Spending money for a six year old

[rw_hadley]

Does anyone have any advice for how to handle spending money for a six year old at WDW?
We're thinking of giving DD some Disney Dollars, and telling her that this is her budget for souvenirs, and that once she spends it all, it's gone.
We, of course, will pay for meals and snacks (actually Disney will do most of that since we've got Free Dining!)
But toys, stuffed animals, whatever, would be up to her to buy.
What is a reasonable amount to give a six year old to spend for a week? (And I realize YMMV.)

 

[Pumbaa_]

Does a 6 yo have any concept of money management?

 

[Hannathy]

How much you give is up to your budget ( $25-$50 I would think) but one thing I did with my kids was if they saw something they wanted they didn't buy it right then they had to wait until we were ready to leave for the day and get it. Since most things at Disney are available at almost all the gift shops this worked or it was somewhere we would be back close to. Gave them time to digest the thought and decide if that is what they really wanted. Occasionally we bought something if we knew they didn't have it anywhere else like my DS star wars figure but for his other souvenir he thought about it for the day. Also saves lugging something else all through the park for the whole day.

 

[c4alymom]

We took our children at 5 and 4 and they had their own spending budget. They each had $100 for our 7 day trip. Once they spent it, it was gone. We gave them each disney dollars and a disney gift card. They handled it very well and we did not have the "I wants" all trip long. As a matter of fact, we had to force them to spend the last of their money before we left so we would not take money home.

We are now planning a trip for next September. They will be 9 and 8 at the time. They are already saving and realize that the more they save, the more they will have. We have made a rule that 1/2 of their allowance must go into their Disney Savings Account. They are excited to see it grow each week.

A six year old can definitely understand money management if you take the time to teach them. We are very big on teaching our children that if they earn their money, they can spend it. We do have "veto" power, but for the most part, we allow them to choose what they buy. (within reason)

Our experience has been that when it is the child's money, they are usually more thoughtful,careful, and frugal about what they want and/or buy.

Hope it helps.

 

[cmaee]

We don't give our kids a lot of money for stuff at Disney. We told them on both our trips when they were 5 & 4 and 6 & 5, that they had $20 and they could buy something at the end of the week. I had $20 in Disney Dollars that I gave them to pay with. They looked a few times when we were exiting a ride through the gift shop, but for the most part they didn't want to browse through a gift shop knowing that they weren't going to buy until the last day. We are not the kind of family that lets them get something everytime we go to a store, so while they are like most kids in that they love to get stuff, they don't expect to get something just because they went somewhere. Making them wait until the end of the week worked well for us, because we didn't have to hear the complaint that they were out of money and saw something that they liked better. I don't know if this helped or not, but I think it did, was that we saved up penny press money for them. We had enough penny press money for them to do 6 a day. They had the most fun looking for cool penny presses. We also did the pin trading so that was almost like getting a souvinear whenever they traded. In fact, the kids look through their penny press books all the time to reminess. They play with their toys too, but they don't hold as much memory as the penny press and pins do.

 

[cuppycake]

Our girls (4 and 6) will each have a $25 gift card for our 8 day/7 night trip. This has worked just fine for us in the past, as well. We take care of all their snacks, etc....if there is a souvie they want (or a bit of candy...they love Goofy's at downtown), then they will buy it with "their money".

We are also a family that doesn't buy something for them at every store, so they don't expect a bunch of stuff, nor do they seem to mind at all. Hubby and i aren't big souvenier shoppers either, so that helps a TON!

We let them look when they want to, but they have to wait until the middle to end of the trip to BUY stuff (well, except for the candy, since we usually only make it to DTD one day on the trip). In the past, they've ended up with some cute stuff...hats/stuffed animals/purses/bracelets/cups. They are already talking about how excited they are to do their shopping this year.

We will also have a piece of paper with the gift card showing the math to them as to what they have spent and what they have left. I think this is the PERFECT age to talk with/start teaching them about money management!

 

[palavra]

We are planning on giving our 7 year old $50.00 for the week we are at WDW. She is earning some of the money by doing extra things around the house.

 

[annagirl]

I would allow the child $10 a day - and do it by the day, not $70 up front.

