How to handle money/souveniers for DS at DL???

[seagodess]

How do you handle money for souvenirs for your kids?
I have read that some people give there kids a budget, some wait until the last day and then only get the things that stick in their minds.
DS (5), has a piggy bank where he saves his money for things he wants. We don't really buy him toys and such except for bday/xmas. He currently has about $30+. We have decided that is what he will be allowed to have to buy things HE wants at DL. We do plan on buying him things ourselves, but it will probably be on the larger things WE want him to have.
What would be the best way to handle his money? Split up how much he saves and let him have a certain amount each day? let him have it all at once? Wait until the last day?

 

[kailuagirl]

We have a 4 year old. When we go to DL, we don't really set a money limit on what she'll get or how much to spend. (And she doesn't know this). But I don't let her go hog wild either and she never does. One year we went and I couldn't really find anything cool, and last year we did. You never know what you'll find.

I recommend you tell him ahead of time there are lots of cool things he is going to see that he is going to want and there is lots of cool other stores to look at that he might find something he likes better. So I'd spread it out, you'll know when he finds something he really really wants. My DD in Nov. went nuts over this Dumbo stuffed animal with the blanket around it and she still months later is playing and sleeping with it everynight. She never lets it go. It is even in all our pictures from Disneyland. We love it!

Have fun! You know your child best and how he normally behaves in stores in asking for things. Now if he likes Cars, you might be in trouble, as I'm sure there is going to be cars merchandise galore there

 

[mouseymommy]

We gave our kids gift cards and told them they could buy their souvenirs with that money. We told them to look out for what they might like to purchase. On our last day they bought their souvenirs. We did end up giving them a few extra dollars, but they were super excited about what they got. Have fun on your trip!

 

[californiamomof4grls]

My girls helped me get ready for a huge garage sale and with the profits we got all 4 girls a $50 GC. I handed each girl $50 in cash so that we understand that it's real money and told them when its' gone it's gone. So they need to be careful in the park about what it is they want to take home. But my girls are older 11,9,7,5. I don't think the 5 year old gets it at all. She thinks it's got 15 dollars on it. I would just bring it let him know he has it and then pick a day to let him go around in one of the stores and find what he wants.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We rewarded our DD with her good grades and put money on a gift card for her. She is 11 so she was responsible for her own card. She was pretty aware of prices and how much value she could get for how much money she had.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

one year my son had 50 in his huge bank, this year he wont have that but if they save change it can add up

 

[soaringirl]

seagodess: my son was 4-turning-to-5 on his 1st trip to WDW. Along with his then 7yo sister, we told them they each had a certain amount of money. That worked exceptionally well. Never did they asked more money, and they thought twice when wanted something. I would tell them how much money they had, and they worked with that.
We've been doing that for our 4 trips, 3 to WDW and 1 to DLR. Now we're on the verge of our 5th family trip (yei!) it's the same. They are now 10 & 12, but it has worked as good as the other times.
Once, he was 6 and all he wanted was a light-saber. He didn't even looked at all the toys since he wanted to save money for the last day and buy it. Only on our 3rd trip did he wanted more, but we restrained him a little so he wouldn't spend all his money on the first two days.
Hope this helps!

 

[gis]

There are SO many great things at Disneyland, and even as an adult I have to really limit what I purchase lest I be out $100 a day.. and that's not even close what I see other people spending there.

One thing that I always do is to remind myself that I should wait until I visit all the shops and then choose what I want at the end of the day before I leave. This makes me not do that impulse buy and it also helps me not be carrying items around all day long (or I guess, in your case.. prevents you from having to carry items around all day.)

Another thing I do is take pictures of what I like, then when there is a resting spot, I go through them and make real decisions when they're all next to each other..

In the end, I would vote to let him have things on the last day.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I find that by giving them a budget it gives them a sense of responsibility to a certain degree. They tend to be more careful when it's their money that they are spending. We will kick in a max of $5 towards something they want if it's a bigger ticket item and it will take their entire budget (such as Lego). But that's the most we'll give them. They know that the amt we give them is the amt they will have to spend and won't go over. However we do buy the odd item for them and don't take it out of their budget.

 

[Beee]

My DD is quite a bit older but she will be responsible for her own money on our holiday. She is 12 and we are coming from New Zealand so its a big trip for us so she is trying to save $500. We will probably put $100 of that on a disney gift card and see how we go (we're also going to LA & Hawaii so the $500 will not just be for DL). She'll have saved it herself so its hers to do what she wants with but she knows there will be no money from us if she spends it all and finds something else she wants.

