Kids at WDW and souvenirs...

[Crazy Harry]

I am curious how parents handle the purchase of souvenirs with their kids while at the parks. While I am only recently a father, I had always thought of giving them a WDW specific allowance. We would cover food, but whatever souvenirs they wanted would be up to them with their WDW allowance, and once the set amount was gone they were out of luck. I like the idea because it illustrates the value of money and would make them really think about their purchase rather than getting a bunch of random garbage.

I am curious what others think about this concept and what others have tried or want to try. I can see many different things working. I can see giving them a time frame to work for their WDW allowance versus a set amount. I can see limiting the number of items in general, or one from each park etc.

Excited to hear ideas and stories.

 

[bubbles1812]

That is what my parents did for my brothers and I when I was young. The way they did it was that we couldn't buy anything until the evening hours (we were a stay all day type of family up until the time we got older)... that gave us time to see what merchandise was being sold in multiple places and we could think about what we really really wanted to buy. It also saved my parents the annoyance of having to lug around packages for most of the day. And once our money was gone, it was gone. Generally, we bought things more towards the end of the trip too. I don't remember quite how much money they gave us but I think it ranged between 50 and 100.

 

[zurgandfriend]

When he was younger we budgeted what he could spent. Now that he is a teen when we are counting down for a trip to WDW we let him decide Disney Dollars Vs allowance.

 

[KCheatle]

I think it's a great idea in theory. We used to do that when I was young. Now, it's hard because if you use your Disney "Key to the World" to make purcahses, it's hard to keep track of who spent what? The simple solution would be to buy Disney Giftcards before you go with a certain amount and designate one for each child and when it's gone it's gone. Or you could jsut get Visa Gift cards. That way if they don't use all of their allowance at Disney World, they aren't stuck.

 

[eeyoremum]

We provide the trips. If our children want anything they need to buy it themselves. My kids are now 18 and 13 but when they were younger they would do odd jobs for Grandparents or use birthday/christmas money they saved because we don't provide an allowance.

I would encourage them to wait until the last day or two to buy things but would force the issue. One year my youngest blew through his money and then saw the one thing he really, really wanted but had no money left. It was a good life lesson for him. That being said now we alternate between Disney and cruising and one year he saw something he really wanted but didn't buy and since it was a port stop couldn't find it again. So sometime buying right then is better than waiting.

 

[Alison1975]

I am curious how parents handle the purchase of souvenirs with their kids while at the parks. While I am only recently a father, I had always thought of giving them a WDW specific allowance. We would cover food, but whatever souvenirs they wanted would be up to them with their WDW allowance, and once the set amount was gone they were out of luck. I like the idea because it illustrates the value of money and would make them really think about their purchase rather than getting a bunch of random garbage.

I am curious what others think about this concept and what others have tried or want to try. I can see many different things working. I can see giving them a time frame to work for their WDW allowance versus a set amount. I can see limiting the number of items in general, or one from each park etc.

Excited to hear ideas and stories.

here's what we do. Each child gets an envelope of money a day. ( amount pre-determined divided by number of days of vacation). On day one they get envelope #1 .. if they spend that money in the first 5 minutes then it's gone for that day.. if they don't spend it all it gets added to day #2's envelope. This way they tend to think before they buy AND if they want a more expensive item they need to wait it out a few days. Our kids usually get between $15-20 a day each ( g'ma usually chips in $50 per kid which we put with what we allot). We've been doing this this the oldest went at 4.5 year old.

This method puts the spending ( or saving) all on the kiddo. and def limits the meltdowns.

 

[Gabe1]

When my children were younger we would stay 2 weeks so we had to get some control over spending on all the stuff they wanted.

It started at $100 and as time went on they each had $200 for 2 weeks. They had cash in their own wallets that we left in the safe. When we got back to the room they payed off the loan given in the parks cause it was a bad idea for them to carry their wallets.

Cash was not abstract. They knew what came out of the wallet and what was left. My DH and I made it clear that the money was theirs to keep if they spent it at Disney or took it home. We didn't want them to buy stuff they didn't really want either. As my son aged he spent more of his money in Universal like Buffet Margarita shirts etc. than at Disney. He also as he aged favored the Sports store in DTD. DD, it was easier to find things that were age appropriate post Disney vacation at the parks.

 

[JiminyandTink]

My kids are actually pretty good about picking a few things over the course of a trip and respecting when we say "no" to a purchase... Now on the other hand, I am the problem. As soon as I enter WDW, I suddenly feel like I need everything with a mouse on it ( yes, of course I need a mickey mouse shaped thing to hold loose tea that I don't drink )

 

[Mikester71]

We usually give each of the kids their own gift card with $100-$150 on it and we let them spend it as they see fit. When they run out, they run out. They lucked out the first few trips as my mother-in-law came with us, so of course grandma gave them each a few more bucks when they ran out.

 

[goherdibg]

The last time we went we gave each kid a $100 gift card with their picture on it from the Disney Store online. They both loved it. If they wanted to bring extra money of their own they could but we did not buy them anything above that unless WE wanted to.

