Spending money for kids...

[rybran]

I posted this on the "budget" forum... but think it'd be better over here.

What's the BEST way to have kids (3&6) spend "their" own money @ WDW...

We are going in Sept and they will both have b-days before we leave... I would like to give people some gifts ideas on giving them $$ for their trip...

Can you use DISNEY GIFT CARDS @ WDW?

Would gift cards be best?
Cash?
Visa Gift card?


Thanks

 

[amwhitaker]

My friend bought her daughter her own wallet and kept her daughter's money in it. She had cash.

You can get Disney Dollars at the Disney Store and use them at the parks.

 

[southernqueen]

My kids will be 3 and 7 when we go and I plan to get them Disney Dollars to spend while there.

 

[rybran]

Where exactly can you buy Disney Dollars and what if and that's a BIG what if there are UNUSED Disney Dollars? Can you get your CASH back?

 

[Mickey001]

We took 2 nieces 4 & 8 and a nephew 7 on our first trip earlier this year. Each child had their own fanny pack with a flashlight, autograph book and wallet. Every morning I gave each child $10 to spend on whatever they wanted. They could spend it all that day or save towards a larger item later in the week. It was a system that worked out well for us. The first day all three spend every cent of that $10. After the first day they put a little more thought into their purchases and would sometimes save for the following day. It was a system that worked out well for us. I also liked using cash (or disney dollars) rather than a gift card because it gave them a visual of how much money they had.

 

[dopey67]

Where exactly can you buy Disney Dollars and what if and that's a BIG what if there are UNUSED Disney Dollars? Can you get your CASH back?

You can cash them in at the front desk for the real dollars if you don't use them.

 

[MinnesotaMommy]

What we do for our vacations - including Disney - is that over the summer, the kids earn money by reading books - the more they read, the more they earn. the money goes into their vacation fund - so when vacation comes, it is theirs to spend. DS tends to be very frugal and careful about what he spends. DD will blow it all on stuffed animals. I try to figure it out so that each kid earns about $50 for the trip. In addition, I typically also buy each kid a tshirt or sweatshirt and maybe one other keepsake.

 

[Corey10112]

We are actually trying to figure this out ourselves. We have little gifts for the kids each day and for their birthdays they're getting 50 Disney Dollars each. They will be 5 and 2 when we go, so I'm not even sure that our son (the 2yo) will spend his. We wanted to get our daughter a makeover a BBB for MVMCP as well.

I did like the $10 per day, that's a good idea. I'll have to run that by my wife.

 

[jessp1021]

I know alot were talking about Disney Dollars.. well when we went 2 yrs ago they informed me that they no longer accept them only the Disney Store does and that they only accept the gift cards now.. I was shocked bc I thought they would take them but they said they discontinued that so I would say a gift card would be the way to go!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

To the previous poster...someone was pulling your leg...you can definately still use Disney Dollars at WDW. We used them without a problem. However, I would not recommend them. We got the princess dollars for DD last year because they were cute. Well, the issue with them is that you get change back in plain old american $$$, so they lose the cuteness factor quickly! Again the gift card would work but your kids won't actually see what they have been be able to budget for bigger items. Also, if you don't use it, you will only be able to spend it at Disney Stores or on Disneyshopping.com. This year, DD will just bring regular dollars. Everything she doesn't spend can go right back in the piggybank.

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

My kids are a little bit older, but still we always have a plan.

DDs have an allowance and can work for extra money. They give their money to us before we leave. I won't let them bring more than $100.00. I keep a small notebook of how much they gave me and how much they spent. Each night we figure out how much they still have. We buy all food, snacks (one per day) and water. Also each parent buys them 1 T-shirt. (so they get 2) We love T-shirts in our family. This has worked great for us and DDs have always brought money home which we refund to them. They really think long and hard about spending.


One word of caution, If you haven't taught your kids how to budget, Disney is probably not the place to start. I have a hard time budgeting at Disney.

Have Fun!!

 

[dananbethany]

My daughter is 12 and I plan to make a little Ziplock bag for each day with her spending money. She can only use what is in her bag but she can roll any leftover until the next day. When I pointed that out, she decided she wouldn't spend any money and save it all until we come home so she could buy a new GameBoy game!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

My kids get a combination of Disney dollars and gift cards to use at Disney. When they were younger we only used Disney dollars because they needed to see what they had to spend and what was left after a purchase. Once they got older they mostly use the gift cards.

 

[xominnieox2]

I know alot were talking about Disney Dollars.. well when we went 2 yrs ago they informed me that they no longer accept them only the Disney Store does and that they only accept the gift cards now.. I was shocked bc I thought they would take them but they said they discontinued that so I would say a gift card would be the way to go!

We had no problem using Disney dollars last Sept. I gave them to my kids for reading rewards for spending money. They were easily exchanged for
"real money" at the end of our trip.

