Budgeting for Kid’s Souvenir Desires

[elizzierose]

Hi All,

By the time we go to Disney in the next few months, our daughter will be 6 months and our son will be almost 7. We lovingly call him “The Ultimate Consumer”. He LOVES stuff. We are wondering if you have any tips and ideas for how to budget well for your child’s merchandise and purchase desires. We have good boundaries at home with this already, but assuming Disney will be a whole different ball game since there is a treasure to buy around every corner.

We we’re thinking maybe allowing him, within reason, to have a certain amount of money on gift cards so he can chose what he would like over the course of our 5 day trip. Any tips and ideas to help us learn what to do here so we can plan well?

Thank you!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Gift cards, plural?

We don't do any buying until the last day of our trip. We'll look through shops, but we don't commit to buying anything until the very last day. That way, they've seen everything and can really make a good decision on what they want the most. The exception to this would be something that is useful ON the trip itself, like Mickey ears that they'll wear the whole time.

 

[Dave B]

We let them pick something everyday at every park, its a vacation and we want them to enjoy it to the fullest

 

[Weather_Lady]

Hi All,

By the time we go to Disney in the next few months, our daughter will be 6 months and our son will be almost 7. We lovingly call him “The Ultimate Consumer”. He LOVES stuff. We are wondering if you have any tips and ideas for how to budget well for your child’s merchandise and purchase desires. We have good boundaries at home with this already, but assuming Disney will be a whole different ball game since there is a treasure to buy around every corner.

We we’re thinking maybe allowing him, within reason, to have a certain amount of money on gift cards so he can chose what he would like over the course of our 5 day trip. Any tips and ideas to help us learn what to do here so we can plan well?

Thank you!

I think that's a great idea. When our kids had their first WDW trip back in 2012 (at ages 4 and 6), their aunt and uncle had given them each a $50 gift card for Christmas to take along and spend on souvenirs, which I think in the end was barely enough for each of them to buy a hat and a pencil. It was a great lesson for both of them, in that they had to learn to read price tags, do a little simple math in their head, and decide what items were worth their souvenir dollars.

One thing we did that helped - I think - was that we built in a couple hours on our last evening just for souvenir shopping. That meant that the kids could spend the whole week seeing what was available and deciding what they wanted to buy, and they didn't feel pressure to get something the moment they saw it or risk losing out, because they knew that whatever they ended up picking, we'd be able to make a special trip to go back for it if they wanted to keep their options open. (Granted, that tactic may require parkhopper tickets, so YMMV.)

 

[JIMINYCR]

We started out giving our DS chores to do that were age appropriate that allowed him to earn money for trip souvenirs. It started him out learning that having responsibility and doing a job well done pays off. Because so much is expensive at Disney the amount you will be spending can vary. Are there certain types of things you know he may want so you have an idea of what expense you are looking at. At 7yo you certainly wouldnt be looking at extravagant souvineers, but there are lots of kid stuff that can easily add up. At 7yo I'd probably limit it between $50 and $100. I'd give him Gift cards or get him his own wallet to carry, put monopoly money in it to exchange for your real money when it comes time to make a purchase. Let him handle the exchange of merchandise and money so he learns how transactions work.

 

[kimberlymautz]

We've always gotten my daughter one $50 gift card and then a $25 gift card (my son was only 7m old at his last trip). The $50 gift card can be used on whatever she wants HOWEVER once it's gone it's gone. We had ONE trip where she blew it on day 1 and then was SO SAD because she found something she really liked a few days later and we had to tell her no because she didn't have anywhere near enough money for it (we had agreed if her total went $10 or less over we would cover the little bit extra because she obviously isn't adding tax in when she's looking at price tags). After that she REALLY started thinking hard about how much she wanted something and more often then not she'd wait until the last day or two of a trip to choose what she got.
The $25 gift card was hers to use on snacks or extras. We typically either do the dining plan which includes 1 snack per day or we'll treat them to 1 snack/treat per day so if she wants something extra that's where the $25 gift card comes in handy.
We also typically gift them one clothing item each as well.
Obviously every family is different, but this is what works for us.

 

[SteveAZee]

This seemed to work with our kids:

Each one got $10/day in cash (might need to be $20 to allow for inflation). They could NOT ask us for anything else (more money or for us to buy them something), but they could spend it that day, save it an accumulate more each day for something big, OR pocket the whole thing and take it home with them. It seemed to work like a charm... one spent most of it, one pocketed most it to spend back home. Either way, it kept us parents out of the loop for the whole vacation.

