Kids giftcards/money

[kathy040690]

I see a lot of posts about disney gift cards. would this be a good option to get each of the kids one with X amount of dollards on it so they can buy what they want with it and they have to budget or would it just be better to give them each cash ?

mind you they will only be 8,6,4 next time we visit the parks ! the 1 year old wont get one we will just buy her something

also the plan is to bring $300 a day for the 6 of us. 2 adults and the kids. should that be enough to eat and get a few little things ?

 

[Geemo]

I see a lot of posts about disney gift cards. would this be a good option to get each of the kids one with X amount of dollards on it so they can buy what they want with it and they have to budget or would it just be better to give them each cash ?

mind you they will only be 8,6,4 next time we visit the parks ! the 1 year old wont get one we will just buy her something

also the plan is to bring $300 a day for the 6 of us. 2 adults and the kids. should that be enough to eat and get a few little things ?

We have preferred cash for kids to spend. Gift cards are too much like credit cards.
I feel using cash gives the older ones experience with money and change from a purchase.
They can physically see how much money they actually have to spend.

Geemo

 

[kathy040690]

We have preferred cash for kids to spend. Gift cards are too much like credit cards.
I feel using cash gives the older ones experience with money and change from a purchase.
They can physically see how much money they actually have to spend.

Geemo

thank you for the response ! that makes a lot of sense !!

 

[sherilaine]

We tried gift cards one year and they are limited to certain stores so now we just do cash, it's accepted everywhere! Also, we needed th to be used up as the balance can't be used here in Canada at their store so cash makes for a more transferable option is any is left over.

 

[kathy040690]

We tried gift cards one year and they are limited to certain stores so now we just do cash, it's accepted everywhere! Also, we needed th to be used up as the balance can't be used here in Canada at their store so cash makes for a more transferable option is any is left over.

i never even thought of that !! ill have to use cash for sure than since disney gift cards would be useless if they dont use them up before we return to canada !!

 

[hanna-nana]

We took a Baggie with each kids' money. That way they could keep change separated too. The year we did gift cards we found we had to use $7 on this one, $4 on this one, to use them up. I'm sure we could have combined quickly if we knew about the website but we didn't at the time, and the kids were determined to spend every last bit. The cash in bags worked best.

 

[luulu1999]

We have used both, my kids save their money thru out the year so that is the cash they have last time they got a Disney card from Santa and a BaB for my DD and Ridemakerz for my son from the Easter Bunny...this time they have over $100 saved up in cash and they got $50 visa cards for Valentines so that is all they will be using this trip

 

[kathy040690]

my kids are great at saving money since they dont like to spend their own. i should tell them to start saving so they can use their own money in disneyland !! ill of course pay for all the food but they can buy their own souvenirs

 

[figment_jii]

I would probably also do cash because it can be used elsewhere later on, but it depends a little on whether or not you're giving it to the kids to hold. The biggest advantage to the gift card is that if it does get lost, you can call the Gift Card Guest Services phone number and have them cancel/suspend the gift card and transfer the remaining balance to a new gift card. You will need to know the gift card number. If they lose the cash, it's likely gone.

 

[kathy040690]

I would probably also do cash because it can be used elsewhere later on, but it depends a little on whether or not you're giving it to the kids to hold. The biggest advantage to the gift card is that if it does get lost, you can call the Gift Card Guest Services phone number and have them cancel/suspend the gift card and transfer the remaining balance to a new gift card. You will need to know the gift card number. If they lose the cash, it's likely gone.

i would more than likely have each kid a baggie but hold the money myself. with their young ages i dont think i would trust them to hold their own money

 

[Diszona]

We give the kids a gift card which they like because it ties in with the whole vacation and "Disney" theme and at least to them seems a little more special than cash. The card is an extra "gift" that is part of the vacation, they can also bring some of their own money if they have it saved (though they tend to want to spend their money on non-Disney stuff). They know that once the card is used up, that is it so it helps keep a limit on how much they spend. Geemo does make a good point about gift cards being similar to credit cards (and not getting the experience of getting change) but our kids spend their own money a good bit anyway and gift cards have become so common as birthday and Christmas presents (at least around here) that for us it isn't a big deal.

 

[tkradtke]

We have done American Express GCs in the past... those worked well since they could use them outside of Disney (like for legos at DTD). But regardless of what you use, giving the kids money up front saved us soooo many headaches over the course of our trip. There was no begging for toys, etc. at every gift shop because they knew they could buy it if they wanted to, they just had to figure out if they wanted it badly enough to use up their GC on it. And I didn't have to constantly say no. My daughter spent hers at pretty much the first store we saw and she had to go the rest of the trip without shopping. My son saved his until the very last day and went back for the things he wanted that he had seen along the way. Both of them knew that they had made their own decisions, so although there was some disappointment on my daughter's end, she knew it was her choice.

 

[tkradtke]

Oh... and to keep track, I held onto the cards (which I had written their names on in Sharpie) and we kept track of purchases on sheet sort of like a mini-check register so they were aware of what they had left to spend.

 

[luulu1999]

my kids are great at saving money since they don't like to spend their own. i should tell them to start saving so they can use their own money in disneyland !! ill of course pay for all the food but they can buy their own souvenirs

That is what I do with mine!! The whole year before our trip they save all chore money, birthday money, tooth fairy money etc they use their money for whatever they want and once their money is gone that is it I don't spend any of my money on their souvenirs!

 

[Luv_Tink]

We give our three girls (13, 10 and 8) Disney gift cards for each trip and they can bring their own cash that they have saved up as well. With the gift cards we just make sure to keep the most recent receipt which usually shows the balance left on the gift card. I then wrap the receipt around the card so it's right there and they know what they have left to spend. Sometimes, if they have been wise with their purchases and had good behavior, if their final purchase exceeds the amount left on their card, we will chip in for the rest as long as it's only a few dollars. Each of my girls has their own cross body purse they use in the parks but I always ask if they want me to hang on to their cards and cash for them. The oldest and youngest tend to hold on to their own but my middle one knows she has little impulse control so she lets me hold on to it until she's made a thoughtful decision.

 

[Nintfamily]

I give my kids a mix of cards/cash. This way they have the best of both worlds.

 

[Bobsmom]

At WDW I gave my 7yo ds his own gift card for souvenir shopping and it went really well. I didn't have to listen to "can we get this" or "I want that." He got 1 snack a day on the meal plan, and we each got mickey ears/hats when we arrived, but after that if he wanted an extra snack or trinket he had to spend his money. He was very judicious in its use and actually came home with leftover money that he'll get to use at DL in May. I carried it for him in my pocket and after each purchase I made him aware of the remaining balance.

 

[GenGen22]

When my kids were young we would tell them they get a certain amount to spend each and keep note of it On a note pad who spent how much and tally it as they bought stuff as our younger one would just lose his money all the time. He would be playing and it would fall from his pocket or he would set it down and forget it. Its hard to keep track of all this especially when we have 3. Its terrible if they lose money. Now that they are older we give them visa gift cards so, they can use them anywhere. Setting a certain amount for them to spend also taught them to make better decisions not to buy just anything and kept them for asking for everything all day.

 

[basketballmom]

When my kids were younger, we would take the total amount of money they had saved and divide it by the number of days we were in the parks. Then, I would put that much money into separate envelopes for each day/kid. Each day, they would get an envelope of money. They got really good at budgeting, because once the money for the day was gone, it was gone. They could, however, save the money and buy something bigger. I would buy all of their food, of course, and one fun snack per day. if they wanted more snacks, they had to buy them themselves. (p.s. my middle daughter always spent most of her money on snacks!)