Souvenir buying advice for those on tight budgets

[5kidsmommy]

We are a family of 7 and souvenirs aren't a big deal here. But each of my kids do get one special thing when we go to Disney. We tend to spend between $15 and $40 per person, mostly though they spend about $25 each. We don't count t-shirts as souvenirs, I will buy them on clearance before we go or stop by Walmart. We usually do Disney on a pretty tight budget, we keep our total expenses including food and transportation and everything under $5000 for a week long trip.

 

[ibrokeitmommy]

My kids each have $100 for the week. We did the same last trip and it made them really think about what they were buying. Once it's gone it's gone. That goes for anything they want that I haven't offered to buy. I'm as bad as they are and want everything and then have to remind myself of how I won't wear head to toe Mickey Mouse at home! My most used treasures are coffee mugs, wine glasses, and I do have an Epcot shirt I wear often. We are on a tight budget this trip so I have to be smart.

 

[hsmamato2]

depends on ages of the kids...IMHO...young kids will want a lot of the stuff they see,it helps to just tell them they can pick one item say,on the last day,or whatever,or dollar tree disney stuff usually suffices for little kids,who like little silly toys,lightsticks,etc.
Older kids start wanting more expensive items, and buying junk ahead of time doesn't work so well.... I always had my kids save their money for their toys,etc they were going to want-(from allowances and jobs) and I would buy them one thing per trip,usually a t-shirt,or a hat,or a stuffie (again depends on age) one of our fave souvies was the year I bought each person in the family a park specialty coffee cup.....(not generic that you can get at walgreens) we all still have our cups many years later.... My one rule was for the gift I would buy,it had to be unique,no random stuff that you could get anywhere,but something interesting and specific to their choice. so when they were younger,about 20 bucks per kid on one item,and the rest was up to how much they wanted to save and bring.

 

[Anne5555]

We did not spend all that much.
For our first trip I bought lanyards at Party City and trading pins on the internet. Found 1 set that was Pixar for my son (then age 10) and 1 that was all Tinkerbell for my daughter (age 8). Maybe $25 total.
Grandmother bought my son a sorcerer mickey hat and for my daughter a minnie mouse ear headband.
We bought autograph books and 1 fancy pen.
I bought about 3 nice pins (maybe $7-10 each) and a resort mug.

Second trip (just this month) we bought autograph books again. My son got buzz lightyear ears with name embroidered, but my daughter didn't want an ear hat. She wore her minnie ear headband from previous trip.
My daughter did pick a pearl but wanted to put it in a little bottle with pink "sand"...about $24 total.
I also did pick a pearl and bought a pearl cage about $48 total.
Grandmother gave them each $10 to spend...son picked an inexpensive DVD and my daughter a Marie from Aristocats disney pin. We also bought her a 2nd pin for $9.
My daughter and I browsed in a store while waiting for the guys to do Expedition Everest, but all she wanted was a pressed penny, so we made 1 for each child. We were usually too busy to notice the machines.
I bought about 4 pins again for my collection at home.
My husband didn't buy any souvenirs either trip. I think photos are really the best souvenirs.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

DD gets an allowance, and as soon as we start planning a trip, she will ask me to hold back some money so that she can have her own spending money. I usually buy a little something for her, but for the most part, spending her own money helps her make better decisions about her purchases. I usually buy a little something for me, too - a t-shirt, earrings, scarf, trading pin, etc. I know I'm not going to use anything over-the-top cartoony in real life, so I look for subtle and useful.

 

[jacksgirl]

It's different for us each trip. Generally though, each person gets $100 total for a 9-12 day trip, plus any money they have saved from allowances, gifts, etc., and any Disney gift cards they may have gotten in advance of the trip.

 

[caracarn]

We normally give each of the kids $50 each for the trip. If they have other money from relatives or savings that's up to them, but we keep our budget pretty reasonable. This lets them get a couple decent items. We also try to encourage looking for things at the parks then seeing if we can get them at a discount at Downtown Disney. We plan a mid-stay trip to DD in case they do not find it then they have a chance to get it at the parks.

 

[ttintagel]

I spend $20 or less per trip.

 

[ErinInCT]

I gave my girls each a $50 Disney gift card. They kept track of their purchases. We ended up buying them each one "high dollar item" like a $50 sweatshirt I think. For our family we usually buy an ornament or refrigerator magnet. This year I bought a beach towel since we now have a pool. Oh, and the girls did pin trading (which is like a souvenir) and the penny pressers. I may "frame" the pressed pennies in the shape of a Mickey head for display! Saw it on Pinterest!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We let our kids buy 4 things (one per park) when they were younger. That's how my DD ended up with those little baby characters in the blankets which I'm slowly selling on ebay now that she doesn't want them anymore. One year that is all she wanted so she got one in each park. LOL. Another year she wanted those Polly Pocket type princess dolls. My son always went for the tshirts.

We used to buy one ornament every trip too and a picture frame so we could put in a group picture of us at Disney World. Alot of the picture frames were broken over the years but I still have the pictures.

That's all we used to get when we didn't have much money for souveniers.

