What is your souvenir strategy with kids?

[isla bonita]

On our vaca's we let the kids have one choice a day. They have to wait till the end of the day on the way out to purchase the item. I refuse to carry around all day something that they want. Now that they are older the items are usually smaller. They have every gun disney has made. They are a b to get on the planes.

 

[kdtwiss]

we went with 4 (9,6,5,2) and we just explained BEFORE we got to Disney - we would be buying souveneirs the second to last day of our trip. The rest of the looking in the gift shops was just that looking - that way they knew what they wanted. I also pointed out to them when they knew what they wanted and then changed their minds later how much better it was to see everything before they made up their minds.
OTOH - I do wish I had bought some t-shirts and some of the glowy things were really cute and better enjoyed while AT Disney. So next time I think tshirts will be at my discretion and the glowy stuff will be an added bonus.

 

[wrldpossibility]

I think one thing I'll do is give each boy a new (from Ebay) pin each morning as a gift. They'll have a collection by the time we leave. So hmm, I'll need to collect 30 on Ebay in the next year.

Then they can spend their money as they want (they're already good about budgeting and knowing how much they have to spend).

I doubt the older boys will want to wear costumes to the character meals, but the 2-year-old may want to be in a Pooh or Tigger costume for Crystal Palace. Maybe on the day he gets that as a surprise, the older boys can get pirate hats and flags. Thanks for all the good ideas!

Now a question: where do I convert regular $$ into Disney dollars? We don't have a Disney Store locally. Thanks!

Amy
FIRST trip to WDW Dec. 06 at POR

 

[Laura22]

My problem is not with my KIDS wanting the souvenirs - I am the one who wants everything! Now with all the new "happiest celebration on earth" merchandise I'm going to go nuts in the gift shops. I cannot wait to get my hands on the 2 disk CD set and some gold ears!

With the kids it has been easy so far because there is only "so much" stuff that they sell for babies and toddlers.

 

[Laura22]

Now a question: where do I convert regular $$ into Disney dollars? We don't have a Disney Store locally. Thanks!

I'm pretty sure the Disney store or Disney itself are the only places. I don't have a local Disney store either, which drives me nuts.

 

[Not so Dumbo]

Disney dollars are a great idea. My boys are receiving them as presents from their great aunt for x-mas. This way they have to wait until we get to Disney World to spend them. One world of advice I have regarding "shopping around" and waiting to buy things is, if they know what they want let them get it right then instead of coming back. My DS5 wanted the test track toy set that was only sold inthe test track gift shop and we told him to wait he might find something he wanted better. Well, all the rest of that day and half of the next all we heard was can we get my test track now? So we ended up making a special trip via monorail from Mk to Epcot just for that toy.

 

[MrsPete]

I explain before we leave that THE TRIP is the treat.
We do not go into stores.
We do not have surprise presents in the room.
We do not buy any souveniers. At all.
No problems.

Seriously, we used to buy souveniers, but we found that it was "buying just for the sake of buying something" as a memory of the trip. Huh? Are my kids so dumb that they'll forget visiting DisneyWorld if they don't have a tee-shirt? When we used to allow souveniers, buying seemed to take a large portion of the day (which Disney doesn't mind!). The kids inevitably became too caught up in getting to the next store, and their attention was focused away from the events of the vacation. Then something would be lost in the parks or would break in the hotel room, and it would be a disaster. But by the time we'd been home a week, no one cared about those souveniers anymore anyway, and they brought pennies on the dollar at the next yard sale.

My kids are 8 and 11 now. They receive an allowance every week, and they are aware that they can bring "their money" for souveniers. They usually don't. My husband and I do not buy souveniers either. It's been good for our wallet and good for the clutter in our house.

I should mention that this is consistant with the rest of our parenting and life philosophy -- it's not just something that we pull out of our hats at vacation time. We have made a conscious choice to give our children fewer material goods than we can afford. They have PLENTY of clothes, toys, books, movies, and games; we buy them everything they need but we don't shop just for the purpose of adding more. The kids receive ample amounts of just-for-fun things on Christmas and birthdays, and in between they save their allowance for wants. Since we adopted this philosophy, we find that they are much less materialistic, they fight less, the house is neater, and life is better.

It is possible. Very possible.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

That is so nice that you plan ahead for souveniors. I still remember the souvenior I picked out at age 6 (1971). We had one day at MK and one day at Kennedy. I got a plastic bank in the shape of a rocket that held dimes at Kennedy. I kept it for years. Now I can't find it.

 

[wanna-b-Tink]

My kids get $10 each per day in Disney Dollars. They can use it however they want to, but they know once it's gone, its gone. We pay for their meals, fruit snacks, and things we're all doing, but if they want an ice cream (which they never finish, so I refuse to pay for), a toy, or to blow their money at Ned's (driving those RC boats at JC), it is their money they are spending.

So how do they spend their money? Well, after the first trip, realizing I was holding my ground, they now hold their money, pool it and buy monorail add-ons on the last day. They also will buy maybe a t-shirt from POTC (DS7) or something "princess-y" (DD3).

 

[wanna-b-Tink]

That is so nice that you plan ahead for souveniors. I still remember the souvenior I picked out at age 6 (1971). We had one day at MK and one day at Kennedy. I got a plastic bank in the shape of a rocket that held dimes at Kennedy. I kept it for years. Now I can't find it.

I still have my Eeyore from 1973. Its not really a stuffed animal - pretty hard, not fluffy. Sits on my table, but I did have it in the nursery (Classic Pooh theme) when the kids were babies.

