If You Don't Mind Sharing; What is the age and souvenir allowance for your kiddos?

[scoobygrl79]

I know there are plenty factors to consider, like if you visit WDW often or not, or ages of the kids, and of course, the biggest factor being your budget, but I just wondered if I am really being chintzy with my 7, 6, and 3 yr old. See, my kids have been lucky enough to pretty much have visited WDW every year since they were born, so to me, a huge souvenir budget isn't a big deal to me. I mean, they'll likely go back soon if not the very next year. I always felt $100 a piece is okay, enough for a cute clothing item plus some sort of stuffed animal/toy...that is, UNTIL I planned this upcoming Sept trip with my cousin and her 6yr old daughter....um, the kid has a $700-$800 souvenir allowance all to herself. However, this will be her first trip and definitely will likely not go back often, if ever again. It's just not a priority that my cousin has for her child. Soooo...not only do I need to figure out a way to handle my kids watching their cousin shop like a rockstar during our time together, but I also feel cheap now. I'm a 100% judge-free person, I'm just wondering what fellow Dis'ers think is appropriate, or should i say, "works for their family", regarding budgeted souvenir allowance for the kids. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[havaneselover]

Those situations are tough. $100 a piece seems like a lot to me. We haven't been to WDW since 2009, but we cruise and my kids ask for Disney gift cards for Christmas and birthdays and I shopkick. I didn't give them any souvenir money at all. That said, my budget is tight and a cruise is a huge splurge which I sacrifice a lot of other things to afford. My DD 11 spent $100 or so on our last cruise but that included a Pandora charm. My DS spent $50. Both came home with $50 or so in gift cards.

 

[Dizlvr]

I'm not sure why you think you are being chintzy, you say that your kids have been every year since they were born so you've probably spent quite alot on souvenirs, especially if you spend $100 each, each visit. If your cousin's child isn't going back I don't see much difference in spending $600 in one shot or in the course of a few years.

My kids get $50 each from me and dh, and they are free to bring any of their own money to spend of they want. They are older (teens), don't wear Disney clothes, don't want toys, and don't really like to shop.

 

[Beezle2]

My 13 year old did will have about $200 for a 10 day trip. Some we give her, some she earned. She will shop and buy whatever snacks she wants.

 

[aprilchem]

I wouldn't consider that chintzy at all - my kids are 5, 7, and 9 and get $20 each for an entire trip (usually about a week). They only buy one item, usually a small stuffed animal or something. We don't want to come home with a lot of things that we won't use or need later.

 

[Arden01]

My 10 year old daughters (twins) will be given a $50 gift card each for our 10 day trip. That's a gift from their grandmother. I will also buy them Mickey ears and an autograph book. That's more than enough for us.

 

[eliza61]

We have a family tradition of everyone gets a tee shirt. I have all boys, and even in their twenties they enjoy the tradition.

So they don't get an allowance now that they are in their twenties. One problem we did have when they were younger was that since disney is so "princess" heavy, outside of star wars every thing is geared toward little girls.
Generally they got 1 souvenier each trip, no matter the length. we only had to buy autograph books the first year, and we got a good 3 years use out of them.

LOL, unfortunately I'm the big problem. lol, I always buy a mickey watch, some thing resort specific and then I usually buy some thing from Basins at downtown disney and some thing additional for the house. I love the stuff in Africa at Animal kingdom.

 

[bbarba]

We are lucky enough to have an extended family that end up paying for the kids souvenirs. My children end up going with like $200 for a week.

Our struggle is not how much money, but what they buy. They would love to buy lots of stuffed animals, we are working to redirect them to something else.

 

[kj2mom]

We went for my twins 5th birthday. It was set up as the trip of a lifetime and generally our rule when doing trips is they get to choose one thing soooo I let them choose one thing a day. At that age I never mentioned price, they just chose something they wanted. One day my son chose something that was $75 and my daughter chose something that was $10. Price meant nothing to them, they never even looked at a tag, they just selected something they wanted. We are actually going back this year, 9 years later, and for the last year at any gift giving time people have been giving them Disney gift cards so they are taking their own money, I will give them nothing nor buy them anything except necessities (food/water type stuff). I would just make sure you set your children up with the info so they have their expectations set (I tend to over set, telling them numerous times that they need to be smart with their one item because once they choose something there is nothing else). I think we as parents often times over think this kind of stuff and the kids end up having no issue with it.

 

[lbmiller77]

I'm taking my 3 year old for the first time in October. We are staying 14 nights and he is only getting $100 for souvenirs. I agree with a previous poster. I hate buying things that will never be used once we get home so I am probably going to encourage him to get something at the Lego Store or find an action figure that he likes. We are visiting Disney for the experience and memories, not to buy material things.

 

[dianna_nc]

My 12 and 14 yr old boys will get $50 each for this trip. If they want to spend more it will be their own money.

 

[kj2mom]

Sometimes the material things continue the experience for years. One of the days my then 5 year old son chose a Splash Mountain tshirt. He is now 13 and years ago that shirt was made into a pillow that he uses every night. Almost 9 years later that souvenir is still used every single day.