 

[DfromATX]

We usually set a limit and encourage the shopping before we leave rather than upon arrival. One time we lucked out and we got two $300 Disney gift cards on a promotional deal, so each of the 6 of us got $100 to spend! That was awesome! Next time we go, we plan to tell the kids their souvenirs are their memories, lol... yeah I know, we'll see how well that goes over.

 

[UPbeekeeper]

We always have a lot of discussions prior to the trip about the specifics of our budget. The kids know exactly how much they will have to spend and they know that once it is gone, it's gone. I always try to steer them into making the best decisions, but ultimately it is their choice. If they blow it all the first day, then they suffer the consequences the rest of the trip, no exceptions. Something that always seems to work for us is that we never make impulse purchases at WDW. If we see something we like, we write down exactly where we saw it. If we still want it later in the trip or that night, we go back for it. In most cases, we don't even bother going back for that one thing we simply couldn't live without the day before.

With my kids being teens for this trip I am going to try something different. My husband & I will be paying for meals, but I am giving everyone a "snack budget" of a specific amount per day to do what they want with it and I will not be paying for any snacks.They can use this to get treats or save it and put it towards their souvenir money or if they don't spend it, bring it home. I will see how this works out.

For small kids, I recommend getting a small Disney plush prior to the trip that the kids can bring with them as a travel buddy. So much cheaper than buying them there, and it seems to be the one thing kids really want when they go.

 

[erasure fan1]

Its pretty simple for us. The kids get money throughout the year from different things like birthdays, Christmas, helping out... We let them keep some of that money (some goes in the bank) Of that money we have them put money aside for Disney and they can get what they want while there. They are pretty good about spending the first couple days just scoping things out to see what they like. Of course the need to buy something at Disney usually comes sooner rather than later. lol

 

[wiigirl]

The last time we went we gave each kid a $100 gift card with their picture on it from the Disney Store online. They both loved it. If they wanted to bring extra money of their own they could but we did not buy them anything above that unless WE wanted to.

Thats what we usually do....simple with a gift card to cut the kids off

 

[DisneyDelirious]

We determine how much each child is going to get to spend. We go 8-10 days so they get to each park at least twice with the possible exception of Animal Kingdom. Any park other than Animal Kingdom we encourage them not to purchase on their first day there. They need to see each park, see what is available, and then make decisions on what they want. Their money is just that, it's their money. We take care of meals, tips, snacks, etc.. Anything we provide at home, I feel like we should cover at WDW. For example, clothes is something we provide for them at home so if we see shirts or some sort of afticle of clothing we want to get them, we buy it. That being said, they don't get to run around saying I need this shirt, that purse, etc.. if the wife sees it and wants it for them, she picks it up. I don't buy clothes, but i get everyone one pin each on the trip. If they want more than that, it comes out of their allowance. My kids are young and do chores around the house but that work "pays" for dance costumes, stuff for Boy Scouts, etc.. Our trips are always a surprise even though they occur regularly. Kids can't budget for them as they don't know until we wake them up and pile them in the van to go to the airport that they are going.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

I surprised my niece and nephew with a trip a couple years agao, they were 7 & 10. I gave each of them a $100 gift card, and Grandma ponied up another $50 when we left for the airport. They knew when they ran out of money, they were done shopping. I had bought each of them a lanyard and 10 pins from Ebay for trading, and throught the course of the week I bought them more of the smaller ones to trade, but if they wanted a special pin for their collection, they had to buy it. I did buy them an album to put all their pins in. Probably the only thing I tried to talk my niece out of was a $20 pair of plastic princess shoes, but she was determined - they broke 2 days after she brought them home - otherwise they bought whatever they wanted.

 

[luv]

Everyone has their own ideas on how to teach kids to handle money.

As a parnet, mine is to make them work for it, let them spend it however they please and not bail them out when they screw up. IMO, it teaches them more than forcing them to do what I say. I want them to actually learn how to handle money so that they learn the lessons when they're young and the stakes are lower.

If they just do what I force them to do, they turn into 18yo people who are just starting to learn and still have to make their mistakes.

So, if they spent it before getting to WDW, they'd get no souvenir. If they spent it all on Day 1, that would be it.

As a favorite auntie, however, I buy the little ones almost everything they want and give the older ones quite a bit of dough...and then maybe some more if they are behaving like people and not brats. . I ink I'll be one of those grandparents who totally spoils the grandchildren.

It is so much more fun to be the person who spoils than it is to be the one who is tasked with turning the little people into responsible, happy adults.

 

[tehSAC]

What we did for our daughter was have a garage sale. The money we made she got to use it on whatever she wanted to purchase. The only thing was that she had to clean out her toy boxes and condense some of her stuffed animals. What wasn't sold was donated to a local charity. She loved it and was very "smart" with her money for a 4 yr old.

 

[Crazy Harry]

Great thread everyone!

 

[rsoxguy]

My daughter will soon be 21, and I still buy her anything at WDW that catches her eye. She rarely asks for anything, but I'm a total marshmallow when it comes to my wife or my daughter.