Souvenir buying advice for those on tight budgets

[Geoff_M]

The local Walmarts at Disney have a dedicated section of WDW items. You might want to check them out.

Better yet, look at the Disney Parks Merchandise web site! Before our August trip I found two WDW-branded T-shirts that I liked at the site and they were on sale/clearance. I took the shirts on the trip and wore them in the parks, so I consider them "souvenirs" of the trip. I also saw the same shirts in some of the park stores still selling for full price!

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Oh, and just an FYI on how to save money, too - we no longer buy for family/friends unless we are getting them something for a birthday/christmas gift. We used to always buy the nieces/nephews, etc something and found that it wasn't really appreciated and just took up valuable time and money. And you can really find Disney items so cheaply in many places - no need to buy it with the parks' pricing!

Boy, you said it. I used to bring back stuff for people, even if it was just a keychain and never saw it used. Now I save my souvenir money for me. I budget about $150.00 a day for souvenirs and other things that I might need to pay for. We're on the dining plan and I have a change fund that I start when I first know I'm planning a trip-that change fund is usually enough to leave generous tips to the servers when I cash it in and so isn't included in the $150.00. I'm being generous with the $150.00-I always come back with money. It's just nice to know I have the extra if I see something I *really* must have.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We give the kids each $25-$30 to spend as they like, for the whole trip. This has usually been used for a stuffed animal and/or jewelery charms. I usually don't get anything, except an ornament last time since it was November. So, $50-70 for the trip maybe, for 4 people.

 

[verleniahall]

with having 4 kids - maybe you could get a giftcard in advance and put their spending money on it and when its gone, its gone - they have to be responsible for their money?

the DH and I are each gettign $200.00 spending money for the week. We are putting it on Disney Gift Cards and what we don't spend, we will put towards our vacation next year. Since we are flying this year, we dont' plan to get huge items, just smaller things - next year, we will plan for more spending becuase with diriving, we can just put it in the car when we get back from the parks.

Good luck with your decisoin!

 

[Ninja Mom]

The way I got around this problem when my kids were little was to buy the stuff at home and take it with on the trip.

I would find Disney stuff at the Dollar store, the Disney store, the Disney Outlet store (if one is near you) and online.

Each child would have a tote bag and each night of the trip TINKERBELL would come and IF they were good she would leave them presents while they slept. When they started to act up reminders were issued that Tinkerbell was watching and they probably wouldn't get that's night's present. That was usually enough to help avert the fighting and melt downs. Duct tape and Benedryl was sometimes useful for the major melt downs however...

To introduce this concept the first bag was delivered the night before the trip while still at home. Tink was really nice and she wrote a letter to the kids explaining the concept of a reward for good behavior. The first items in the bag were always the light up spinner toys that they craved and essentials for the plane like coloring books and a box of wine for Mommy and Daddy. The second night at the resort Tink would put in a small stuffed animal and then maybe as the trip worn on and we were in need of freshly washed laundry a t-shirt or hoodie might show up, depending on the forecast. It was really fun to get the matching hoodies from the Disney store web site.

Whenever someone would see something in the parks the name of Tinkerbell was mentioned with a reminder that she was coming that night. IF there was that something wonderful in the Parks Disney Store that a child just had to have one of the adults would sneak off to make the purchase and have it shipped off to the resort or sent to package pick up sight unseen by wandering eyes. That item would be saved for the last night.

So you can do this by shopping in advance and working the clearance sales online and at the Disney outlets/Dollar stores. To curb impulse purchases invoke the Tinkerbell delivery system which also has the side benefit of being an incentive for good behavior.

~NM

 

[TandLMommy28]

We usually do $100 per person plus I set aside another $100-$200 for surprises for the kids. I hate stuff and clutter so personally I don't buy something unless it REALLY catches my eye. There have been trips when I didn't buy anything at all.

On our next trip, I think we are going to do a souvenir scavenger hunt. I'm going to give each kid a list of things to buy over the week and they can find anything that fits to fulfill that item. I am thinking I'll make the list still total out to around $100. The list will something like... a new beach towel, a Christmas ornament, new Mickey ears (all of ours were stolen last trip, along with our stroller), and a pin that reminds you of a special memory of the trip (favorite ride, the resort, etc). That way I can control it a bit because the last few trips they have bought JUNK that breaks before we even get home and I have had enough of that! But they still get a lot of say in it because they can pick the one they like at any point that they see one they really like.

 

[amy1115]

We only have one DD(10). We have her save her own money throughout the year for her to spend on the trip. We will buy her a couple of souveniers, but for the most part she spends her own birthday money and chore money that she's saved up and not spent. This works really well for us. It has also taught her to appreciate the things that she gets more and she seems to think harder before making purchases since she knows she's using her own money.