Spending money for kids

[Adistar]

What would you say is a fair amount of spending money for a 10 year old?

I want my son to be a little more independent this trip so we are loading up a disney giftcard for him to use as he would like. that way he doesnt have to come ask us every time he wants to chose a souveneir. He is pretty good with money, not at all wasteful so I think he will do well with it.

Question is how much would you put on it? Its all coming from his own birthday money, I just figured it would be easier to load it onto a card than him worrying about all that cash.

thanks dis'ers! 15 days!!!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Oh Geeze, my only concern with "loading" a card is, if he drops it, Bye Bye $$.
Maybe loading it along the way
Or, $$ in an envelope in the vault/safe and he can take $xx amount each day??

I am prob not the one to ask, as a "spender" so I'll let others comment in that respect. Just think it is a great idea to show some independence and responsibility to kids!
Have an amazing trip making Disney Memories to last a lifetime! I just looked at a scrapbook last night of a trip when my ds was about 2 1/2, he's 16 now The kid has literally grown up at Disney

 

[Adistar]

Oh Geeze, my only concern with "loading" a card is, if he drops it, Bye Bye $$.
Maybe loading it along the way
Or, $$ in an envelope in the vault/safe and he can take $xx amount each day??

I am prob not the one to ask, as a "spender" so I'll let others comment in that respect. Just think it is a great idea to show some independence and responsibility to kids!
Have an amazing trip making Disney Memories to last a lifetime! I just looked at a scrapbook last night of a trip when my ds was about 2 1/2, he's 16 now The kid has literally grown up at Disney

i thought about that with the card, so Im gonna talk to him and discuss what he feels most comfortable doing. Maybe DH or I will hold onto it and he can use it as he pleases.

Loading it along the way is a good idea too....can you do that in the stores there?

 

[mmaikisch]

Hi =) I'm not sure if you are set on a disney gift card, but when we went last year, I loaded a visa gift card for my 9 yr old dd for our disney trip, this way if she didn't want to spend all of the money on the card in disney, she was still able to use it at any other store on whatever she wanted. As far as the amount goes, my dd saved her allowance and by the time we went she had $115.00 on the card and she only spent about $30.00 in disney, and she spent some in walmart and the rest after we got back home. Go figure...lol

 

[Adistar]

Hi =) I'm not sure if you are set on a disney gift card, but when we went last year, I loaded a visa gift card for my 9 yr old dd for our disney trip, this way if she didn't want to spend all of the money on the card in disney, she was still able to use it at any other store on whatever she wanted. As far as the amount goes, my dd saved her allowance and by the time we went she had $115.00 on the card and she only spent about $30.00 in disney, and she spent some in walmart and the rest after we got back home. Go figure...lol

Oh kids, gotta love em! The reason I was going with disney gift card is because he already got one for his birthday, so I thought of adding to it....but you make a good point!

 

[Suzanna1973]

My sister and I are saving all of our change to give our kids spending money for our next trip in June '11. We are saving $75 for each kid (there are 4 kids). We are going to our local walgreens and loading the $75 for each child onto a disney giftcard. The giftcard stays with me and my sister until each child is ready to buy.

 

[MontyMontyMOnty]

My girls are a little younger, but this is what we do for the older two (ages 6 and 7):

I will buy one stuffed animal type thing (they usually choose one of the princesses, or a dressed up Minnie) per child. After that, they can spend their own money for whatever they want (well, whatever they want within reason

In the weeks before we go, we give them the opportunity to earn money by doing little chores. I match any money they want to bring (though this is getting dangerous, the older one is a major saver!)

They each have their own little Disney change purse (I made them), and I carry these in my backpack. When they see something they want to buy, they use their money, and the change & receipt goes back into the change purse so they can see what they spent.

I thought about loading a Disney card, but they are both learning about money, and I want them to think about what they are spending (forking over cash makes them be pretty choosy about what they spend!).

Hope this helps!
samantha

 

[Adistar]

My girls are a little younger, but this is what we do for the older two (ages 6 and 7):

I will buy one stuffed animal type thing (they usually choose one of the princesses, or a dressed up Minnie) per child. After that, they can spend their own money for whatever they want (well, whatever they want within reason

In the weeks before we go, we give them the opportunity to earn money by doing little chores. I match any money they want to bring (though this is getting dangerous, the older one is a major saver!)

They each have their own little Disney change purse (I made them), and I carry these in my backpack. When they see something they want to buy, they use their money, and the change & receipt goes back into the change purse so they can see what they spent.