 

[Bugsmom73]

When we return this time, we will each have a set limit of spending money, DH included. We do buy the kids their ears. DD got infant ears on her first trip and they still fit the last trip, so when we go in 06 she will need to get new ears, and they will be adult sized, as she has a very big head. DS got the youth sized ones b/c daddy goofed. No new ears for him. We have gotten better at souvies each trip. The other thing each kid got, was a Christmas ornament with their name and date of their first trip on it.

The kids will have 25 dollars of their own to spend, DD may have more b/c she earns her disney dollars thru good behavior charts.

Dh will probably have a limit of 50.00.

 

[nliedel]

They are given their own money prior to the vacation. The oldest one gets it up front and the oldest middle child gets his each day. The oldest one is responsible for tracking and taking care of his own money. I will carry his money for him but if he pockets it and it gets lost I will not replace it. So far he holds his money well and knows when to turn it over. He can spend it as he wants but there is a 1/2 hour rule. He needs to think about purchases for 1/2 an hour before buying. So far he is good about monitoring it and spending it wisely. Not always but mostly.

They help around the house to earn their money.

 

[Narvon]

We also traveled with grandparents and didn't want the amount of "stuff" to be an issue. Grandma wanted to buy DS(then 3) EVERYTHING and we don't encourage that sort of materialism. We told HER that she could buy him one "big prize" and one "little prize." As we would go through stores and DS would see things he liked, we'd tell him, "that would be your BIG prize, are you sure you want that for your BIG prize?" Since he really didn't have a concept of money, this helped him to make good choices. He picked his prizes near the end of the trip - a Buzz Lightyear playset for his big prize and a hat for his little prize.

We brought the light up spinning thing and glow bracelets from home. Glow bracelets were the BEST on the dark rides! Only $12 on ebay for 100 of them! We gave most of them away to other kids while waiting for Spectromagic.

 

[klaubaugh]

Our daughters ( 5 and 8) enjoy collecting the pressed pennies as their souveniers. We bought the books to put the pennies in and they cleaned pennies before we left and I gave them quarters. We just returned last week but will be going again right before Christmas and I have already told them that the pennies will be their only souvenier that trip.
I found the list of penny machines online and we take a look at that before going into the parks to know what machines they want to find.

 

[taking6toDL]

I have been collecting Disney items for several weeks - CD's from overstock.com, pens and pencils, hats, figurines, and stuffed animals. I am wrapping them and packing them for our trip. Tinkerbell will leave them for the kids - hopefully that will help cut down on the trinkets bought in the parks. I am also taking our mr. potato head with us.

 

[Amyality]

I have been collecting Disney items for several weeks - CD's from overstock.com, pens and pencils, hats, figurines, and stuffed animals. I am wrapping them and packing them for our trip. Tinkerbell will leave them for the kids - hopefully that will help cut down on the trinkets bought in the parks. I am also taking our mr. potato head with us.

I have heard that kids love the tinkerbell gifts! You may consider setting clear limits on how much and when kids might get at treat in the parks, since you have already put considerable time, effort and $$ into souviners. Great idea on bringing Mr. Potato head, he will have a blast at Disney too with all his new gear!

 

[Lorikr65]

We have 2 children, 11 and 6. We are trying to teach the 11 year-old how to spend money so what we are doing is putting $5 each per week in an envelope for them (they will have 14 weeks put aside). They will have $70 each to spend and we may even it out to $100 each. They may not spend the whole thing (ha ha!!) but at least the 11 year-old will learn that you can't have everything. The 6 year-old we will obviously help in spending his money. We'll see how this goes!

 

[wrldpossibility]

This helps so much. We will also do the pressed pennies. The kids already have penny books and a collection.

 

[rt2dz]

I haven't read the whole thread, but here are our rules:

*It has to saw "Disney World" somewhere on it.
*Nothing I can buy at Walmart for much cheaper.
*Clothes must be of quality. I can buy Disney World t-shirts just outside the world for a heck of a lot less (think $5).
*I have veto power, if I'm buying, over anything I just don't think is worth it. And I limit what I'm willing to buy.
*Any whining will not only NOT change my mind, but make me much less likely to say yes the next time. We have this rule at home--ask (politely) when you see something you want, look all you want, but when I say no, it's no and I don't want to hear about it again. Of course, my son usually comes back with a Christmas/Birthday list request. If he keeps seeing the same thing and wants it each time, then I know it is something worthwhile in his head--ie, Darth Vadar voice changer mask.

We also go over what we're willing to buy pre-trip. DS4 last trip (10 days) got to pick a foam dinosaur from AK (He's a big fan and they are nice), we do pressed pennies along the way (seperate out the pennies and quarters pre-trip and when they're gone, they're gone), Autograph book & pressed penny book, a magnet of Goofy, and a very nice shirt.

 

[landsm99]

We have never had problem with souvenirs when traveling. We have always allowed browsing when we shop-we can not get out of Target w/out looking up and down every toy isle. Often our DD lets us know what she likes would like to have. However it is very seldom that she gets anything-so there is not a tantrum or crying because she wants something. When at WDW we try to relax that rule and if she shows intrest in something and it is reasonable we will get it for her-after all we are on vacation. But we are lucky in that if we say no, she is OK with that. Last time we were there we had to have created about 5 of the princess crowns-the ones with all the snap on decorations. Every time DW and I spent the time adding up the $$$ saying oh-no. When she was done DD tried on the crown and put it back "time to go now". I think she thought it was an activity-not a purchasing option.
We have not always been lucky, at around 18 months we were in the Disney Store and DD played with 2 stuffed lady puppies. We left to a tantrum over not getting on, feeling bad I went in and purchased a lady and gave it to her. The tantrum stopped while she hugged it-she then looked in the bag for the 2nd and started all over again "MORE PUPPY". She played with 2 and expected 2. We realized then we would have to watch our purchasing habits!