When you decide to shop in a shop, allow your child to look around and even take a few items off the shelf. Once they have made their selections, discuss the price of each item and remind them of how much they have to spend.

They might like to have a pin and a pencil (2 items) or a hat (1 item). Let them make a choice within the budget.

I have done this with my daughter every time we go somewhere special. It teaches them about what money can buy, you can go over the concept of value (a sucker lasts a day, a pin lasts forever if you take care of it). But always let them make the choice.

Daughter has learned to spend wisely over the years. She's 10 now and does quiet well.


Oh - and pick up the tax yourself. They're not going to get that idea at age 6.

 

[woodkins]

We did this for our dd on our last trip when she was 6.5 yrs. We gave her $50 for 5 days and we used the Disney Dollars as a countdown for our trip. Starting at day 50 we would add $1 per day until her wallet was full & then she took that money for our trip. I held the $$ for her but she knew once her $$ was gone it was gone. We used all singles so that she could really SEE what amount of money she had. The CM's were really patient about helping her count out her $$ and she was really thoughtful about how she was spending it as well.

 

[trai]

We are going at the end of September and my 4 year old daughter is earning Disney dollars. Every day she must do three things: make her bed, pick up toys in the family room at the end of the day, and no fussing/whining. If all goes well, she gets one dollar. She's loving it...counting them every night and her behavior has been pretty good...so far she's averaging about 5 out of 7 a week. She'll probably have $40-50 by the time we leave.

 

[ChristusG]

It varies. I have a 5 year old DD. Last year when we went she saw Cinderella's castle that she wanted to buy for $75. She didn't have enough money and we didn't really think she needed it. She still talked about that castle months later. So earlier this year I told her that if she wanted it when we went on our annual vacation in October, that she would need to save for it. So we put in some birthday money, Easter money from the grandparents, any time anyone would give her change/bills it would go into the Disney money. We even chose some toys from the playroom that she didnt play with anymore and sold it on craigslist and that money went into her Disney savings as well. She has over and above the $75 needed for Cinderella's castle. Some of that money will be shared with her little sister as well though. So our two DD's will go into our week long October vacation with about $200 to share between them. The $75 castle will come out of this money as well as any stuffed animals, etc. I dont expect them to buy T-shirts or anything....kids dont care about that stuff so if I want them to have something like that, I will purchase it. But that's rare.

Edited to add....the kids do not have "free reign" with their souvineer money. I can, and do, veto lots of things they want. I know what will end up buried in the toy box without a second thought and I do not allow them to get those things.

 

[maddiesmom0116]

I let my DD5 earn Disney dollars, I explained in Disney World terms what she can buy with how many Disney dollars. Like 2 $10 ones can buy a baby marie or a new baby simba. She is starting Kindergarten soon and I want her at least a 1st grade reading level before then, she currenlty only reads small words and short sentences. So each time she has a reading success on her reading map for 1st grade, she gets a disney dollar amount. It is working well right now.
She has earned $50 DD right now and will probably earn $50 more before we go.

I think that age range a $100 earned is enough along with a item or two special from mommy and daddy.

 

[VirataMama4]

When we went we had a garage sale to earn extra spending money. We told my DD 7 at the time and her BFF, that any money earned from their old toys was their spending money. They ended up with over $200 each... But never complained about the toys that were sold and loved being able to buy what they wanted.

 

[mjkacmom]

My kids got $25 gc's, and didn't spend it all. I think most was spent in the Poly, waiting for ADR's, since I hate gift shops, and souveniers.

 

[kckmom]

My girls are getting money from my Dad, $50 each to spend. They have also been given Disney dollars for their bdays, I think each has $35 at this point. I think that is plenty, though I might try the toyselling idea, they would love that!

I am going to keep the cash in all singles, and give them money each morning, but will also ask them to wait until we are leaving the parks to make a decision on what to buy to save me from lugging all the 'stuff'. They enjoy pintrading, so that will also be their responsibility to purchase additional (we are buying them each a set as a surprise).

 

[kevschickee]

Does a 6 yo have any concept of money management?

It is actually a great time to start to instil the value of money and saving