What Not To Buy...

[TXAng]

We have all of the funky hats (tons of them), a few stuffed animals (Donald is also my weakness), and our lanyards (covered in pins + some to spare).

We just purchased new executive office furniture, and I'm thinking of painting the walls Donald colors (ya know... royal blue, yellow...) and DH will most likely strangle me - but I was thinking of hanging all of our Disney memoribilia on the walls. Stuff the ear hats with tissue paper and hang them up. Create another space for our lanyards and pins - maybe cover a cork board with some donald fabric, hang it on the wall and use it for our extra pins.

I think it would be so much fun while I'm working in my office ( = surfing the internet) to be able to look at all of our fun memories... maybe add a few snowglobes to the mix...

It's an idea - that way all of the souvinier stuff isn't worthless any more.

D~

I have a Donald-themed office! DH thought I was crazy when I requested the blue/yellow/white color scheme, but I love it. I have a whole row of Donalds across the top of my big shelving unit, too.

 

[DMGeurts]

I have a Donald-themed office! DH thought I was crazy when I requested the blue/yellow/white color scheme, but I love it. I have a whole row of Donalds across the top of my big shelving unit, too.

Will you post pictures, pretty please???? I would love to see it! That is exactly what I was thinking - have all my Donalds in one place. I told dh last night - and he had the nerve to roll his eyes at me. I thought he liked Don too - he's the one who gave me all of them. LOL

D~

 

[DISNEYatw]

My weeknesses are the coffee mugs and photo albulms (scrapbooking stuff). And you know what is so funny about this, I rarely drink coffee and have only completed 1 scrap book and that was for my mom. I'm just a sucker for anything with Mickey on it!!! Oh well.....

 

[TXAng]

Will you post pictures, pretty please???? I would love to see it! That is exactly what I was thinking - have all my Donalds in one place. I told dh last night - and he had the nerve to roll his eyes at me. I thought he liked Don too - he's the one who gave me all of them. LOL

D~

Oh, yes, there was plenty of eye-rolling from DH going on the entire time we were painting my office. But he even admits that it's a cheerful room.

Here are some photos - it's kind of hard to see the actual paint job behind all the furniture I've got crammed in here, and the colors are a little off, but here goes:

I'm thinking about taking the calendar down since I never use it and putting up a corkboard with my pins.

The photo board started out as a collection of Donald magnets and mostly Disney photos, but then we had a baby and he kind of took it over with his amazing cuteness.

The poster is one of those photomosaic puzzles that I glued together and framed.

Just a close up of the Donalds.

 

[Girldreamer02]

For me its def stuffed animals...I think I have just about every size of minnie and mickey wearing the red shorts and red dress. It dosen't matter that I have them in one size...when I see them in another size I HAVE to have them and dh caves every time. Thank goodness! But it can be any plush in general...this past trip I found a special edition steamboat willie and a very cute mickey that had muted colors and looked old...hes super soft and cute hence why I call him soft mickey. I wished they'd have a minnie come out like him so I could have the pair...see its a horrible addiction. Lol. I also got a rex from toy story b/c he is just to cute! Pins are another thing that we don't really need, but buy and trade anyways. We at least have several on display...we have to pretty good sized cork boards in the guest room that are covered in pins...the rest reside in books.

 

[Simba22]

The poster is one of those photomosaic puzzles that I glued together and framed.

Great idea to frame that puzzle! It looks great! Dang it! Now I want to do one!

 

[DMGeurts]

Oh, yes, there was plenty of eye-rolling from DH going on the entire time we were painting my office. But he even admits that it's a cheerful room.

Here are some photos - it's kind of hard to see the actual paint job behind all the furniture I've got crammed in here, and the colors are a little off, but here goes:

I'm thinking about taking the calendar down since I never use it and putting up a corkboard with my pins.

The photo board started out as a collection of Donald magnets and mostly Disney photos, but then we had a baby and he kind of took it over with his amazing cuteness.

The poster is one of those photomosaic puzzles that I glued together and framed.

Just a close up of the Donalds.

Wow!!! Thanks... I love your ideas! Great idea about framing the puzzle! I love the photo board too!

D~

 

[Gabes_mommy]

I love your Disney office! I want to do that someday.

This thread gave me some great ideas for our upcoming trip. I am now planning on bringing our light up toys from last time and bringing a Mr. Potato Head with us so DS can buy the box of parts.

Is there any way to discourage kids from getting into pin trading or is that just mean?

 

[SunnieRN]

Too many pins, but I cut down my spending on our last trip and only bought about 6...
Too many stuffed animals, but my grandsons fall so in love with them...for 30 min.
Now my daughter has started collecting vinylmation mickeys. I know we are in BIG trouble! One trip and we have 26!

 

[momsavealot]

My contribution - BALLOONS! My daughter wanted the Mickey shape balloon (with a regular shape balloon inside it) in MK. I wasn't thinking so I bought it for her. I didn't realize that we couldn't take it home on the plane so she gave it to another child whose family was checking into our hotel the day we were checking out. I got pictures of it but I could tell she was sad b/c she got attached to it. Don't make the same mistake I did if you're flying. Plus, those balloons are expensive. So, if you're going to do it, get one the first day so you can at least enjoy it for your whole trip.
Oh, and about the pins, my dd lost one the first day of our last trip (the backing was loose) so she didn't want to wear the lanyard ever again in the parks for fear of losing more. Since then, she's backed off the pins. YEAH!!!

 

[kpipkin]

Absolutely no stuffed animals! I can't stand the things. They just clutter up a room gathering dust. Neither of my kids actually "play" with them. My youngest son likes sleeping with one special small stuffed animal and that's it.

No nighttime glow in the dark stuff. Such a waste of money. This year I got smart and bought glow in the dark sticks and bracelets in advance for super cheap. No light up spinning things!

