Money matters - spending money for 12 year old?

[kollerbear]

son of a... I thought that was OP. Guess I should pay better attention.

Hey I actually thought the exact same thing you did! Hahahah. I was like, wow! asking for input and then having such a firm response! so weird!! hahahha I had to do a double take.

 

[Eandbmom]

Last year my 12 year old brought $300 and came home with over $100. She is already saving for next year, as she wants a new tiara.
My 9 year old spent about $150 last year but he made his own lightsaber and a few other "bigger" things. He is also saving for next year but doesnt have as much saved yet

 

[kiramay]

I've always kept up with the money and just allotted a certain amount for each child. My oldest son (who's 19 now) isn't going with us this time. It always got kind of confusing keeping up with who had spent what, and how much each one had left. This year, I'm thinking about linking a certain amount to my 12 year old's magic band, and letting him keep up with it himself. He's pretty good at managing his money. My question is this: What is a reasonable amount of spending money for a 12 year old for a 10k day trip? We have the DDP, so his money will strictly be spending money for souvies, extra snacks, etc. Thoughts?

Mine had $25 when they were 7 (5 day trip) and $50 when they were 9 (8 day trip). At 12 and for 10 days I'd probably go with $150.
Eta- this coming trip the twins will be almost 11 and its 7 days, so I'm planning around $75-$100 max.

 

[kiramay]

Can you even link a certain amount to his magicband? Giving him a giftcard with a certain amount would probably work best in my opinion. At least he can't run over the amount of what you want him to spend but he still learns to budget and spend wisely!

Yes, you can put a spending limit on kids magic bands. However, a gift card ended up being a lot easier: for example, when there's $3 left on gift card my son could buy a $4 item and pay the last $1 in cash. With the MB it would deny the purchase completely because it was over his limit.

 

[Mamato2cutekiddos]

We used to give our boys $200, and we told them that we would match any money that they did not spend and add it to their savings account. It made them more carefully consider each purchase.

This is a great idea.

 

[dljacob]

my girls are 6 and 10. We have 5 days at the parks so i was planning $75 each on magic banda for souvenirs. We will pay snacks etc. I will also he covering Pick a Pearl for them. Other days we will be at Kennedy Space Center and Discovery Cove so will probably have other allotments there, but grandparents will also be around so I anticipate they will get suckered into buying stuff those days!

 

[jacksgirl]

He's a great kid, and I want to reward with the money for a little shopping spree while he's there as a surprise. He just got back from a trip to Mexico with a friend's family. I sent $300 with him, and he came back with gifts for everyone in the family, plus $60 left. I asked him if he bought himself anything, and he said yea he got himself a cap and a wallet.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Alison is 12 also. She will ask me to stop giving her allowance in the months leading up to a trip (out of sight, out of mind), and she uses that as her spending money. I think she ended up with $240ish on our last trip. I put it on a Visa Gift Card so that she could spend it when and how she wanted without having to spend it all at Disney (especially since it was almost all saved for Universal).

 

[Dug720]

I agree with putting it on a gift card rather than the magic band for the reason already mentioned (the difference can be made up with cash vs. being rejected completely). If it's on a Disney Gift Card and there is money left, they are already saving for their next trip - and if you have a Disney Store close to you, you can get the card there and then reload it when you're headed to the World again.

A VISA gift card (or AMEX or MC) has the same issue as money on a magic band - there could be a little left on there, but unless you're spending that exact amount or less, you cannot use it. There's no "use this and I'll pay the difference" on the "credit card" gift cards.

 

[RustManFan]

I have learned from past experience that my kids (now grown) wanted one stuffed character, maybe a pin and one shirt and that was it. All the little stuff for early trips was just broken, misplaced or considered unnecessary after a year or two. Hats got dirty or too small too quickly....

Like some others, I paid for reasonable snacks. Of course they did recognize that the trip itself was a special treat. Neither was spoiled at all!!

 

[scrapquitler]

My kids are total tightwads. When we went in April with our 12 year old for 6 days, we gave him $100 budget, and figured that if he spent it all without blowing it on a lot of junk, we would be happy to give him more. He spent $30. and even then, he only spent it because we said "It's the last day, don't you want some kind of souvenir to take home?" so he picked a hat, which he wears all the time.

We do not expect him to buy snacks/food with 'his' money.

 

[busymommy2pink]

My 9.5 and 6.5 year olds will get $100 each. That's what they get each trip. We do cover their pick-a-pearl, Epcot passport and snacks. If they want candy etc they buy it themselves. They usually come home with money. Mom and dad also cover a small souvenier for their BFF and trinkets (3/5 foam key chains, lollipops etc) for their classroom if we go during the school year.

 

[ericstac]

I always just track the spending on my iPhone and let them use the credit card on the magic band to pay.
I've thought about doing a Disney card for them but I was always worried it would get lost.. How do yall make sure the kids keep track of them?

 

[cluno]

We made our kids save their allowance. We bought them each a tshirt and ears. My mom bought them each a stuffed animal. Anything beyond that was their responsibility.

 

[verleniahall]

I saved nickles - and believe it or not, they really do add up - and i got mom and dad's nickles as well - i had $200 in nickles for our trip to Branson MO when I was in high school and i spent about 1/2 of it (granted we were just driving around alot so not alot of places to spend money) and i used the other 1/2 towards gas money when we got back for my car and back to school items (like text books for college classes)

 

[Rosebud123]

I think $100 is good. That's a t-shirt and a "toy," plus maybe some candy!

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Geez, at 12 the only spending money I got was whatever I had saved up from chores. Heck, at age 5 I was still expected to use most of my own money.

If I was really well behaved my dad would by me a Mickey Bar.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

DD used to have $20 a day... she would spend 75% in the first two days and then drag out the last 25% for the rest of the week. It would drive us crazy, since neither one of us are shoppers.

 

[cjparker0110]

It's really all based on your budget to begin with. I know when I was 10 (1986) my parents sent me with $50 for 5 days. That's roughly $110 in today's dollars. To translate that to 10 days would be $220. That said, in two years my wife and I are taking 4 kids to WDW and I can tell you they will not have that much per day to spend on extras because we couldn't possibly afford that much for them on top of the trip. I guess the best thing to do is decide how much you want him to have and go with it. Sometimes it doesn't hurt for a kid to learn to use a lower budget so they can be more prepared for real world encounters as they get older and have to start working. I know I wasn't...haha.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

DD used to have $20 a day... she would spend 75% in the first two days and then drag out the last 25% for the rest of the week. It would drive us crazy, since neither one of us are shoppers.

I guess I should clarify, DD was not given $20 a day. When she was younger she would save, we would match it, we would turn in change at coinstar and her grandparents would always give her a little. Roughly about $20 a day depending on length of stay.