money for kids

[kaysmommie]

We are planning on using our rewrds card for souvenirs. It is like $280 pts. for the week. It is for all of us to use. DD 6 wants everything as well as DS 2. DD wants a costume, Minnie ears, Mickey birthstone earings and probably alot of other stuff she sees. Ds will get to pick a toy, Tshirt, Mickey ears and probably a spinner that lights up. Mom & Dad will probably just sweatshirts or something for the house.

 

[taximomfor4]

Why does it shock me to see parents forking over money to kids that age when they could be earning it?

They're old enough to earn some cash. How they divide up what they've earned is up to them. I guarantee they won't spend $20 a day if it's coming out of their own pocket. More likely, they'll choose one or two things that really matter to them. The added bonus is, you then don't have a bunch of meaningless junk laying around when they lose interest after you get home.

I am with you on this!! Although my house is relatively small for all 6 of us, so the thought of $100 worth of "stuff" PER KID makes me cringe, lol.

We actually spoke to our kids before booking the trip, and got 100% agreement to donate their survey money (they do surveys) to add an extra night to our trip. The rest of the survey money is getting split for souvenirs -- about $30/kid this trip. I know many people are probably horrified at that, but if we wanted to go down a day early, I wanted the kids to have a say in it AND get the idea of how much each day of a vacation at WDW costs. For our Magical Fireworks cruise (about $120), I talked to the kids about skipping one Irish Dance competition out of town, and using that money for the fireworks cruise. They took 2 days to decide, but then decided it made sense and sounded worthwhile (they have 3 other cities' competitions this summer).

I guess I am saying that while we consider $25-$30 TOTAL spending money for each kid sufficient (we consider just getting there an accomplishment, lol), others have the space to put more souvenirs, and consider the buying of lots of "Stuff" part of the whole vacation experience.

 

[jennilouwho]

I'm with the people who think $20 total for the whole trip is good! I would think the rides/shows/pools should be enough for entertainment. I never got to go as a kid, my parents just couldn't afford it, and would have been grateful just for that. My kids are going to get to pick one thing out at the end, $20 or less and that's it! Memories, photos, and video are souveniers enough, IMO.

 

[Trini]

I went to Disney Store today and got them each $50 worth of Disney Dollars and will give them $50 in cash. Thats $100 for 8 days. I think it should be enough.

We dont give the kids allowance, we just give them money when they need things or want to do things. They do plenty around the house, so they do 'earn' it. They also both get very good report cards, and do volunteer work at the senior center in town. I feel they definitely deserve the things they get from us.

When we get to Disneyworld, we'll give them the card and tell them that they can use it however they want, but once its gone, its gone.

 

[Nite0wl71]

Last trip, we gave DNiece (age 8 then) and DNephew (age 7 then) a total of $120 each for a 6 day trip - so $20/day. I kept it in separate envelopes in my purse, and before each kid bought anything, I let them know how much they were spending and what they would have left. The first night - they spent about $30 - $40. By the third day, they became very unwilling to part with any money. They actually each had a couple dollars left at the end, because they became much more careful about spending when they saw how quickly the money went. If they were trying to buy something that seemed a waste, we would suggest they "think about it" and we could come back the next day to buy it. They even bought a gift to take back home to their Mom as a thank you for letting them go on the trip with Aunt & Uncle. (We then put an 5x7 picture of the kids with Mickey in the gift frame, and had the kids give it to Mom when we returned them).

It worked out well. Since that was their first trip, I'm thinking that we'll give them a little less spending money this September - maybe $15/day.

We do the same thing with DD13. We put her money in a ziploc bag, when she wants something I hand her the bag and she uses what she needs and puts the receipt in the bag. This way she can keep track of how much money she has left and where she spent it. She usually comes home with some left.

Her money comes from her birthday and whatever she earns. We do buy snacks and usually a t-shirt.

When she was younger we told her she could buy 1 big thing, she would look around everywhere and at the end we would go to DTD and she knew what she wanted.

 

[firkat]

We also use the ziplock bag with DS9. At this point, he has earned well over $100 for the trip. He is not big into "things" so I'm anticipating he will spend his money in arcades or a ball or something like that . ..

DD15 was outraged when I told her she had to earn $200 and said there was no way she would need that much. I told her that was fine, she did not have to spend it all, but she had to earn it and have it before we leave as her investment in the vacation. (I plan to remind her of her comment when we get there and that money goes fast . . . she loves to shop: clothes, shoes, perfume, etc.