Thoughts on Kids & Souvenirs?

[tigger51276]

Ever since my DD6 was 3 she has had her own spending money to take to Disney. My family knows we go every year so for xmas and/or her birthday they gave her Disney Dollars (can't get those in the Disney Stores anymore) and now give her Disney Gift Cards and she saves all her allowance money for months before we go so she tends to have around $200-300 (we usually go for 10 days so she gets about $20-30 a day). When I have the money I buy her a princess outfit and that is her gift. This year money is tight and she got a special limited edition snow white dress last year so I told her that she would not get a new princess outfit for at least 2 or 3 years. We do the dining plan so she already gets a snack everyday and if she wants an extra one then she uses her money. I let her buy what she wants but unless it's something unique I try to limit the impulse buys and have her window shop until we hit DTD and go to the World of Disney store because as a DVC and AP member we usually get a 10% discount. This works really well for us. This year my DD1 will be DD2 and she will also have Disney Money of her own although she won't understand anything except "I want that!". But my family bought her gift cards to go down there with so she could get things she wants.
To save money on some things, instead of buying the expensive lightup spinners, I go to the Dollar Store or even Target and get light up necklaces and braclets and those make DD6 and DD1 very happy. I have tons of them as they come like 10 in a pack for $1!!! Light up spinners are like $20-25. I tried to recycle them every year but have no idea where DD used to hide them and they never got used when we got home so we skip them now. There is also a great discount store in DTD where everything is under $10. You can often looks for deals in the Disney Store and buy t-shirts and small gifts there for a much cheaper price then the parks and either give one or two small things a day to the kids or give them a starter bag on the first morning you are there just to give them some of the basics.
Hope some of this is useful!

 

[musclemouse]

We have several up beat conversations about this before we go. Currently they are doing chores to earn money for Disney. It's so hard for them not to spend it now. Usually this is when the conversations come up.

I tell them if they wish to spend their money on something at Disney to make sure it's something they can not buy in the Disney Store here. It should be unique and something that is going to remind you of that particular time. They get it and they get excited about it. Then I remind them if they find something they think they want, hold on to it and walk around and look some more, maybe they will find something they like better. Usually they end up putting it back and waiting till the end of the day. I usually trust them to make good decisions.

But I do buy them t-shirts and mugs.

 

[Cooky]

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[crisi]

When we exit the ride, we start talking about how we need to get to the next thing. In the excitement of getting to the next thing, my kids often don't realize there WAS a gift shop. Or we talk about how great that ride was - they get so caught up in telling us about it, we can walk right past the junk.

I can't get my HUSBAND out of the gift shop at the end of Star Tours though.

 

[figment301]

My girls turn in our family soda cans and bottles for change. I also dump my change into a large bottle in between trips. The girls love wrapping the coins (after we have filled each of them a m&m container with layers of 51cents for pressed pennies). That gives them their spending money (on top of any other money they have saved from birthdays etc...). They know that is what they have to spend and when it is gone that's it. So they put thought into their spending lol. We are going in December, so if there is something special I will be buying some stuff to "sneak ship" home for Christmas lol.

 

[dougsmom98]

We explain to our kids that it cost a lot of money to go to Disney, so they are allowed to only pick one toy to buy on the trip. We let them buy it toward the end of the trip once they have seen some of their options over the week,and so far it has worked out for us.

This is exactly what we do too. The kids all get to pick one thing. We also don't "waste" time shopping in the parks. We go to DTD once or twice on the trip and that is where they get to pick their item. They also get to pick something out at Goofy's Candy Company on each trip to DTD too.

 

[LovesHerTaurus]

My girls know upfront that the trip has a plan and a purpose. I went over the plan with them, and it includes two hours of shopping at DTD. They will each get a set amount of money to spend during that time and that is it. They are 10 and 12. Other souvenir plans are includes scattered through the trip which are minor, and we are pre buying pins for trading that they get each day (they don't know it yet!). I've also been buying some new clothes that I put aside for the trip (surprise!). And pirate makeovers (surprise!)! Ride time and shopping time is totally separate.

Otherwise we'll get dragged into the giftshops (me), spend too much money on stuff (me), and blow the play budget in the first few days and dip into my extra paycheque which is my emergency buffer (me)... Seriously though, anything they like and see they can either A) buy at downtown Disney or B) buy our second last night at Epcot if they save some of their money during our shopping expedition. They're down with it since we agreed that hormones and grumpiness are not allowed this trip.

Some kids have a harder time with it - my younger did before her "change" at 10 I would carry my camera around with me and take a picture of whatever she wanted with her posing with it. She got to "keep" it - in picture form, and had a photo box full of pictures of her with her favorite things! And her room wasn't full of stuff!

I also am concerned b/c middle daughter is very likely to pitch a fit - so I need to nip this before it even gets to bud stage!
Thank for your input!
KM

 

[Darcy03231]

Through the week we took pictures, including the price of everything they thought they wanted. On our last day we did our shopping. Each kid a set amount of money. They picked what they wanted from the pictures and we went to get it. Almost all the park merchandise can be found at Downtown Disney.

