Souvenirs on a shoestring

[kristintrod]

On our first trip to WDW, our kids were ages 5, 3 and 6 months. We were so excited about sharing the "magic" with them but terrified of the possible meltdowns at every turn. I knew we needed to come back to the room for a break each day but I also wanted to try to avoid crying as we left the park. Soooo......we packed small wrapped gifts for the kids "from Mickey" and they would receive these gifts at nap time every day when we returned to our room. This worked beautifully! Every day my kids were so excited to see what Mickey left them that they didn't complain one time about leaving the park. This also saved on souvenirs! If my kids ever asked for souvenirs, I just told them that we got our souvenirs from Mickey and he gave the BEST gifts...they agreed! Some examples are Disney trading pins bought on eBay, light up Mickey pens bought on clearance at Walgreens, Mickey cups bought on Black Friday at the Disney store etc. I collected these items over several months, wrapped them before we left and packed them. Then I would be the last one to leave the room and set them out for the kids when we returned. It cost a total of $12 for 5 days (per child)!

 

[la79al]

We tried 'Tinkerbell gifts' one trip. They were slightly excited by them but really mostly untouched. Multiple trips with 4 different kids at varying ages and most often had to MAKE the kids spend their souvenir money. Found the best souvenirs to be the Mickey shaped plates that kids meals came in, the fun shaped confetti they picked up (usually from the ground ) and pressed pennies on some trips.

 

[Saimaeve]

We tried 'Tinkerbell gifts' one trip. They were slightly excited by them but really mostly untouched. Multiple trips with 4 different kids at varying ages and most often had to MAKE the kids spend their souvenir money. Found the best souvenirs to be the Mickey shaped plates that kids meals came in, the fun shaped confetti they picked up (usually from the ground ) and pressed pennies on some trips.

THIS! What was with that stuff? I took my daughter for her 7th birthday with plenty of souvenir money and this stuff she went crazy for picking up off the ground. We got back to the hotel and I would find stacks in her bag of it. So so weird.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

Our way of combating the "gimmes" is that first of all, they don't get every single little thing they want at home, so Disney's no different

We take pictures of things they are thinking of. Half the time they forget about all the things they "LOVED". We usually only go back and look at the pictures if they ask to see them. When and if that happens, they have to pick from the pictures for what they are going to get with their money.