Souvenir money for kids?

[HBGdancermom]

Hi everyone,

Heading to WDW in 3 weeks!!! Yeah!!! I had a question about how you handle souvenir money for your kids. How much? Per day? Save until the end of trip?
Each of mine have about $30 at this point and I am wondering how much to add.

Would love to know how you work it. Thanks so much!

 

[hffrn]

We do one gift per park

 

[WantToGoNow]

My ds12 and dd9 each have a $100 Disney gift card to use however they please.

 

[sazzifrazz]

I love the idea of one gift per park! TY

My son is going to want want want. I thought about doing a gift card and when its gone its gone but he would obsess over spending it. Now Im actually wondering if it should be a gift after each sit down meal (we have 5 ADR's) and only if he is well behaved and eats. oow...maybe I will give him a gift card after each meal with various denominations. Like a mystery!

 

[ktmo]

The last few trips we have had "sleeping prizes." I had lots of trouble getting them to sleep on vacation, so if they went to sleep without a fight, they would get to pick out something the next day.

I don't usually set a limit or give them a gift card. I think it would be too much for me to keep up - how much each kid has left. I probably spend more this way, but not crazy. We usually have an idea of what they want (one year it was Duffy).

 

[1000HappyWishes]

Since I was around eight or so I had to save up all my own souvenir money, no extras from my parents. It was a bummer, but now I'm very frugal with money, so not sure if that's how they wanted that to work out or not.

 

[GotLabradors]

My ds12 and dd9 each have a $100 Disney gift card to use however they please.

We're doing the same thing. They will save their own money. I'm sure grandparents will add to the pot as well. Before our trio, I will get them gift cards with the money they have saved. I'm already planning to spring for the pearl diving for DD. Not sure what I could do with DS that would be a souvenir that's not a toy.

 

[CalSea12]

My 2 yo DD is getting 400 from Mommy and Daddy, and 100 from GMA. I think she will be well taken care of while she's there.

 

[HBGdancermom]

Thanks for all the ideas! Nice to hear what others do!

 

[baloo's girl]

My kiddos each get a $50 gift card to spend. We also get our Disney Visa points and split those between the kids. I think we have about 50 or 60 points right now. They are very satisfied with this amount.

Since we go to Disney often, they don't feel a great need to spend alot. The trip itself is the biggest gift. If we were only to go once, I'd probably give them more though.

 

[kiramay]

My twins each had $25 and the little guy got nada because he didn't know. Lol Next trip it'll be about $30 each I think.

 

[Carolejm]

It's our 1st time going, but my kids (son 6, daughter 4) have money saved up from birthdays and such. We will add a little because we got lazy about allowances, but she has more than him because he spends his money as fast as he gets it.

 

[Fivesacharm]

We did the Disney gift cards and it worked great. That way they knew how much they had to spend and could spend it any way they wished.

The one gift per park isn't a bad idea either!

 

[luvmy3]

My kids had $50 GC from us and $20 cash from Gramma.
My dd and youngest ds spent their GCs on stuff, my oldest ds cashed his into me and used all his money for the arcade. He didn't get any souvenirs.

 

[sb682]

There are people on the Creative DISigns board here that make coupons you can give to your kids. I got several for our trip, like "Good for one treat from Goofy's Candy Kitchen", "Good for one pair of Mickey ears" and "Good for one souvenir of your choice". I printed them at the Target photo center and DS got one or two each day at breakfast.

For older kids that can manage their money, I would budget $30-40 for a souvenir and some more money for snacks, then let them spend it how they wanted. If they have any allowance saved up, then I'd let them spend that, too. There is a free Disney Gift Card app for iPhones that tracks the balance on your gift cards for you. Register your kids' cards in the app, and you can easily find out how much spending money they have left.

 

[HBGdancermom]

There are people on the Creative DISigns board here that make coupons you can give to your kids. I got several for our trip, like "Good for one treat from Goofy's Candy Kitchen", "Good for one pair of Mickey ears" and "Good for one souvenir of your choice". I printed them at the Target photo center and DS got one or two each day at breakfast.

For older kids that can manage their money, I would budget $30-40 for a souvenir and some more money for snacks, then let them spend it how they wanted. If they have any allowance saved up, then I'd let them spend that, too. There is a free Disney Gift Card app for iPhones that tracks the balance on your gift cards for you. Register your kids' cards in the app, and you can easily find out how much spending money they have left.

Oh that us cool! I will get that app!

 

[mswells4]

My daughters spending money is a combo of the following:

Tooth fairy money, our spare change converted to bills, a weekly $5 cleaning allowance.

She had about $50 per park the last time we went, but with her being 9 we upped it to $100 per park, cause she loves the snowglobes and they can wipe out your $50 per park.

Hope this helps. We have been saving since we started planning!

 

[dragonfly08]

My girls each get a set amount of money ($50-$100 depending on the length of our stay) on a GC. It's theirs to spend as they please but I do encourage them to wait until toward the end of the trip to spend the bulk of it, so they're sure they've evaluated their options and don't buy something quickly only to later see something they like/want more.

 

[jennylyn_b]

We don't have a set limit for our dd but that doesn't work for everyone. I have looked at the items she wants that we got her and left out the items we chose for her and figure for our trips of 11-17 days she spends about $125. She's almost three so she's not into clothes or jewelry beyond the $5 Mickey head stretchy bracelets. She wants stuffed animals (10-20 each) and plastic dolls or playsets ($19-35).

If we had to set a limit I would offer to match whatever she could save from presents or allowance. If she saved 100 I would give her another 100.

We typically pick up some tops or pjs for her. Extra stuffed animals ( we never leave with less than 5 new ones lol), extra playsets and such.

 

[scnrc00]

Well my DD13 saved some of her bday money ($155) and money from report cards and then her grandparents will give them a little spending money for the trip but DH & I are only giving them $50 each. DD9 has a little saved about $10 but has a bday party the weekend before we go and will be getting money from pretty much everyone since they know we are going to WDW for her actual bday (she has no idea about the trip, complete surprise) and then of course she will have money from grandparents and us. So I figure they will both have at least $200 most likely more for our trip to spend how they like!