 

[elizzierose]

This seemed to work with our kids:

Each one got $10/day in cash (might need to be $20 to allow for inflation). They could NOT ask us for anything else (more money or for us to buy them something), but they could spend it that day, save it an accumulate more each day for something big, OR pocket the whole thing and take it home with them. It seemed to work like a charm... one spent most of it, one pocketed most it to spend back home. Either way, it kept us parents out of the loop for the whole vacation.

I really like that. We do a version of that at home. If he gets gifts or earns for chores or gets bottle return money, we let him decide if he wants to spend a little, all, or save it which the choices work well for him so maybe this would be a great idea. It’s also a great natural consequence after we have warned him that if he spends it all, that’s it and then hes disappointed. He learned well fast

 

[elizzierose]

We started out giving our DS chores to do that were age appropriate that allowed him to earn money for trip souvenirs. It started him out learning that having responsibility and doing a job well done pays off. Because so much is expensive at Disney the amount you will be spending can vary. Are there certain types of things you know he may want so you have an idea of what expense you are looking at. At 7yo you certainly wouldnt be looking at extravagant souvineers, but there are lots of kid stuff that can easily add up. At 7yo I'd probably limit it between $50 and $100. I'd give him Gift cards or get him his own wallet to carry, put monopoly money in it to exchange for your real money when it comes time to make a purchase. Let him handle the exchange of merchandise and money so he learns how transactions work.

You’d think so…but we took him to an artisan fair this weekend and he wanted a custom pepper grinder for $50 because he “liked its gears”. Needless to say my husband snuffed that and we found a $1 wax turtle instead

Great idea, thank you. Hes mostly into the toys but does like his occasional pepper grinder esque item but we’ve learned how to navigate that well.

 

[Weather_Lady]

You’d think so…but we took him to an artisan fair this weekend and he wanted a custom pepper grinder for $50 because he “liked its gears”. Needless to say my husband snuffed that and we found a $1 wax turtle instead

Great idea, thank you. Hes mostly into the toys but does like his occasional pepper grinder esque item but we’ve learned how to navigate that well.

That made me LOL! My son is similar -- which is why we're the proud owners of a pricey Viking style ram-antler musical horn from the Renaissance Fair that he "just had to have" at age 10, the cost of which we've tried to justify by ceremonially blowing it to mark random "special" occasions, such as "Mom cooked dinner" or "somebody remembered to scoop the litter box without being told."

 

[DisDadWoz]

We gave our kids (when they were kids ) a gift card about halfway through the trip. That way they could look at places during the trip to come back to and purchase what they wanted. It allowed them to do some shopping beforehand and then were able to purchase later on during the trip. There were some times when we thought there was only one size left of something or only one or two left it appeared that we purchased right on the spot. Doing it halfway avoided some of the buyers remorse that took place on earlier trips.

 

[elizzierose]

That made me LOL! My son is similar -- which is why we're the proud owners of a pricey Viking style ram-antler musical horn from the Renaissance Fair that he "just had to have" at age 10, the cost of which we've tried to justify by ceremonially blowing it to mark random "special" occasions, such as "Mom cooked dinner" or "somebody remembered to scoop the litter box without being told."

Sounds just like him! Love it!

 

[MickeyCB]

After several trips of "I want it all", we made the decision (my husband thought I was crazy at first), of giving each of our 2 kids $200 in an envelope for a week long trip. (We surprised them when we got there with the spending money).
That trip was the best because every time they asked for something our response was "do you have enough money left for it"?
And it was amazing how many times when they realized it was their money that they didn't buy the item, and in fact both came home with money in their pockets.
Also, even though they are adults now, a lot of the items they bought they actually still have now.

 

[Hakunamatata]

We gave a budget and recommended they take photos of what they liked along with the price tag and then make tough decisions last day.

 

[Hcalvert]

I'm cheap. I give my son $25 per trip to spend. Of course, he has been 15+ times and he is 13 now and doesn't want to buy a lot of merch anymore. The last trip he bought an orange bird straw hat. My brother budgeted $175 per kid for his week-long trip (He has four). It was my nieces' and nephew's first trip. I helped him out to spread the money further by applying my AP discount when I was shopping with them, so they potentially were able to get $220 worth of merch each. I also had him buy discounted gift cards for each kid (which saved him about 5%-10% more).