 

[tinkntraining]

Don't know if this will work for you, but might give you some ideas.....
We budgetted $100 per child for souvenirs/spending money at Disney. One of my girls, although loveable, is not the most responsible and loses things all the time. So, I was hesitant to give her cash, disney dollars, gift cards or charging priviledges on the key card, because if it's gone, it's gone.
So, instead, I created some individualized disney dollars for each of them on my computer. I used the disney font and their "money" has their favorite character on it (tink for one, eeyore for the other). I plan to give them their "tink and eeyore" dollars at the beginning of our trip. How they choose to spend it, will be their choice. The plan is, when they decide to buy something, they will just hand us the appropriate amount of tink/eeyore $, and we will charge it for them. When their money is gone, then it's gone. If they lose the "money", well, we really haven't lost anything (a quick look at the charging receipt will remind me how much of the $100 they have left).
It was fun for me to do, and the girls (especially the one who loses things all the time) think it's great!

 

[Harvestmooner]

I have 2 children and they save their birthday money or any money that grandparents give/send to them on holidays and their allowance and we take some cash and some disney dollars. We figure it out by the day. If we are at Disney for 8 days and they have $200- we divide it and they are able to spend (the days allowance) how they want or even save it up for a couple of days and buy a big item-but when it is gone-it is gone. We have gone 4 times and done this each time and it has worked well for us. If we have left over Disney Dollars we take them home with us-it just means we have to go again to spend it!!! (YEAH!!)

 

[Coach81]

We have a 10 year old and a 6 year old (his birthday is today). What we started doing a year ago was the "Disney Point Chart". Here is how it works:

We have a sheet of paper on one of the cabinets in the kitchen it shows each child's name, and two boxes after their name. One of the boxes is labeled "good points" and one "bad points". When our kids come home with good grades, they get so many good points, when they come home with bad grades.. you get the idea.

Our kids get good point for:
1. Good grades.
2. Helping around the house, clothes, trash, dishes, etc.
3. Exception behavior.

Bad points for:
1. Bad grades
2. Bad behavior

Before we go to Disney the points are transformed into Dollars for Disney which they can spend anyway they like. It has worked very well for us.

 

[somethingblue]

Today I had an AWFUL experience trying to get a Visa giftcard to put money on for my upcoming Disney trip. Let me tell you all that getting a Visa or American Express giftcard is something that is great because it allows you to put a limited amount of money on a card and let's your kids not worry so much about keeping and carrying cash. Also, if stolen or lost, the money will be replaced in most instances.

I will warn you, however, that there is a company called NETSPEND that is scamming people in to buying debit cards that will be used as a pseudo-bank accounts and selling them under similar packaging and terms as a Visa Giftcard. Today we purchased one of these NetSpend cards through our local grocer, HEB, and it was a NIGHTMARE! I was hung up on three times out of five by their customer service represenatives and spent half an hour in the store findout out lots of information no one told us when we bought the card.

If you're going to buy a gift card make sure to avoid ANYTHING related to NetSpend! Just a warning. Vent over.

 

[jkjjhuddle]

I love reading these tips! We have a trip coming up in October and we put out a HUGE change jar a little over a year ago. We have put every bit of change we find around the house and get from being out in the day into that jar. When my parents come to visit they put a few dollars in it. We last counted it after having it out for 3 months and there was already almost $60.00 in it. Now it has been well over a year and while the jar does not look very full there are several $1 and $5 in it! This will be the kids spending money!


Also both of my boys are members of www.kidzeyes.com They fill out survey for cash. It works wonderfully and they get 2 - 3 $$ for each survey they complete. I also get surveys and when I complete one both of the boys get $$. Right now my oldest has $59 in his account. He last cashed it out a year ago.. so that is not too bad for us to use for Vacation $$.

Both of the boys will also have birthdays before going. So family members will give them $$. I have a feeling we will come home with some but it is nice to know that they can get some special items while on vacation!

Not quite sure how I will let them carry it. I know it will not all be on them in the parks.

 

[SunnieRN]

I will warn you, however, that there is a company called NETSPEND that is scamming people in to buying debit cards that will be used as a pseudo-bank accounts and selling them under similar packaging and terms as a Visa Giftcard. Today we purchased one of these NetSpend cards through our local grocer, HEB, and it was a NIGHTMARE! I was hung up on three times out of five by their customer service represenatives and spent half an hour in the store findout out lots of information no one told us when we bought the card.

If you're going to buy a gift card make sure to avoid ANYTHING related to NetSpend! Just a warning. Vent over.

Thank you for posting this. I have bought these cards at HEB and WalMart, but am not sure if they are NetSpend. Does it say it on the back of the card? This is what I was planning on doing for our Sept trip. Thanks again.