"Pre-buying" souveniers for kids?

[jandmmom]

Hi all! I have been reading to prepare for our upcoming trip, and I wanted to get more info on the idea of "prepurchasing" our souveniers for the kids. Can I get some tips from people who have done this?

I have 2 kids (4 - girl, 6 - boy). My DD is really into the princesses. DS isn't into any particular character, but he likes all of the movies.

I was thinking of buying things before we go (dollar store, disney outlet, target?) and putting them in little bags with the kids names on them....from Mickey, Minnie, etc. Then leaving them on their pillows?

Any other ideas?

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[ziggystardust]

One of the things I always see kids asking for are those spinner lights. I've seen them at the disney store, and if they're on sale they are a steal.

One of the coolest things I've seen while down in disney though are these 3d fireworks glasses. Only saw them once and haven't seen them since, but this family from ireland sat next to us at illuminations one night and their kids shared these glasses with us. When you looked thru them and looked at the fireworks or any light source for that matter, you saw little dancing mickey heads. It was awesome. I'm on the search for those to gift to my boyfriend's nephew. Hoping to find them online somewhere.

 

[starann]

I buy some stuf...but the kids still get plenty while there!!!

Things I buy ahead of time are......

Glow bracelets and Glow Swords (they have wands as well)...all found at Dollar Tree....for $1 over the $15 for a light spinner at the park. I then pass out the extras to kids around us with ok from mom or dad

I get coloring book or activity books for the kids...this way they have somethign to do in the room while waiting for us to get ready or when we come back to the room for the night.

I do buy tshirts and clothes from disney shopping when I find htem cheap enough ($4 or under!) to wear during our trip.

I also got the autograph book form Walgreens for $6 in Mickey (they also have Minnie and Princess). This beats spending $14 in the park and my kids don't care!

 

[weHEARTmickey]

One year we bought about 20 Disney jibbitz (spelling?) for the kids' crocs. They were on sale at Dillards before our trip & they are exactly the same as the ones at WDW. Everyday we gave them each a new one. We always give them about 5 glow bracelets each night. That makes 2 bracelets & 1 necklace.

Last year, we had about $75 in credit with Disney Movie Club (sent unwanted movies back too late to get money back.) So, I just stocked up on Disney pins. I gave each kid a new pin to trade each day. (Several of them were duplicate pins, b/c DMC doesn't have a huge selection, but the kids loved them anyway, b/c they were for trading.) If you are a member of DMC, I think you can purchase a cheap pin w/ each movie you buy. Then you can trade up in the parks!

We mainly buy new books/coloring books/projects for them to do IN THE CAR during our 16 hour drive to WDW! We also usually buy the newest Disney DVD for them to watch on the way. As far as souveniers during the trip, that's what they save their money up for during the year & we always give them extra $$. If you're trying to save $$, head over to the outlets. The Disney store has alot of the same exact merchandise, at a fraction of the cost.

 

[fairyprincess1]

I agree with the glow bracelets, etc... much cheaper to bring your own glow stuff in - also stops the gimme's from the light up carts...

We bring small bottles of bubbles - great way to pass the time while waiting for a parade or before it gets dark waiting for Illuminations, etc.

Our first year, I had purchased small stuffed animals (Mickey, Nemo, etc) when I found them on sale at Disney Store - "Mickey" left a little something every night of our first trip... Our son didn't ask for a lot of souvenirs that trip because he always wanted to see what Mickey left him

 

[tweedlemom]

Tinkerbelle always leaves our kids goodies at the foot of their Disney beds every night of our trip. The first night is always a stuffed animal, and after that are pins, spinners, etc. They always look forward to it and ask for very little from the gift shops.

 

[jandmmom]

Thanks so much everyone These are exactly the kinds of ideas I am looking for! Feel free to keep 'em coming!

 

[poohfriend77]

My kids get gifts from Tink too, although they get souvenirs as well. Tink always brings a new Disney toothbrush and toothpaste the first evening. It's funny how excited they are over a new toothbrush, and it can be packed ahead of time, so I don't have to worry about packing up the kids' bathroom stuff the morning we leave. We do new pajamas, pins, hair pretties/ribbons, Disney coloring books and new crayons, glow stuff, and a princess dress on BBB day.

 

[carj]

My kids are going to be 7 and 9 for this trip. They were 4 and 7 on our first trip. I absolutely agree about the light up toys. We brought our own spinners and we bought a package of glow bracelets. I let the kids play with them and give them to other kids near us.

I also brought the costumes from home. Other than that, I would caution you to not buy too much ahead of time. My kids still would want to shop there. Of course I could tell them no, but we all enjoyed getting souveniers in the parks.

