Typical budget for kids onsite

[2Relax]

What amount of money do you provide for your children for souvenirs while onsite at the parks, and do you control the spending in any way. I have a DD10 that does not have much money through the year so I am willing to provide some spending money. We are going to Universal and SeaWorld.

 

[torinsmom]

We went to WDW and Universal this summer and my DS15 had $40 to spend at each place. He could also save it to use at home, which is what he chose to do. I have always given him a set amount and once it was gone, that was it.

 

[MomToOne]

My DD10 gets plenty of money throughout the year from her over-indulgent aunt, so I don't give her any. But she is good about saving it, and as a result should be heading to Disneyland in a couple of weeks with about $80. I don't expect her to spend all of that, since we've done either DL or WDW every year for the last 5 and she's past the "gotta have it all" part (probably because we already have it all from previous trips! )

I would say about $50 is a good number for kids of that age on one of their first visits to have for spending money. That's enough for a tshirt (or a purse or bag in my daughter's case), plus a few smaller trinkets. Some people would probably say that's not enough, but I don't think kids have to buy everything in the parks. I've found one or two items are usually more loved and appreciated than loads and loads of stuff. And I don't include snacks in the $50 - the rule in our house is that she cannot spend her money on junk food, Mom gets to decide when and where that will be bought and pays for it.

One thing I do when we first hit the parks and my daughter gets a case of the "I wants" is to remind her that we are there for x days and she hasn't had a chance to see everything yet so she might miss out on something she really wants later if she has no money left because she spent it all right away. I have her keep a notebook and write down what she saw and where. Then sometime towards the end of the trip we'll evaluate what items she really wants, and we'll go back and get them. Since a lot of the stuff is available at every shop on every corner, that works well. I have been burned once or twice, however, when she wanted the 1 item that is only in 1 store in 1 park that I had no plans to return to!

 

[VirataMama4]

One thing I do when we first hit the parks and my daughter gets a case of the "I wants" is to remind her that we are there for x days and she hasn't had a chance to see everything yet so she might miss out on something she really wants later if she has no money left because she spent it all right away. I have her keep a notebook and write down what she saw and where. Then sometime towards the end of the trip we'll evaluate what items she really wants, and we'll go back and get them. Since a lot of the stuff is available at every shop on every corner, that works well. I have been burned once or twice, however, when she wanted the 1 item that is only in 1 store in 1 park that I had no plans to return to!

This is what we do also... They've even started taking pictures on their phones, so that they have a visual reminder and when the times come its all right there.

Our kids earn their money from their report cards. We also usually give them a $25 gift card for Disney. But once the $$ is gone, that's it. They usually have $50-100, but spend maybe half at Disney and bring the rest home.

 

[torinsmom]

My DD10 gets plenty of money throughout the year from her over-indulgent aunt, so I don't give her any. But she is good about saving it, and as a result should be heading to Disneyland in a couple of weeks with about $80. I don't expect her to spend all of that, since we've done either DL or WDW every year for the last 5 and she's past the "gotta have it all" part (probably because we already have it all from previous trips! )

I would say about $50 is a good number for kids of that age on one of their first visits to have for spending money. That's enough for a tshirt (or a purse or bag in my daughter's case), plus a few smaller trinkets. Some people would probably say that's not enough, but I don't think kids have to buy everything in the parks. I've found one or two items are usually more loved and appreciated than loads and loads of stuff. And I don't include snacks in the $50 - the rule in our house is that she cannot spend her money on junk food, Mom gets to decide when and where that will be bought and pays for it.

One thing I do when we first hit the parks and my daughter gets a case of the "I wants" is to remind her that we are there for x days and she hasn't had a chance to see everything yet so she might miss out on something she really wants later if she has no money left because she spent it all right away. I have her keep a notebook and write down what she saw and where. Then sometime towards the end of the trip we'll evaluate what items she really wants, and we'll go back and get them. Since a lot of the stuff is available at every shop on every corner, that works well. I have been burned once or twice, however, when she wanted the 1 item that is only in 1 store in 1 park that I had no plans to return to!

I agree that kids need to "window shop" first, and once its gone its gone. I find that DS is much more careful when he is spending "his" money, LOL.

 

[gillenkl]

It depends on the year - this year they have $75 to spend. This is money they have saved from birthday, holidays, etc.... We have them look around (unless it's a park specific item) and we have the final say. I know my DS wants to make a light saber and my DD wants a doll from "Tangled" (I don't even know if they're out yet?). We also give them 2 pins per day (they collect and don't trade them) which I got off ebay and maybe a snowglobe (of the $25-30 variety) for their collection.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

DS is 5. Last year at WDW he had $10 a day to spend but he didn't get the money until afternoon so he had time to look and think about his purchases. I also gave it to him in $1 bills so it was easier for him to count them out. He did amazingly well with this and actually came home with about $16! I was impressed and he loved having his "wallet" with money. ( I held the wallet in my purse until it was purchase time)

 

[allyphoe]

My DD7 had $10 a day, with any unspent money available to her after vacation (so it wasn't a use it or lose it deal). She spent about 1/3 of her money.