Of course at your child's young age you can guide them towards good choices but at the end of the day it is a good lesson to learn - that there is a finite amount of money to go around and once it is gone it is gone. We have actually been teaching this to our DD since she was about 5 giving her a weekly allowance - whenever we were out and she wanted something she had to use her own money which was great for me, no more pestering to buy candy & toys. As she got a bit older she realised that saving the weekly allowance meant she could afford to buy bigger and better things and over the years has saved up to buy herself ipods, a netbook etc. So now she's got quite a good handle on money so I'm pretty sure she will use her money wisely - the one thing I do though is hold on to 90% of the money for her, she is terrible for losing things!

 

[ashnjam]

With our 7yo we made these fake "disney bucks" that she earns doing chors around the house or just doing something we didn't ask her to do. Or good grades in school etc. But we can also take one away if she does something bad. Whatever she earns we will put it on a gift card for her to use in the parks. I like it this way because if we just give her cash as she earns it she could blow it on something before hand or lose it in one of her purses etc.

 

[mydisneymoney]

Obviously understanding the concept of money is a must here. My DS6 know that money buys things. He knows that 10+5=15 doesn't understand really what the value of a dollar is. We are planning on going in November and I think I am going to start really working on the whole money concept in greater detail so by then he can have a gift card with money just for him. Also in our previous trips, we had to remind him early on that we were going to be there several days and that he really needed to look around and go to several shops before deciding what he wanted to spend his money on. We also tried to keep him for buying something at the beginning of the day so we didn't have to haul it around all day.

 

[bleeps]

We took our son on his first Disney trip (WDW) for his 5th birthday (he turned 5 while we were there). Also, I work at an elementary school.

With those two perspectives -- of my own son, and of many, many 5 year old children -- I'll say that it would be really unusual for a 5 year old to have a clear concept of money, or the value of things. Even if he's a strong mathematician and could, for example, keep a running tab backwards of his money (started with $40, spent $10, now have $30, etc.), making a value choice between something that won't break easily or that's priced appropriately really isn't developmentally possible for most kids at that age. Also, "saving" experiences/purchases over the course of a trip can be a pretty abstract concept as well, as is waiting to see if something more interesting comes along on another day or at another shop.

I think it really depends on your perspective, and what you'd like him to learn or what values you are trying to instill. If it really is HIS money and you want him to learn what that means, then you could take a deep breath and really let him go for it. You know his personality, so you know if he's likely to blow it in a day or if he'll eek it out. You also know how well he'll be able to live with his choices.

We've generally taken the approach that DS needed to save his own money to spend on the things he really wanted (with the understanding that we'd buy him a few things, esp. clothing items), that once it's gone it's gone, and that we did have *right of refusal* on more expensive things. He's 14 now so it's a different kind of process, but we've been careful about when we do or don't let him blow money on things we know he won't care about or use after the trip -- whether it's his own money or not -- because in the long run we knew that's what was going to work best for him. (He doesn't need any guidance now, and makes very thoughtful and responsible choices.)

Relenting once in a while helps make the lessons meaningful (you don't know how quickly some of that stuff breaks until you buy it!), but personally I'd hesitate to let a 5 year old just completely hold the reins (unless you think he can learn from and live with his mistakes).

 

[Isatricia]

We just got home with our 6 & 8 year old girls. They did not have a budget, nor did they really ask for things. They already know that they may or may not get things when we go to the store - this includes gift shops at places we visit. We visited the local Walmart that had a HUGE section of Disney items that were a fraction of the cost to purchase in the parks. They were able to pick out t-shirts they wanted. Daddy surprised them with stuffed animals and more t-shirts one morning. They were so excited and they knew they already had souvenirs.

 

[mouseymommy]

With our 7yo we made these fake "disney bucks" that she earns doing chors around the house or just doing something we didn't ask her to do. Or good grades in school etc. But we can also take one away if she does something bad. Whatever she earns we will put it on a gift card for her to use in the parks. I like it this way because if we just give her cash as she earns it she could blow it on something before hand or lose it in one of her purses etc.

I love this idea! I may have to steal this!

 

[CanadianDisneyDad]

the Disney Bucks was an awesome idea.

for us with teenage daughters they have their own money but i will usually pitch in fro sweaters or other clothing.

As for shopping time, we actually start the first day we are there. Our first visit we waited till the last day and it seem quite rushed and chaotic. So now we usually arrive the day before and head to Downtown disney and start looking to see what we like. The as the days go by we occasionally stop for a break and window shop, by the ende of yoru trip you will know what you want.

cheers