Merchandise and Children

[akline]

We are taking our 5 year old daughter to Disney World for the first time (we both have been there). Any suggestions about monitoring merchandise purchases and/or requests from her, as the temptations will be great and she will want everything?? Thanks!

 

[melk]

You could get some Disney dollars at The Disney Store and tell her she can spend it, but remember, when it's gone, it's gone. Explain she could get one "big" souvenier or a few small things, it's up to her how she spends it. Personally, my kids know they're allowed to pick out one hat (or mouse ears, whatever), one "big" item, like a stuffed animal, and one "small" item (like a lightstick at the parade). I often remind them to pick wisely and they really do well with it. They've never broken down begging for things there because they know they will get their souveniers once they decide on them. Have fun, five is a great age for a trip there!

 

[Jordan's MOM]

My DS (9) is earning Disney Dollars.Two birds with one stone for me.He does what I need him to do to earn the money and it puts him is control of how much spending money he gets.I will buy the "ears" and one shirt.The rest is up to him.
Jordan's Mom

 

[Super Mom]

My DS's and I were just discussing this today. My boys (9, 7, &3) will have $10/day for souveniers. We will purchase t-shirts. It is up to them to budget the rest. My 7 yr. old has asked to be reminded during the day if there is a nighttime event planned as he loves things that glow/light up and doesn't want to run out of money early.

We have also discussed that we will be getting one snack in the morning and one in the afternoon and they are not to ask for every treat that they see.

 

[CindyAnn]

Hi Akline and welcome to the DIS! I think one of the best things we did on our last trip was to allow DD (age 4) and DS (age 7) to control their own spending money. We gave them a certain number of Disney Dollars to spend every day and put them in their waistpacks. They were allowed to hold over from other days or borrow from the next day, but when it was gone, it was gone. They spent absolutely NO time nagging us for extra stuff. It was amazing! DS tended to save up and buy a few bigger things while DD almost always went for the beanie babies. I had been afraid that DD would be too young to understand, but we would explain that she had enough money for the beanie baby or the princess necklace, but not both so she would have to choose. We told them we would buy them a hat and T-shirt each, but other than that they stayed within their limits. That approach really worked well for us.