 

[tigger51276]

My DD6 usually gets between $200-300 per trip to spend (so it breaks down to $20-30 per day). I know it sounds like a lot, but she saves money all year to spend at Disney. It's a combo of b-day, xmas, tooth fairy, chores, etc. She is allowed to spend it however she wants, but I do make her do some window shopping first and as we've been there every year, I'm usually able to recognize an item that is unique to that store and if she really wants it then she can get it. I also stress to her the prices when it's a more expensive item early on in our trip. She is very generous with her money and I catch her often giving money to my bff's kids who we always are down there with and she buys presents for some friends also.
My DD2 will also have her own spending money this year although she has no understanding of money yet. She will have around $150 to spend over 2 weeks so she'll have about $10 per day.

 

[drgreene1096]

My dd (who will be 8 this trip) will have about $100-$150 for 8 days. The past 3 years, she has had around the same amount of money. She usually spends her money on a big ticket item. One year it was a really awesome snow globe, the next it was a really cool mantle clock, and the last year it was 2 princess figurines. She uas usually had about $30 extra to spend on whatever she wants. I will pay for her snacks and buy her a pin from every park and one from the hotel as my treat to her.

Last year, she ended up with more than she went with because she ended up losing a tooth at WDW, so the tooth fairy brought disney dollars to her and a special princess pin that she had been eyeing at the gift shop.

 

[jodee1201]

I signed up for the Disney Visa credit card and earned Disney points/cash. My kids are using part of the $200 they gave us, for shopping at Disney, when we go!

 

[MinnieForMe]

My kids only get $25-35 each for our two week stay. We go every year so they are not as interested in bringing home souvenirs anymore. They have also gotten moneywise as in they notice how overpriced Disney merchandise is. Last year, they asked to go to the local Walmart to purchase pool floats instead. At the end of our stay, they gave them away.

 

[Marionnette]

I think it depends on what you expect your kids to pay for. If they have to pay for there ice cream and other treats then I say give them around $15 per day to cover snacks and souvies. If its just souvies then I think that $75 is pretty generous.

 

[Terapin]

We cover all snacks and treats, but the kids get about $40-50/week each. On our upcoming cruise with a pre-stay in Barcelona we are giving them $40 in Barcelona, and $50 for the 2-week cruise. I think it will translate to one good thing each leg of our trip. If there was something very, very, very special that was more expensive, we could be persuaded to make a deal, but really, they just want little things like stuffed animals.

I believe that more money than that and the focus is on shopping, not vacationing.

I'm trying to give them the values that the trip isn't about the 'things' you get, but the experiences you had. I try to set the example by buying myself only one souvenir - in my case I like to collect a salt and pepper shaker from each place I go. We try to really curb 'the gimmies', I'd like my children to be smarter about money and debt than I was (until I woke up). I think giving them access to purchasing too much when young sets their flavour for spending early on.

 

[Alexander]

We don't establish a budget at all. My kids however, never want anything. They just aren't interested in souviners. I guess I am lucky!

 

[pigletto]

DD 13 has 50 of her own saved up from babysitting recently and I will give her 100. DS (6) I will also give 100.

I will buy him a few pins and I will buy my dd a few charms for her charm bracelet. I will also buy them each an ornament from MK for the Christmas tree this year. Everything else will come out of their money.

 

[luvmy3]

We didn't have a budget, we let them pick something from each park we went to. I also gave them pins for trading and mickey ears.

 

[ilovepete]

We don't give a budget yet, never thought about it. But they do usually get something. For DS it's usually car related somehow. One time it was the monorail, or disney cars or something. For DD I usually get clothes (she's only 2).

My parents always used to let me get one thing from each place we go (so like each park or vacation or whatever) so I might try that strategy in the future.

But I do like giving them a wallet and letting them see how much they are spending. My DS totally does not get money yet.

 

[crusoe2]

What we did with DD (who was 6 on our last trip) was to set a daily spending limit. I believe it was about $20 or $25 per day for a week - so a total of somewhere between $150-$200. I knew that the grand total would be hard for her to comprehend so I broke it down to the daily amount. If she spent less per day, she was allowed to use it later in the trip or bring it back home with her. This worked pretty well to keep her spending in check - it definitely caused her to re-think some of her purchases and there were things she put back when she realized how little money she would have left. But it did make shopping take longer. I didn't mind that so much cause I looked at it as a learning experience for her. But if you would rather get in and get out when it comes to souvie shopping, this approach might not work so great for you.

 

[mrsltg]

We don't give the kids a budget per se. The way we usually work it is they get one tee shirt, maybe a sweatshirt, one toy, one collectible, etc. This is the only real bonus to everything becoming so generic at the parks - they seem the same stuff over and over and over again, and they can almost always pick it up at a later date somewhere else!