Souvenir budget question

[Yzerbear19]

I was working on the budget for our trip and trying to figure out how much to give my nieces to spend on souvenirs. I want to get them each their own gift card to use for souvenirs. They think it's fun to use their own "credit card." They will be 3.5 and nearly 5. I was thinking $50 or $100 for each. Is that too much?

 

[Kelly014]

My DD is 5 and our trip isn't until October so I haven't given it a ton of thought, but I was thinking $50. We were there last year for one MK day and I let her pick one toy (no price limit), and she picked an Ariel doll which cost around $20. I figure if I give her $50...at most $75...that will give her one or two new dolls, maybe a shirt, and one other toy. Budgets depend so much on on someone's personal situation, but I feel like $50-75 is reasonable when taking into consideration our family and her age.

 

[bbjunkie]

We just did that with our 9-year-old. She had $50. She was very serious about choosing her souvenirs. It was kind of cute.

 

[kangaroodle]

Personally I think they are pretty young for $50---$25 is probably enough. At that age they have no concept of money. If they get $50 or $100 and don't spend it all, the balance is left on the card. What if they choose a doll for $20 like the PP said. If they need more you can always chip in at the register. They are young enough not to even know. Unless you go to the parks a lot and a balance left on the card isn't a big deal, I would stick with less.

I would also give them a tube filled with quarters and shiny pennies for the pressed penny machines. My kids loved getting them at that age! The little tubes that they sell m&m's in are just the perfect size.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

For 3.5 and 5, yeah, I would say too much. I like the previous idea of $25, and if they pick something that goes over you can help them out with the difference.

 

[aretha30]

I think that is a little to much for a 3.5 yr old and a 5 yr old. $25 would be better and if you need to chip in a few extra dollars to help them pay then you can. They don't understand money at that age and honestly are just as happy with a $5 toy as with a $40 one most of the time.

 

[nat8199]

I will have two 4.5yos and a 6yo when we go in Sept. I am planning on doing cash in wallets for each of them that I carry. The first day I am going to give them $20 and then $10 each morning after that. It is going to add up to $80 each, and they will have to learn to save to get something big. I really don't want to give a lump sum because I don't want them spending it all the first day or two.

On top of that I will have separate funds for pressed pennies, pick a pearl, and for them each to pick out a Christmas ornament for our tree.

 

[nat8199]

I think that is a little to much for a 3.5 yr old and a 5 yr old. $25 would be better and if you need to chip in a few extra dollars to help them pay then you can. They don't understand money at that age and honestly are just as happy with a $5 toy as with a $40 one most of the time.

The reason why I am giving my kids more that $25 is that I really wasn't certain there were $5 toys in the shops at Disney. It seems like all the stuffed animals, wands, hats, etc were very expensive and $25 would only get them one thing.

 

[ammag]

when my DD was five she had saved up $125 of her own holiday money for the trip, she actually had trouble spending the last 50. We gave her the card and it made her very cautious about what to choose, and at the end she wanted to spend the whole thing but ended up buying two pkay sets she didn't love when she got home, she recently told me that this time (she's 8) she won't buy thigns unless she really wants them. It's a good lesson! That being said I'd almost say $100 if it doesn't matter too much for you because some thigns are so expensive,,princess dresses, sweatshirts....but $50 is probably sufficient.

 

[dprincessmom]

I am on board with $50. That would get them a doll and perhaps another small thing or two. When we go we have plenty of time for DD to save up her money. I do $50.00 this is for her "Wants" anything over that she has to pay for our of her funds. If she doesn't spend all of her $50.00 then she has money to come home with for something to enjoy later. The $50.00 that I contribute is almost always spent but hardly a dent gets made in her personal funds.

 

[AuntDJ]

When I took my niece and nephew I gave them $10 a day. One used his 10 everyday and one saved and bought one princess dress at the end. It worked super well for us.

I have also used the "save up" method when we have time. I would make fake Disney dollars and gave them to my brother to hand out for extra chores or grades and then redeemed them right before the trip. This worked well to as I was going to give them the $ so this just helped with some learning responsibility too.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Another thing I have heard people say they do that seems to work is coupons instead of just a set amount of money. For example, there might be a coupon for a tee shirt, one for a stuffed animal, etc.

 

[Yzerbear19]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm thinking $50. I know they will each want a stuffed animal and probably a doll. I'm not worried about any money left over on the cards because they can always use them at the Disney store when we get back.

 

[drea21]

My inlaws gave my 5 year old $100 to spend for her birthday, like everyone has said, she really doesn't have a great concept of money, so I might not let her spend the whole thing and instead use some of that money for the special tiara at CRT or face paint, or some experience like that. Last year she had $50 and thought really long and hard about it and wound up picking one sweatshirt for $49. We felt bad that she didn't get anything "fun", just clothes, and wound up surprising her with a baby Marie and Rupunzel that she kept looking at in every store.

 

[isabellea]

We won't give my girls (3 and 6) a set budget because they are too young to understand the concept. They can buy one piece of clothing, one princess dress, one Christmas ornament and one toy. I also bought pearl cages on Etsy so we will let them each pick a pearl.

 

[AngieInOH]

My girls are 6. I'm going to let them each pick a Pandora charm (for a future bracelet), a t-shirt, pick a pearl and then they'll each probably get two more items of their choice. I probably won't give them a budget as they are pretty good about things when I say "it's too much".

 

[kwdw]

I'm going to agree - too young to really understand money - esp the 3.5 year old. The 5 year will likely understand a bit - for example - will probably understand that a large stuffed animal is more money than a small one. So - you can do a a bit of a money lesson with the 5 year old and let her make some choices, but iyou will need to help her through. You also might ask mom if "bigger" is better for them - or "more" items is better. I do think about $50 is reasonable if this is a multi-day trip.

I like the idea of "one stuffed toy that's medium sized" or "one T-shirt" or "one doll" or whatever. They should understand that.

 

[glohoffman]

My girls had $75 on our last trip, and they were 3 and 5. I thought it was perfect because they got to get something each day in the parks, and the little amount they didn't use we just used for snacks for the ride home. Worked out great and will be doing the same this trip!

 

[Khokhonutt]

I'll second the quarters and pennies idea. When our kids were young, we got the kids tubes of mini-M&Ms before the trip and used those tubes to put quarters and pennies inside. I think they enjoyed the "squishy penny" hunts as much as anything else they got that trip. You can get folders that hold the pennies, so you can save them in one place.

As far as other souvenirs go, we stuck more along the line of what they could get, rather than how much we were going to spend, but we still had a budget in our mind. On our first trip, the kids were allowed to pick a pin for each park, then a pin, usually with the year on it, to remember that trip. Then they each picked a t-shirt and they were allowed to pick one slightly bigger item, that they waited until the end of the week to pick (so they could look at everything and decide). Since that trip, we've done the year pin and then a t-shirt or something similar.

I like the idea someone suggested to give them coupons. If they like using their own credit card, they would get a similar experience by handing over their "gift card" for one t-shirt, etc.

 

[athumann]

The way I always did it was give a set amount per day and put each daily allowance into an envelope marked with the day of the week. They could spend that money each day or save it and put it in the next day's envelope and so on, to save and buy something more substantial later in the week. They couldn't borrow from future envelopes though, that way they would think about the purchase for a day or 2 in case they changed their mind or found something else. I think this may work better for kids who are a little older though.