souvenier help

[goofygas]

Okay, I'm still trying to budget or at least figure out how much money to take with us--can anyone tell me the approx. cost of t-shirt, sweatshirts in the parks. Also, I keep hearing about the glow in the dark things that all of the kids will want, how much are they? what are they? can you buy them anyplace else beforehand? Thanks!

 

[lisaj]

Can't help with current prices as we haven't been since 2003 (October). However, the glow in the dark items were all on sale before the evening parades. Street vendors walked the route about an hour before the parade began and sold light up tinkerbell wands (still going strong, just changed the first set of batteries!!!!) and revolving buzz lightyears, better mind your face, he's enough to take your eye out when held by an over-excited child.

Hope someone else can help with the costs.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

I'm not sure of current costs either but I know someone can help you with that. As for the glowing necklaces..pick them up at dollar tree before you head down......the kids will never know the difference.

 

[Perditamarie]

I like to hit the Disney Store --especially during sales -- several times before a trip to collect t-shirts, sweatshirts, bathing suits, light spinners etc ahead of time. I use them for gift baskets/tinkerbell gifts so the kids are stocked up when we get there and what we do buy is totally unique to WDW. The light spinners are expensive at $15-20 each at WDW -- you can find them at the Disney Store for much less on sale/clearance.

 

[TheDizMom]

Yah we will be bringing our spinners with us we bought last time. They were ridiculously expensive and to be honest I am not sure they really needed them. If I remember from last time, t-shirts and sweatshirts were in the $20-$60 range. One way to plan your budget is just to specify how much money you are willing to spend per person and go from there. Allow your child to look in the stores to their hearts content and keep in mind what they saw. At the end of the day let them pick the one thing they really want and buy that. Give yourself time incase where they saw it wasn't on Main Street. When your child is getting close to their budget let them know so they carefully consider if it is something they really want. If there is something they really want from the get go, like a princess dress, then make that the major purchase and make sure to put that into their budget before you tell them how much they have left. Option 2 is they get X dollars per day. Once they have spent their money that's it. This of course could be hard if your child is very young, but you at least know what you want to spend and can decide if it's an expense you really want to incure.

Hope that helps.

 

[Darcy03231]

I shopped at home and brought an extra suitcase with us loaded with t-shirts, hats, glow in the dark necklaces & bracelets, spinning things, pens, pencils, autograph books, stickers, etc.. I bought it all on sale through the year at the Disney stores, department stores and dollar stores. Each night "Tinkerbelle" left a surprise. Since the kids got something every day it seemed to curb the gift shop buying. We hardley spent anything on souvenirs in the parks and the kids looked forward to their visit from "Tinkerbelle" each night.