We didn't get into pin trading. I thought about ordering pins online and starting that but I decided we were better off waiting until they asked for that experience.

 

[ckoncurat]

You can get the spinners on ebay much cheaper than the parks. We also got a pal mickey on ebay (he worked fine). Disney kids shirts are much cheaper at walmart or target. Autograph books, pins, you can buy all that stuff at a dioscount before you get there. Your kids wont care!

 

[karliebug]

if you have a car, the walmart in kisimee is a short drive and it has a big selection of disney shirts, toys, pool toys, souveniers, etc. Shirts were 10 dollars for adult sizes, less for kids sizes. Much cheaper than buying in parks. Also had mugs, pins, keychains,etc. And don't forget to pick up a couple cases of water while you are there. Can save a fortune by doing that.

 

[3mickeymom]

Tinker bell brought my nieces small gifts on our last trip and left a little green glitter sprinkled about the gifts for some sdded Disney Magic!!!

 

[devjam]

I pre-bought last year but it was more for little surprises and “things” to do while on line or in restaurants rather than souvenirs.

Disney store: Shirts were on sale, so those were a must. I also bought new costumes for a surprise BBB appointment and Princess nightgowns (on sale), which they LOVE. Lucky I bought them b/c my DDs spotted those nightgowns hanging in one of the main street windows!

For morning (or back to the room) surprises, I bought little chocolates (used nuggets) that I wrapped to look like Disney characters (an idea and template that I got from the DISigners). Was a cute surprise and hint for what was to come that day (i.e. character meals) but I don’t think they actually got eaten… Caution: they melt in the heat if you take them to the park.

Dollar Store: anything I found that was Disney! Yo-yos, little pooh characters, mini markers and stamps. Also got glow bracelets for the MNSSHP.

Target or Walmart: got those mini princesses, the ones with the rubber clothes. Ironically my DDs one souvenir purchase was a set of mini princesses (although these had cloth clothes).

 

[nsla35]

We just came back from Disney. The only thing my daughter 6 asked for and really wanted was a light up sword or a light up bubble gun.

 

[WendyisDarling]

Tinker bell brought my nieces small gifts on our last trip and left a little green glitter sprinkled about the gifts for some sdded Disney Magic!!!

We do the every night small gifts from Tink. Tink uses large foil confetti she found at Party City that says "surprise" and has balloons,etc. It's really easy to clean up so MK doesn't have to and she has reused the same confetti a couple of times now.

It's kind of sad now that my teen DS is much less impressed with visits from Tink.

OT-- during two visits my younger DS had visits from the Tooth Fairy and Tink ! That was a lot of fun.

Those are the only pre-bought souvies. I give my kids a certain amount of $ each day. They can spend every day or save to get something more expensive later. Has worked great.

 

[hffmnheidi]

Also try Michael's Dollar Aisle-they often have jump ropes, coloring books and crayons, ect... from many different characters.

Perhaps the coloring book and crayons could be pre-Disney gifts from Mickey or the Princesses to keep them busy on the flight or drive down.

 

[thebeesknees]

Michael's had character lanyards for a dollar, too. There was Tinkerbell, Cars, Toy Story, and princesses, if I remember correctly. We got the kids these for our last tirp, then bought the ID holders from Walmart and put our contact information in them for the kids to wear in case they ever got separated from us. I used 2 ID pouches on my own lanyard to hold our park tickets and fast passes so they were easy to get to, but kept dry on the water rides.

 

[jandmmom]

I am totally loving all of these ideas!!!!

We are going to be in Orlando for a total of 11 nights, so maybe I will have "Tink" deliver small gifts for the 6 nights we are staying on Disney property.

I have to buy some small, light things so that they won't take up too much space in our suitcases (flying from Philadelphia).

Then I will probably give the kids each some money to spend or let them pick out one item. My DS6 is completely not materialistic & probably won't push it. My DD4 will want everything she sees!

Thank you all so much for sharing these great ideas!

 

[hffmnheidi]

Make your own autograph books at home if you plan to collect autographs from the characters. Check out the scrapping board for more advice or help if you're gonna do this.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

we made bags for the neices and nephews after we got to disney. I had pre-bought everything we needed before we went and took gift bags in my suitcase. The first day we were there, I made up the bags and DH went and left them at the front desk. He then had them call our neices and nephews room and ask specifically for them by name. You should have seen their eyes (they got so big!) when the desk clerk said Mickey had been there to see them but they weren't there so Mickey left a gift at the front desk. They were so excited -- definitely worth it if you have the time to shop ahead. Michaels usually have cute disney things in their dollar section.