 

[melana]

Well...my first trip I went overboard and blew my 250.00 budget by about 250.00. Second trip I did a little better but still want over budget (Blame the ease of the magic band for that one.. LOL). This trip, I am staying on budget with 200.00 for a 5 day trip for souvenir's. I will give my niece 100.00. I usually buy things I do not need. This trip I'm keeping it simple..new ears..a Halloween pin if they still have them by my trip..and maybe a new coffee cup. Most of my budget is going toward the F&W booths this trip.

 

[nkereina]

We don't have kids so we usually buy some items for our niece and nephew (for Christmas), and maybe a t-shirt or something for others at home. We don't buy much for ourselves. Last trip I think we spent about $200 total on items for people back home and a few small things for us. I've read a couple suggestions before to give the kids each a gift card, each with a fixed amount, and allow them to choose what they want to buy with that. Then when it's gone, it's gone, so they can choose wisely and you know what you're spending. If that doesn't work, I've also seen people on here buy cheap Disney toys from home and bring them with them, giving them each something in the morning or at the end of the night for each day of your trip.

 

[revdon64]

Like some others, we don't really set an amount, but I'd say that we're normally on a tight budget. We can only spend what we've been able to save over the previous year or so. I've found that our biggest souvenir expense is in pictures. We buy autograph books for the kids that hold the photos of the M&G and then create photo albums for everyone to remember the trip. Yes, we do buy some souvenirs in the parks/resorts, but it's almost always something small like a keychain or a matchbox car for each child. DW and I may get a t-shirt or a hat, but that's usually it.

 

[RustManFan]

when my kids were young they generally got a hat and a stuffed animal/character each trip..... no junk for us such as light rings, pens, balloons... if they wanted a pin they used their own money

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We don't have a set souvenir budget, but we usually spend very little on souvenirs. Our middle DD could spend every $ she gets a WDW, so we have to limit her purchases a bit (and she still spends a fair amount of her own $ on souvenirs), but the rest of us usually don't even bother with souvenirs. Our trip at the end of August was a little different because we went to Cast Connections with our daughter who is in the DCP now, but most of the $ I spent there was on orange juice, fruit, eggs, bread and lettuce for our villa. LOL Our DCP daughter got each of her 3 siblings (plus one friend) a hat / light up ears for about $5 total and that was about it.

 

[elaine amj]

I usually buy stuff I know we will use that I can't easily get "in the real world". We typically keep to a restricted souvenir budget since we don't usually spend much on souvenirs. One trip the kids brought saved up birthday money - something like $75 each. We spent a lot of that trip shopping! They have had no desire to do that again although we did have fun choosing stuff. I let them buy whatever they wanted each day. Near the end of the trip, we spread everything out in the hotel room and chose what they wanted to keep and returned everything else to the resort gift shop.

Nowadays, we typically spend about $30-$50 total for all 4 of us per trip. The only must-do is a magnet for that trip (I collect fridge magnets from everywhere I visit). I often also like to buy an ornament - but only 1 per year.

My DS like one small stuffie (he usually wins one at one of the carnival games and spend $5-10). My DD likes pins but typically just does pin trading rather than buying new pins. That said, she has gotten into the specialty pins and last trip bought one with birthday money.

We also like ear hats, but we buy one and then reuse it for future trips. I have no idea what we would do with the old ones if we bought a new ear hat each trip.

 

[Shannon G]

I have to echo the suggestions to go to the Disney Character Warehouse if you have a car. My kids like pin trading, so the bulk of our souvenir money goes to pins. We have had good luck buying pins at a significant discount at the outlet, which the kids can then use for trading at the parks. We rent a car, so we make a trip to the outlet on our way to WDW from the airport.

 

[GreatLakes]

When we were kids we were given a total $ we were allowed to spend on souvenirs. We could get anything we wanted but once we spent our allotted amount we were done.

Now I don't really buy a lot of souvenirs but as some PPs have stated we get something we will use. The only thing I get every trip (well, every year if we do multiple trips) is one of the picture frames with the year on it. My wife and I have a picture of us in a frame for every year we have gone.

We also get some household stuff we will use like pot holders or wooden spoons if they are something we need anyway. I also try to get a few things from any specific event I'm down for like one of the races.

 

[nanni]

I don't have children to buy for, but for myself I buy one nice pin on each trip. I might occasionally buy something if I really like it, but don't generally NEED to get a souvenir. On trips where I do (non Disney), I tend to get a pint glass or coffee mug, or a Christmas ornament. I also usually have shirts that we've made for trips, so those sort of fill the souvenir t shirt role, but made at home for cheap.

 

[bookgirl]

I know everyone has their own opinion on how much to spend. I've seen some that budget as much as $100/day per person while others might have a budget of $100/trip per person for souvenirs. I know souvenirs are not cheap at WDW. I guess I am just curious what those of you who are on a tight budget plan to spend on souvenirs per person per day. I know we will have 4 kids with us when we go and I don't want them to end up with just junk, but I don't want to break the bank on things either. What is the average?

(If money is no object for you, please don't comment with high amounts. That won't help me at all. Thank you for your understanding!)

Will you have a car?

The local Super Walmarts and Super Targets both have souvenir sections of Disney Branded items. Way less expensive and good quality.