I thought about loading a Disney card, but they are both learning about money, and I want them to think about what they are spending (forking over cash makes them be pretty choosy about what they spend!).

Hope this helps!
samantha

I like the changepurse thing! Maybe I can find him a cool wallet, and then tell him when hes done in a gift shop to put it back in my backpack. So that way he is independent when he is in the store, making his own decisions....but I can keep track of the money when we are on rides etc.

 

[team disney]

We did the visa gift cards for my 2 boys (ages 5 & 9) last year. I think each boy had about $75 to spend as they wished. I held the gift cards and used a sharpie to label which card belonged to which boy. And they used the card themselves to make each purchase. This approach made it so easy! I did not need to keep track of each boys cash (and coin) flow nor did I have to figure out who had what left. I was easily able to find the balance left on the cards by calling the toll free number on the back of the cards. I would write the total on the cards from time to time (with a sharpie) to remind the boys how much they had left. They thouroughly enjoyed making there own decisions on spending (I tried my best not to interfere) and they really understood the concept that once they had a zero balance they would be done. They were wise in their decisions and made sure they would have money to spend at each park. I am going to use the visa gift cards again this year for our next Disney visit. It worked so well for us!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We make our kids save their allowance for a few months. The usually end up with $100 - 150.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I was given $80 for the entire vacation or $100 if I did A LOT of chores and also help take the aluminum cans to recycle. I was allowed to spend it on whatever.

 

[IWannaBeAPrincess]

My DD6 saves all of her money that she gets from birthdays, grandparents, extra chore money, etc, and gets to take whatever she wants to Disney. It's funny, she will only spend her money on vacation. Otherwise, she doesn't touch it!

This year, she took $80, and it was more than enough. We go to Disney often, so there aren't many things that she wants that she doesn't already have.

She has her money in a wallet, and pays for it by herself. She is very very careful to make good decisions, and even asks to save her purchases for DTD so that she gets my discount in WoD.

 

[gillenkl]

I have 10 year olds - they save up birthday and christmas money - so around $100 each. Then we give them each 2 pins per day (they don't trade them just collect them) which I get from ebay for around $3 per pin. And, we usually buy them each a snowglobe - $25-50 there. Last year we did also treat them both to the box of My Little Pony and Mr. Potato Head parts, etc.... - so that was $20 each.

So I guess that means they each get around $200 but they also don't get alot of things during the year and we budget for all this.

 

[heatherleigh]

It kind of depends on how many days you will be there. Actually, it probably doesn't matter unless you're staying an extended period of time. I'd probably do about $250.

 

[disneylovingfamily:4]

We are doing $150 per child for the 5 days that we are there.. I will keep the $$$ with me and then give them their wallet when they are ready to buy

 

[indimom]

and they get an additional $50 if they keep their honor roll grades through the end of the year. So, a total of $100 each, for our two-week trip. They plan to use it for souvies and some extra snacks (at their discretion, dad has promised not to nag ).

 

[starsweeper]

Personally, I wouldn't give a 10-year-old a spending card. I'd worry about him losing it, or wasting it on frivilous things. My parents always gave us a spending limit (usually $100-150 for the trip) and didn't let us buy something without taking 5 minutes to think about it. It taught us to watch for something really special, instead of junky things we would have been bored with in a day.

 

[Order66]

My sons are 10 now. Each trip they have saved up their money and each had around $100. I had them each buy $25 in Disney Dollars (this year they got a GC since no dollars) and we leave the rest in cash so they can bring it home. I buy them each a shirt and a hat (no toys!) and I buy their food/snacks. We get the DP, so not much extra spending there. Anything else they want comes out of their money. They each have a wallet that they keep their money in, but I hold it in my purse. They have to ask for it when they want something.

Oh, I also reserve veto power over any item I feel is wasting their money! Their first trip they came home broke. Each trip after they bought less and less. Last year I don't think they spent more than $50-60 or their own cash. They really do think about it more when it's their money vs. mine.

regards

 

[abevans]

My 12 year old is mowing lawns to save money for our July trip, he is already at $80, I will probably put half of whatever he earns on a gift card and he will be responsible for the card and I will keep the cash. I have found that if it is not mom and dads money he doesnt spend it as quick!!!

 

[Sgt Mickey]

We went over spring break and so the easter bunny left each kid $50 in an egg. Plus they had some money they had saved. None of them spent over the $50 but I did encourage them to think about what they really wanted so they also wanted a game for their dsi's so they were more willing to save