It also helped that "Tinkerbelle" left a gift each night. I shopped a lot at home beforehand and brought stuff with me. They got t-shirts, trading pins, light up spinney things, etc.

 

[rtomasello799]

I let my kids get one thing right away and then one thing the day we leave. We also do the pin trading thing. The kids LOVE that. Also, bring your mickey shirts and toys from home....they will really want to play with them at the hotel or pool. Have fun!

 

[musclemouse]

It also helped that "Tinkerbelle" left a gift each night. I shopped a lot at home beforehand and brought stuff with me. They got t-shirts, trading pins, light up spinney things, etc.

Aw that's so cute! May I borrow this idea

 

[Michelle and crew]

We just said "no, let's go to the next ride". At the end of the week we might visit the store at DTD and pick something special out. I'm not real big on taking home a bunch of junk.

 

[lisadonahoo]

We did the pin trading. That way, the kids felt like they had "purchased" something several times a day, when in reality, they kept the same number of pins the whole trip. Got the lanyards from The Disney store. Priceless!

 

[3doodlebugsmom]

Our first trip to Disney was when the kids were a just turned 9,7, and just turned 5. They each had 100.00 to spend. I explained to them that they could buy five 20.00 items with their money-that was an easy way for them to understand how much 100.00 was. I also told them after every ride, we would be going through a store to get to the other rides. I kept their money in separate envelopes with their names on them.

I was amazed how well this worked for us. I loved it when my seven year old fell in love with the Mickey Sorcerer hat. She really wanted it- everytime we saw someone with that hat she'd tell us about it- how she had to have it and so forth. It took me a little bit to find the hat, but we did. Then we saw how much it would cost-38.00

I told her that was like two 20.00 things. She thought for a moment and said forget it- that's too much money! That was the last we heard of the hat! When it's their money they were spending, they were much more aware of how much things cost, and were better consumers. Even my five yr old! He didn't buy anything till we got to pirates- then he opened his envelope.

 

[Mama Mouse]

Set an amount for each child and either get them disney dollars in that amount or a disney gift card. That way they can buy whatever they want and once their money is gone, thats it.

This was going to be my suggestion, too.

My plan for ds (he's 7) is to buy a tshirt or two,\ mouse ears and one or two other things. For anything else, I'm giving him a budget and he can spend his money as he sees fit.

If he spots anything big that he loves, I've decided I may secretly pick it up somehow and save it for Christmas.

 

[EKW]

First, I plan our trip so we visit each park more than once. So, my rule is, never buy souvenirs on the first visit. Look, then, when you've seen everything, get the souvenir on trip 2.

Second, I give my kids gift cards. They know how much money they have to spend up front. My only rule for the money is that they have to buy at least one t-shirt. After that, if they want to spend all their money on popcorn or whatever, it's up to them.

It works for me, but, I have boys who aren't particularly souvenir-oriented.

 

[2002Disneybride]

My boys are 6 and 3. We use those Disney plastic popcorn tubs to save their money. My husband slits a little hole in the top and all year they sock their change away...Now, if they see something, they have some money to buy it.

 

[5inwonderland]

Wow, thanks for all the tips!
Tammy, I really like the idea of window shopping through the week and having some time at the end of the vacation to purchase that souvenir they really want!
Also, I forget which poster said it, but she pays her daughter for grades - not that this will help me now for our Disney trip, but I will definitely be thinking about that as a motivator through the school year! (I also like the idea of subtracting for Cs!).
I think my girls are going to be SO excited by all the things we see and do - we rarely go shopping, and from what I remember, a lot of the shops in Disney (especially Magic Kingdom) look so inviting! "We're JUST window shopping!" is going to be my mantra!
The girls have all been earning Disney Dollars all summer - so they each have a set amount saved up that we will trade in for real Disney Dollars when we get to the parks. I have also been subtracting dollars for bad behavior! That has worked like a charm, let me tell ya!
Hopefully knowing they have their own disney $ that they earned will help them hang on to it for something they really want!
Thanks again - only one more week till we are THERE!

 

[Darcy03231]

Aw that's so cute! May I borrow this idea

Go right ahead! I "borrowed" from these boards!

 

[Rotti955]

We usually buy our kids a stuffed animal on the first day we get there so they can sleep with it all week. It also stops them from asking all week because we already bought their gift.

Towards the end of our trip everyone gets one Disney 'Memory' item to remember our trip. It usually works out that I get a shirt, DH gets a hat, DS gets a pin for his pin collection, DD gets another stuffed animal.

If we go into shops while at the parks, it is to browse for 'Memory' gift ideas. Stops the fighting because they know they will get a keepsake towards the end of the week.

 

[katefuller]

Through the week we took pictures, including the price of everything they thought they wanted. On our last day we did our shopping. Each kid a set amount of money. They picked what they wanted from the pictures and we went to get it. Almost all the park merchandise can be found at Downtown Disney.

It also helped that "Tinkerbelle" left a gift each night. I shopped a lot at home beforehand and brought stuff with me. They got t-shirts, trading pins, light up spinney things, etc.

Love the idea but did TInkerbell bring gifts to the parents? Because when we did this, the purpose went away because my dad was shop addict