit]

My kids, 7 and 10 are each getting a $25 Disney card. I'll also spend about the same on them. I'll probably allow them to bring ~$10 of their own money.

 

[utahkennedys]

I would say about $25, but we are very frugal. A trip to DL or WDW is "enough" for our kids we think, and we don't want to come home with more toys than we already have!

 

[c&m]

Wow. You are all generous. Good thing my DDs don't go on this board, otherwise they'd feel deprived and short-changed!!! We give our DDs $25 each for souvenirs if we do 3 days at DL. If we're going to WDW, we give them $50 each. We pay for all their food/lodging/necessities.

By giving them limited spending money, we eliminate some junk or unnecessary items that they may want to buy. (I am the anti pack-rate.) There have been so many occasions where our kids have bought stuff at the height of excitement, only to come home and throw the stuff off to the side. With the $25 given to each child, we watch them manage their money and carefully evaluate what they truly love and want to buy.

On the past few trips, our DDs have been buying pressed pennies and some pins. We're quite pleased with their souvenir selections -- small and less stuff to squeeze into the suitcases when it's time to go home!

 

[Mom2micayla]

My daughters (4&5) would kill for $250. We give them $25 each, and that's all they get. I find it works out best. They get to understand about money and work on basic math skills. Plus it makes them really think and prioritize what's most important to them. Usually they keep their money until the last day and then spend it. We "window" shop up until that point so they can get ideas of what they like and what it costs. I do feel bad though when they have their heart set on something more expensive, but then I remember how 95% of their toys end up in the bottom of the toy box and are rarely played with.

Of course we do buy all their food/snacks and if I find a shirt or something I want for them, I'll pay for that too. But that's pretty rare.

 

[limace]

Yeah, I wouldn't give my 10 year old nearly that much. She'll have some of her own money-maybe $75, and we might add a bit, but man, she has way too much stuff already. Even if money was no object in our family, we have no desire to encourage her to accumulate more crap and she'll buy just for the sake of buying. I know she'll spend every red cent that she takes, and it'll be a challenge to not have her do that the first day.

 

[bclydia]

Wow!! That's a lot of money for a 5 yr old. I'd be putting together some pretty specific guidelines with that kind of money! Our nieces saved up and had $12 per day, I think. That gave them the chance to budget their money and save up for something bigger/better tomorrow. They were very careful about their money and it saved a lot of hassle with the "I wants".

 

[hlbtimes2]

One more thing to consider- how often does the family visit DL? A lot of us that give the kids smaller budgets visit more often. I dont give my kids a lot, because we go about once a year. They dont really need a lot on each trip. If we only went once every few years I would be tempted to let them buy more.

Our trip in 2 weeks will be the 4th trip since Dec. 03 for them, plus me and daddy have both been without them and brought back gifts.

 

[rentayenta]

Our kids get about $100 each for a 7 day trip.

 

[EMAW]

I can't post live links yet, but copy and paste this link for a coupon to Build a Bear in DTD.

buildabear.com/lp/tourism/anaheim91203.aspx?sc_cid=md_tourism_orbitz_anaheim

Em

 

[Mom2micayla]

One more thing to consider- how often does the family visit DL? A lot of us that give the kids smaller budgets visit more often. I dont give my kids a lot, because we go about once a year. They dont really need a lot on each trip. If we only went once every few years I would be tempted to let them buy more.

Good point, Linda. I hadn't thought of it that way. We got all the time (usually 2-4x in a year span) so that certainly makes a difference. But I still don't know about giving a 5yo $250. That's an awful lot of money. But then, I'm very "frugal". Either way, I'm sure the OP will find that $250 is plenty for her daughter. I suppose she could always bring more and then put whatever is left over into her daughter's savings account or whatever.

 

[mamatojade]

I can't post live links yet, but copy and paste this link for a coupon to Build a Bear in DTD.

buildabear.com/lp/tourism/anaheim91203.aspx?sc_cid=md_tourism_orbitz_anaheim

Em

http://www.buildabear.com/lp/tourism/anaheim91202.aspx

 

[FallDisney]

Our kids (8, 11) will get 15 -20 USD per day. Mom and Dad pay for hotel, tickets and regular meals. Snacks and souviners are on them. They usually come home with money and I don't hear any "Gimme" either. Makes for a great vacation!