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[kbmum]

The amount of money to spend on souvenirs is kind of hard to answer. It's really what you're willing to spend. My kids usually don't want much and spend less than $25 each trip (other than one time when my daughter fell in love with a $50 hoodie). I, on the other hand, spent more this year than I have in any other year we've taken the kids to WDW. But, I now have a Mickey watch, a zippered smartphone case with a print I love, and a few other small items.

Your kids are little, so they won't necessarily know if you bought less expensive items at home and brought them with you. Most dollar stores carry Disney merchandise. You can pick up some coloring books and crayons that the kids will like, with the bonus of keeping them busy while you're in the hotel room. If your kids need a nightlight, there are some with Mickey, princesses, Cars and Pirates. Not a bad deal for a buck.

Don't forget about free park souvenirs. Transportation CMs have transportation trading cards, Tomorrowland Speedway CMs have driver's licenses, some of the attractions with height requirements have colorful cards the kids can bring back when they're tall enough to ride, various CMs give out stickers, and there are more I can't remember at the moment.

 

[maryszhi]

yes for the debit card, but make sure that you let your bank know that you are traveling abroad and that it has the visa or mastercard logo on the card. for the second, its complicated. what are you planning on buying?

 

[bethymouse]

If we need to, we use our "Key to the World" card for tips, souvenirs, etc... I think it still works that way where the charges go to your credit card (we do that w/ alcoholic & specialty beverages). We never carry cash and don't use the debit card. We budget to pay the credit card bill off ASAP.

 

[Yodadudeman]

I won't beat to death the debit card question seeing as there are already a hundred answers.
For the souveniers though, it depends. You trade pins? Then bring money. Cheapest pin is what eight bucks? And you can never get just one.
However if its a t-shirt or something that you're after then it doesnt have to be that much. Just remember, as I'm sure you know, EVERYTHING at Disney is overpriced. Doesn't make it bad, just makes it expensive.

 

[Alison1975]

honestly not much... disney stuff is pretty crappy in general. I'd say a tee shirt and a few pins per person and you're good to go. Maybe 60 bucks a head.

Gonna agree. I let my 3 younger ones buy too much there last year..none of which is still being used. This year they have a strict $50 each ( 0ver a 13 day vacation).. and I'm not backing down..lol. All of mine pin trade though and the money I've spent on "seed pins" will hopefully help in the souvenir dept..

I do allow one plush on top of the $50 they get to spend on whatever they want

 

[Alison1975]

I always buy the glow sticks at the Dollar Store. DD doesn't care where they came from!! She knows she can get more there than at the parks.

I have 10 packs of these to bring. Last year at the parade and wishes we passed them out to all the kids near us..very happy kids.. even happier parents..it was great!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I have 10 packs of these to bring. Last year at the parade and wishes we passed them out to all the kids near us..very happy kids.. even happier parents..it was great!

I always buy the glow sticks at the Dollar Store. DD doesn't care where they came from!! She knows she can get more there than at the parks.

Depending on the numbers in your group or your kids' love for things that glow and flash there are some really good wholesalers online. We got 6 LED flashing necklaces, 2 LED flashing rings, 2 sets of glow ears, and a 100 pack of glowsticks for a very reasonable amt. Now I have to find their website again (but really, tons of wholesalers online).
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To OP...budget for souvenirs really depends on what is the norm for your fam. We buy enough pre-trip fun stuff that we rarely spend more than $10-15 per person on souvenirs...often less. I don't think I spent more than $30 on souvenirs for our fam of 4 last trip. On the flip side- I have friends who are big souvenir people and budget around $100-150pp.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

If we need to, we use our "Key to the World" card for tips, souvenirs, etc... I think it still works that way where the charges go to your credit card (we do that w/ alcoholic & specialty beverages). We never carry cash and don't use the debit card. We budget to pay the credit card bill off ASAP.

This is actually a good point to mention too... you can associate your debit card (as long as it has a Visa/MC logo) with your room key as well. This is what we do so we don't have to carry our debit card along with us and chance it being lost/stolen.

 

[GenerationX]

Two inexpensive but fun souvenir ideas for young kids:
1. Buy used pins on eBay and let the kids trade them with CMs
2. Bring shiny pennies for smooshing and buy a collector's book to store them.

 

[JillC LI]

We tend to buy, on average, one t-shirt, one pin, and one toy/collectible/kitchen-related item (for me) per person per trip for an average of about $50 per person. We also collect the flattened pennies. The kids know that anything else they want will have to be purchased with their own money. We like to buy a few inexpensive Disney related clothing articles before our trip at the Disney outlet or elsehwere, and give it to the kids right beforehand so they already feel like they've gotten something new at Disney.

 

[luv]

Yeah, you can use your debit card almost everywhere.

The money thing is really a budget issue. I'd plan on at least $100/person.