Kids Earning Spending Money for Disney

[JenniBB]

Every summer my kids work on a "Summer Bridge" book and also have more house chores than they do during the school year. Since our trip is Aug 22-30, this summer I plan for the chores and workbooks to earn "Disney Dollars" for each child. We'll give each child a base amount of spending money (yet to be determined - any ideas??) and then whatever they EARN for their work will be added to this. I've saved a lot, but how much is a good ball park figure for souvies? What do you let your kids spend on all that? DO you budget an amount per day, or an amount per park?

 

[Bephus]

Unfortunately this is such a personal decision. I have young kids so I don't give them much $. We are giving each of them $25 for our upcoming trip as a base amount and ds3 is earning spending $ through little chores around the house. He will have maybe another $15 but I am not sure I will let him spend it all at the world.
I think it depends on your normal budget and what you are comfortable with.
I do remember only being allowed one gift per trip as a child so that most likely influenced my decision.
HTH and have a fun trip this summer.

 

[Tam1067]

I do not give my kids any base amount. However, I pay them for reading. For each 100 pages they read, they get $1 for Disney. I have a few rules, namely that the books have to be at their reading level, and they cannot get credit for the same book twice (my kids like to reread their favorites). I find that each of them ends up with about $50 or so. They can also use their allowance or birthday money on top of the reading money.

I really like it that my kids have their own money. I buy each one a shirt or hat--their choice--and then any other souvenir is up to them. So at Xmas, they went crazy over Vinylmations and at various items in the Japanese store in EPCOT, and it was totally their choice. I didn't even argue with them because they were spending their own money on what they wanted.

 

[jagafen]

How old are your kids? I think it depends more on your kid's ages and the # of kid's you'll be supporting in their work efforts. There is, afterall, only one family budget!! DS gets most of his spending $$ at holidays and birthdays int he form of Disney gift cards....that way, mom and dad can pre-pay his "I wants", but he still has control over his own funds.

 

[JenniBB]

Thanks for the replies - it really helps to see what others' are thinking!

I had read somewhere here on the boards that one mom gave the kids $20 per day and I just don't know about specifying which DAY they can spend, kwim?
I always got a t-shirt as a kid (and loved the memories whenever I wore the shirt) so I suppose that will be a "parent buy". I'm guesstimating that they'll end up with maybe $50-$75 each (3 kids) - like I said, I've saved the $ already, they just have to EARN it with doing their summer review books and chores.

Thanks again! This board rocks!

 

[asreiter]

After our 1st trip and enourmous amount of souvenirs and a broken piggy bank to boot, we have started giving our kids 19, 10, and 9 $50.00. They can choose to bring their own money also but for the 2 younger ones we only allow them to bring an additional $100.00. They earn their money by doing chores around the house, or birthdays and Christmas. I purchase a Disney gift card for them and put the spending money on there. You can also add money to them by calling the number on the back of the card. That way they can spend the money whenever they want but when it's gone it's gone.

 

[kuayoung]

I think this is posted on the Budget Board by my kids DD10 and DS6 have started doing surveys through Kidzeyes to make some money. Each of you will want to trust what you trust but I did a LOT of research before I started this. Since last August, my kids have earned $80 between the two of them for Disney. The surveys aren't hard and have been interesting. Sometimes they ask for parents to take one but it has not been a burden. If you have a 6 year old (not sure if it is gender specific) they love to send them surveys. My son has received far more surveys than my daughter.