My kids have always had their own spending money and that seems to help tons. They would save up Birthday/Christmas money and/or we would give them a Disney Gift Card to use also.
Even when DD13 was 4 she knew she only had so much to spend. She knew for sure she wanted a Pooh Stuffed Animal before we left. Everytime she looked at something she would ask me the price and then ask "Is that all my money" and we would tell her no and then she would ask "Is that alot of my money". It was so darn cute and funny we still say that to her to this day.
So, my point is even at 4 years old she got the concept of having a set amount of money for her to buy soveneirs and she had to decide carefully on each item if it was worth it or not. I think she ended up spending most of her money on that trip but decided carefully how to spend it. DS6 (at the time) is not much of a soveneir person so brought most of his money home and went to Target and got some transformers instead...
We do this too. It seems to work the best for us. Our children like to have more control over their choices/life and by us setting limits on when they can spend money, it causes us problems. By giving a set amount at the start of the trip, they're naturally inclined to wait several days to decide if they actually want it or not.
Just a little extra bit,
If you or your child sees something they "have" to have, but you're a bit hesitant about it ask a cast member in the shop if it's available in other parks or stores on property.
I've made this mistake SO many times! I'll see something I want and think i'll just get it somewhere else later and it's not sold or at least found anywhere else.
This happens to me in stores like Villains In Vogue in HS and Mouse gears in EPCOT.
Just a good tip because it is frustrating looking for one thing every shop you go in just to find out it was only sold in that one store and it's now sold out.
Yes, we've run in to this problem before. It's led to a few tears and a lot of apologies - and some learning on our part.
Gotta love Disney also, there's a reason almost every ride dumps you into a gift shop. LOL.
3. Mom and dad do have "ultimate" powers. I know folks give some kids total freedom with their money but lol, my kids were always the ones who wanted the totally unacceptable gift. One of my kids once wanted an authentic samuri sword out of japan. Nope, not going to happen. I saw too many ER visits in my future.
4. We always tried also to lend "guidance" on their gift choices. Many years ago when they still had the vigin record store in DTD one kid wanted a CD. I didn't want to say no outright but I did explalin that he could get music cd's anywhere.
We do lend guidance as well, as the example above, but let them make their own choice. For something like a samurai sword, if they could afford it, we'd let them get it. However I highly doubt my children would be mature enough to save enough money until they were also mature enough to handle a sword - and keep it put away. Their friends, however, would be another matter. But we already have a stash of things that gets put away when friends come over, so a sword would just fall in to the same category.
Great tips! Don't forget to take a pic of the UPC / pricetag. If, say, the chosen souvenir was at AK, and you can't get back there before you have to catch your flight, or if that particular shop is sold out, I believe you can call mail order after you get back home. From what I understand, the more specific you are and the more info you can provide them, the easier it will be for them to find your item.
Yes, you'll have to pay shipping, but it's generally less than extra baggage fees.
more info on mail order: (not sure how up-to-date it is)
http://allears.net/tp/mailorder.htm
If you're onsite, the resort gift shop can often get stuff from a park for you if you have this information. You need at least 2 more days before you return home though.
My DD (now almost 20) was a typical "I wants" kid. When she was 6, we started giving her an allowance. I'm sorry, I don't remember the amount. We did not give her any restrictions on that money EXCEPT - she could not by snacks or treats for the 2 hours or so before a meal.
It was a pretty quick lesson - that there is tax on items. That cheap junk breaks right away, and then the item is useless. Oh - and if she lost her money (happened on occasion) - oh well - better keep better track of it next time.
When we took our trip to Disney and a Cruise when she was 9 - she had money that we gave her, as well as allowance and gift money. She was long past the "I wants" stage. She very purposefully picked her souvenirs for the trip. A watch, possibly of Eyore and a beach towel. Probably a few other littler items too.
To this day - giving her control of her money to handle was the BEST thing we ever could have done. She is in college now - and I occasionally have to tell her it is OK to spend some money!
I think I veered a little off topic - but I think teaching kids about money isn't "just" about getting a souvenir on vacation - it is a life long skill that should be developed early. The people who never had the opportunity to learn this lesson as kids have no clue how to manage money as adults.
Oh the things DH and I learned over the course of the past 7 years as parents.First we were not taught money sense from our parents,a nd when we arrived in Disney the first few years we were horrible. Our DDs were like, "Why would we want to go to a gift shop?"
but we brought them in, showed them dozen toys, and asked "Don't you want this?" We were not smart lol
But we did learn. Now our children get an allowance at home every time DH gets paid. Half of that must go into savings - the rest is theirs to do with as they see fit. If they save it up for the trip, then they can get a lot more, or they can spend it before the trip and not have as much for the trip. It's a toss up for them which is the better option, but they've learned a lot in the past year about saving and budgeting - and about doing odd jobs around the community to earn extra money.
Now when we get to the parks every person in our family gets the same amount of spending money - anything saved from our allowances prior to that is there to spend if wanted.