Usually we're able to limit ourselves to:

A couple ride t-shirts (can't usually get those in Disney stores) - my oldest son likes to get the roller coaster shirts.

Christmas ornament - I get one every place we visit and everywhere we live (we're military so we move often.) Makes for good memories everytime we put up the tree.

Baseball hat for my husband - he has dozens but he just can't help himself.

Last time (2006) we bought vehicle antenna toppers. I got a patriotic Mickey and dh got a pirate. Mine had glitter on it that has worn off so I'll be getting a new one.

My boys have their own souvenir allotment, and that has helped tremendously! They really think about their purchases and last time actually passed by lots of stuff in the parks and chose to by things at the Lego store at DTD.

 

[Moeluv4u7]

TXAng>

Where did you get your photomosaic Donald Puzzle?
I have a Mickey Mouse one that a friend of mine at work found and bought for me- already put together and framed! I have it hung in my office at work since he bought it for me- I would love to find them though to buy- Mine has all different Disney characters from different movies, scenes from movies etc if you look at it really closely- the kids that come in my office love looking at it up close to find their favs- I would love to have different ones for my kids at home! Thx if you can tell me where you purchased yours!

As far as what we wont buy again... This July will only be our 2nd trip and the first was amazingly great and the only souvenirs we brought home were the FREE ones and pennies- I kept saying I was going shopping and we would do other things> then if we stopped in a store at DTD or at the park, we were all so engulfed in getting to our next attraction we all agreed we'd come back to buy things we saw- we never got to it! The one thing I regret NOT getting on our first trip was my pearl from Japan (I will get this coming trip)
We did buy our 2 youngest kids Glo-cubes for their drinks one night- I am not sure if we would buy those again-
They have been in a brandy glass on my dresser since we got home from our last trip...
We also bought a few popcorn buckets but all of my kids are in sports and we use them every time we go to a game or have a meet- I have also used one for taking a snack to work- (grapes, nuts, popcorn, trail mix, etc) not always full to the top but I definitely get use out of them! We use them so I can't say we wouldn't buy them again-
We have many more trips to ocme so this will help me to keep souvenirs in perspective and try to only get the ones that mean something to us or we can use... Thx

 

[stacythatgirl]

I am 42 and without a doubt, addicted to buying stuffed animals. Every time we go to WDW, there is a new adorable Stitch or Dumbo that I *must* have. When we moved, I decided that the linen closet in the hallway would make a good place to keep everybody. They're all sittin' comfy on the shelves, out of the sun and dust. When I need a pick-me-up, I just open the closet door and smile!

My other vice is coffee mugs . . . all of our good plates are crammed into a small cabinet, but the mugs have the best spot, all lined-up with the "good" side facing outward.

Thank you everyone for letting me know I'm not alone!

I just acquired 5 stuffed animals from this last trip !! Stitch (exact same I already have - but in better condition. ) 2 mickey's (pirate & a brown shaggy one w tail), universal bear & one giant unicorn! LOL.

 

[BoogasMom]

Oh yeah.... on the trip this past weekend, I got some of those little vinyl people wearing Mickey T's and Mickey ears, for the back window of my car!!! Totally did not *need* them, but I love them!

Where did you find those little vinyl people? I would love to find some on our next trip in December!!!!

 

[marcyinPA]

For the kids: no more light up toys, or toys in general. My kids are 10 and 14 though...they don't need any more stuff like that around. It looks good in Disney, but once we're home, it's never touched again!

For me: no more t-shirts. I have tons. I never wear them at home. I love Disney, but I'm not really a "themed clothing" person once at home.

 

[Simba22]

Is there any way to discourage kids from getting into pin trading or is that just mean?

I wouldn't say it's mean because it sure is expensive! I would not even mention it to them and hope that they don't notice. If they DO notice (or already have noticed), you can limit them to the number of pins they buy per day or per trip or something like that. OR you can do what I do...buy bins in bulk on ebay... you can buy like 20 pins or something for around $2 a pin. Then use those to trade away.

That being said....my boyfriend and I spent this entire past weekend putting our pins on corkboards! We have 2 boards completely filled, one that is 3/4 filled and an entire bag of pins still waiting to be corked! We were going to do the shadown box thing but it was just too expensive. The corkboards were $10 each and we used felt to cover it up and add color. As soon as the 3rd one is done I will post pictures!

 

[chabs]

I'm going to try to keep my kids away from the games at Dinoland at AK this year. We always come home with a bunch of cheap, junky stuffed dinos that I end up giving away or putting in a garage sale.

 

[Simba22]

I'm going to try to keep my kids away from the games at Dinoland at AK this year. We always come home with a bunch of cheap, junky stuffed dinos that I end up giving away or putting in a garage sale.

My boyfriend and I played those games for a good hour...maybe 2 hours on our last trip and we didn't win a darn thing!


OK everyone here are my pin boards! Keep in mind I still have a bag of Pirates pins, a bag of villains pins, a bag of Mickey pins, and a bag Stitch pins that I didn't have room for! Oh and of course they are not hung up yet! And we have a little tiny space left on the 3rd board for any stragglers we come across...

 

[Disney Ontario]

Hi. Just a reply to a person on the first page about hats. Our girls are now 16 and 20 and while at Disney this past March, we went to the huge tent like Disney store thier(ToonTown) and the girls loved just getting thier picture taken with the hats on. Even, pictures with them and the stuffed animals.

 

[ZiPaD3doDAH]

WOW, thats a lot of pins!!!

hahaha, it looks amazing!

I only have one pin, a Tinkerbell my mom bought me. I thought the idea of buying pins was silly but ever since my last trip (in December) i've been gaining an interest in pins....

not good! lol. gotta save $!