Souveniers - Special Treats ?

[cdisney2002]

First time going to Disney with three children (11) (8) (4). What types of souveniers do your children ask for and what prices should we expect to pay? (We did start a money jar--months ago--and the kids have been very good with saving for souveniers or any kind of special treats.)

 

[Dreaming of Disney]

cdisney,

We are going to wdw in May with 3 small children also. We do not have a ton of money to spend on souveniers and such so I have decided to have Mickey or some other charactar "visit" our children each night while they are sleeping. I have been combing the dollar stores and all of the discount stores for disney merchandise and have compiled a pretty good stash. Disney Stickers, sunglasses, pez dispensers, etc. You would be surprized at how much Disney stuff there is out there. I have also been collecting the McDonald's toys. What I plan to do is make up goody bags for each of the kids every night with little note from Mickey, Cinderella, Tinkerbell or whoever. This way when the kids want to buy something in the parks I can say "Why don't we wait and see if anyone visits tonight". I just don't want to spend the high bucks on junk that you can buy in any discount store so much cheaper. The kids will all have some money and I do want them to buy a special toy or souvenier if they want, just not the toys that fall apart after 1 day of play.

Just and Idea!

Have a magical trip!

 

[Dr. Happy]

Our daughters always seem to find a fanny pack to purchase the first day which they use throughout the stay. Fanny packs usually cost about $14. Then, they always seem to get a t-shirt and/or a sweatshirt (depends on the season), which ranges in price from about $18 for a t-shirt and $30 for a sweatshirt. We also write-up a "wish list" of a few items for each daughter that they really want, before we depart for WDW. One trip it was a set of Princess stampers, another trip it was a Mickey umbrella. That way, between the traditional purchases and the "wish list" we can keep the kids focused on purchasing only items that they have given thought to. Impulsive buying will be lessened greatly. And of course, as parents, you need to say "NO" quite often. As a joke, I even made a "NO" sign on the computer, laminated it, and everytime one of my daughters asked for something (particularly after a ride, you know how they have all of those gift shops at the exits of the ride??) I would hold up the sign rather than speak. After a while, it became so humorous that they decided they wouldn't ask any more (primarily because they knew I was not going to relent - and the sign helped me contain my composure...). So these are our family's coping strategies for purchase demands. Good luck, you will need focus and fortitude to keep within your daily budget, but you WILL prevail, after all, you are the parent!!! Remember that!!!

 

[Jordan's MOM]

One way I found to cut down on impulse buying in the parks was to ask,"who is going to carry that all day?" Not me! WE did get all matching t-shirts the first day and wore them several times with just a rinse out in the room. We saved shopping to the last day and went to down town disney. I had planned to give my DS a certain amount of money and not interfer with his purchases but I am too controling and had a hard time with that plan. He wanted to buy a 60.00 star wars toy that would be 10.00 at Wal-mart. Things are very over priced. We have decided that on the next trip to buy matching t-shirts from the disney store before we go. Better shirts at less cost. We did buy frequent icecream etc. treats. We found that if you go inside gift shops you can purchase baged snacks at a very much lower price.They have mickey shaped pretzels, cookies and crackers. Hope this helps.


Jordan's mom

 

[bobcat]

We do a combination of things that helps us to save money on souveniers. The kids have their own spending money which makes them really appreciate how much they spend. They know once it's gone it's gone. We also don't frequent all the store at WDW. We usually are wanting to get to another ride or attraction so we only take a quick look in the stores at the end of the rides.

We make a stop at the outlet stores before we even check into the resort. This is usually where we will buy a t-shirt and small toys for very little money. I always walk out with a huge bag and rarely spend over $50.

The kids know we will have a shopping day at DTD so they will usually wait until then to make purchases. They are huge Lego fans and want to buy "big packs of legos" with their money.

They know that I will buy one t-shirt for them and one other item we decide on ahead of time, this year it will probably be the agical moments game. Everything else is up to them.

I also have the treat bags filled with stuff I pick up over the year. Having new toys already keeps them from buying more.

 

[dedala]

These ideas are all terrific, I did the same thing last September with my 3 year old. I went to all the Dollar stores I could find & checked walmart & Kmart often. I made a big goodie bag with a card attached from Mickey. Inside was a Mickey toothbrush, beanie, toys , bubbles ect.
He loved it & he even thanked Mickey when we saw him (which made me feel like I was doing a great job) However he still wanted everything he saw, It is all in the magical Disney marketing, (ie putting the stuff, right outside the ride) Luckily for us we went for my sons 3rd bday & some relatives gave him Disney Dollars so he spent them 1st. If your going to go to Disney with kids you had better be ready to spend some serious $$$$$$$$

 

[crusoe2]

I've tried several things to cut down on the souvenier spending - some of the prices are outrageous and I hate coming home with a lot of little junk that I know will disappear in no time. The goody bag approach didn't work for us - our DS still wanted all the little junky stuff he saw. We tried getting him to save money from allowance, birthdays, Christmas, ect. but it was a battle to keep him from spending it on other things. Of course, his grandparents would always give him money for the trip just before we left but then he would end up with way too much money. What we finally hit on that seems to work is to get him to save as much as possible before the trip so that he has plenty if he finds something really special. When the trip is over, he is allowed to spend whatever he has left on something special back home. We did this on our last trip and he did much better about saving before the trip and was more careful with his money while we were there because he already had something in mind that he wanted to buy when we got home. He went to Disney with about $300 and came home with enough to buy the Nintendo 64 and 2 or 3 video games he'd had his eye on. I'd much rather see him use his money that way than on a bunch of little plastic toys.

 

[sudiequ]

Hi! not sure when your going, but i just purchased $40 worth of Disney Dollers to gradually start to give DSs for spending. We're going in Nov. so we have plenty of time to save. They will first notice the bills popping up in Easter baskets!! I think i'm more excited about it than they are. DH caught the pin collecting bug in '99 so he's the one i'm worried about this Nov. lol. Have a Great Time!!

Sue