 

[worm761]

I know there are plenty factors to consider, like if you visit WDW often or not, or ages of the kids, and of course, the biggest factor being your budget, but I just wondered if I am really being chintzy with my 7, 6, and 3 yr old. See, my kids have been lucky enough to pretty much have visited WDW every year since they were born, so to me, a huge souvenir budget isn't a big deal to me. I mean, they'll likely go back soon if not the very next year. I always felt $100 a piece is okay, enough for a cute clothing item plus some sort of stuffed animal/toy...that is, UNTIL I planned this upcoming Sept trip with my cousin and her 6yr old daughter....um, the kid has a $700-$800 souvenir allowance all to herself. However, this will be her first trip and definitely will likely not go back often, if ever again. It's just not a priority that my cousin has for her child. Soooo...not only do I need to figure out a way to handle my kids watching their cousin shop like a rockstar during our time together, but I also feel cheap now. I'm a 100% judge-free person, I'm just wondering what fellow Dis'ers think is appropriate, or should i say, "works for their family", regarding budgeted souvenir allowance for the kids. Thanks in advance for your input.

My suggestion for you would be to prepare your kids for her budget before you get there. Give them what you normally do because that is what works for your family. And if the kids give you grief ask them if they would rather a bigger spending amount for this one trip or if they would rather keep coming back.

As for what my kids are given it really depended. DS is now 19 and pays for his own trips. He doesn't even go with us anymore. He travels with his grandfather instead. I started taking him when he was 5 and we went almost every year. Some years he had $100. Some years more and some less. We always had fun but I was a single parent for a while there.

Now, we take DD who is only 5. We don't give her spending money. We just buy her stuff. Trying to think back and I think I spent close to $500 on her on our last trip. But I am the first to admit that she is spoiled. My husband says spoiled is just another name for loved.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

My sons are 5 and 8, and usually bring about $50 for a week - we keep the money, and they ask when they want to spend it (otherwise we'd have a lot of balloons being left on busses as we stay at AKV......) I also plan on getting them each a shirt (not from their spending money), and during the week, they take a picture of any large item they want, and at the end of the week, they pick the ones they liked best (and can afford), and we go back to get it. They save their birthday money for trips, as well as the money they make from their chickens - they take care of them, and are allowed to sell the eggs and keep the money.

 

[smiths02]

My son will be 9 and will get a $50 gift card as part of our trip money. His birthday is 2 weeks before the trip, so he may have birthday money.
The two year olds will get $35 each
DH and I will probably end up with $50-75 each (Visa rewards money)
I also spent A LOT at Stride Rite/Disney Store/Target/Wal-mart, so the kids already have swimsuits, shirts, sunglasses, shoes, coloring books, etc. themed to Disney stuff.
Everyone has an autograph book (most of it, I worked in as Christmas or birthday presents).
My older DS also got some pins and a lanyard for Christmas and will get more pins on his birthday.

 

[finny1981]

My kids will each get $100 for our 10 day trip. I was chastised by someone else and told that is only $10 per day, but I don't expect them to spend everyday, just one or two key things. Like everyone else said we are not going to get a whole bunch of stuff just one or two things each as keepsakes. I too made my daughter's special t-shirt into a pillow once she outgrew it!

 

[kymom99]

Sometimes the material things continue the experience for years. One of the days my then 5 year old son chose a Splash Mountain tshirt. He is now 13 and years ago that shirt was made into a pillow that he uses every night. Almost 9 years later that souvenir is still used every single day.

My son bought very little in his 4 trips. But the first trip he asked for a hat. It was a buzz lightyear baseball cap. When he outgrew it, I passed it to his nephews. I was looking at out autograph book with my grandson the other day. I put pictures with the characters alongside the autographs. My grandson noticed my son's hat and said we have a hat like that! I told him it is the same hat! He was surprised! Nice that it is now making someone else happy.

 

[RMColosimo]

We give $50 each to our kids, we have three girls. They all spend it differently, but they love the freedom of having the money. We are going next month, and we are going to give each a $25 gift card, and buy $25 each in Disney cash at the resort. I think this will be a little more fun for the girls to actually have something other than a credit card to put into their wallets/purses.

Also, if there is something they really want, and it is in our budget, we would most likely 'help' them purchase it, or look to see if we could get it online cheaper and let them 'save' up for it later.

But I like the fact that my kids know they have a limit to what they can spend, and it is tangible and in their hands.

 

[verleniahall]

I earned my spending money - mowing the lawn, mowing my grandma's lawn, brothers lawn, etc... AND - i collected nickles. I got everyone's nickels growing up - i ended up with over $200 just in nickles for 1 year. I think i was in 6th or 7th grade the year we went on vacation

 

[Chase781]

My kids are still young (5 and 7), so we don't give them a budget, we just buy them little gifts. I'd guess that we spend $50-$100 on each, per trip.