How do you decide $

[WDW2002]

I am just curious on how others decide on how much money the kids can spend on "stuff" and what "stuff" counts towards this limit.

Any insite would be great...

 

[ksdave]

Last trip, we told the kids they each had $250 to spend on stuff that they wanted, either for themselves or any friends. We held the money and kept a tally of how much they had spent and let them know each day how much they had left. This did not include the items we wanted to buy for them, such as the Tower of Terror shirts, etc. It worked out really well and taught them to conserve their money for later in the trip and not blow it all the first day out. We did two days at USF/IOA and five days at DIS. My kids are 11 (DD) and 9 (DS).

 

[fanofmickey]

On our last trip, we gave each of our kids a "daily allowance" each day we went to a park. If they REALLY wanted something up front, they could get an advance, but this forced them to look around a bit and not buy the first thing they saw. If we decided to stop for an ice cream or treat, that was on us - but if we were not offering and they wanted it, they bought it. If any money was left over (that's a laugh!!) they got to keep it. Also, they were able to do extra chores around the house for a couple of months before the trip to earn extra spending money.


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7/99 Off Site
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04/02 ???

 

[Mom+4]

We have a family bank to which everyone contributes. Before our trip we divide the money from our Disney Piggy Bank evenly among our 4 kids, and they can buy whatever they want with their money. The two oldest (18 and 12) also take some money that they have earned. The 2 youngest (3 and 5) get a little help from mom and dad. In addition, DH and I buy them each something like a stuffed animal or t-shirt.

 

[ellyn2000]

I'm going to allow each child to take $100.00 from their bank acct. and whatever cash they have saved in their rooms and they will use that to buy whatever they want for themselves. This has always worked very well because they really do try to budget for the whole trip. I'll buy certain things for them, like a special pin, etc... but they will buy any "junk" that they want. They've never asked for more money. Works pretty well. ºoº

 

[Dr. Happy]

We have taken so many trips that we decide in advance what each person will be looking for as souveigners, and keep a log of what was purchased and what was still being sought. On the average, we spend about $200 per person per vacation on items we bring back with us. We even go as far as bringing an empty suitcase for the items we are bringing back! On occasion, we have spent less per person, but that was usually during our winter trips. Now that our children are getting older, we find that they purchase less but spend more on each item (I think the concept of "quality" is beginning to make sense...).

 

[WDW2002]

Thanks for the great ideas, anyone else, keep them coming.

 

[Eeyore2U]

We would let DS earn Disney Dollars for things like good grades, chores, holidays and the like. We paid for food and snacks. If he wanted something imo that was stupid I couldn't complain. It was his money. We did discuss the benfits of buying/not buying a particualr thing. There were times when he would buy his own snack. When he was using his money it always seemed like there was money left. So much so, that he would take us to one dinner with no prompting.

 

[catwho]

I think our kids are too young to be given a lump sum and said, "Here it is, when it's gone it's gone" We get our kids Disney Dollars that they can spend. On whatever they want. They can also save money from their allowances and birthday/holiday money to use at Disney. Like someone else said, we give them a certain amount each day. It's their money to use as they want. My oldest spends every penny on pins They know that mom will buy them each a shirt and if we decide to do a "family souveniour" then we buy that. (One year we each got AK mugs with our names on them). We buy all food and other "necessities" (hair doodles with Mickey ears on them are necessities right?) My youngest dd is really into snowglobes and so she always buys one. She has a beautiful collection of small Disney Snowglobes. She has bought them all with her money. My son (3yo this year) is just into monorails, cars, buses, anything on wheels. He's fairly easy to please.

I like the idea of rewarding with Disney Dollars. I might try that. Last year we gave the kids Disney $$ as a Christmas present. Can you get them in $1 denominations? I know we had $1 Disney $$ for returning our stroller each day (they are in our scrapbooks LOL!) Can you get them at TDS in $1 incriments? I may just have a way to get my dd's to do their homeschooling without much fuss!

 

[Jordan's MOM]

We too reward with Disney Dollars. They come in $1, $5,& $10's. I bet $ 20's but am not sure. Our DS is aslo given pretty much free reign over his perchases because he earned the money. We buy a t-shirt, the ears, and a snack anytime the whole family has one.He likes to snack and extra snacks comes out of him money. I try to remember that what is "junk" to me may have special meaning to him. I let him make his own choices.Disney is a time to splurge a little!

Jordan's mom

 

[jlproffitt]

We have DD 7, DS 10, DD 11, DD 13.

The kids have been saving for WDW for some time.

We took a spontaneous trip to DLR in August. We told them to keep their money for WDW and we would pay for their goodies at DLR. We gave them each $30 on the first day and told them to spend it as they pleased for the 3 days we'd be there. We didn't want to be bothered with all of the yes/no decisions.

Oops.

DD 13 and DS 10 blew the whole thing the first day. After a strained 2nd day we gave an additional $20 on day 3.

For WDW, we gave the kids $20 from their savings (each) on the first day plus a $10 gift from us. Most of them had $100-150 saved up. We said that for the remaining amount of their savings, they could buy things with our approval. On each subsequent day of the trip, we gave them each a $20 gift from us. Any cash in their pocket, whether from their initial $20 withdrawal from their savings or our gifts were there's to spend as they wished without asking. But in order to tap the balance of their savings, they had to come to us.

They played it pretty well. And on the last day, when we were at the animation gallery store at Disney-MGM, 3 of them had enough money for art sets, sketchbooks, and character drawing books.

That was pretty cool.

We paid for all group food and snacks. If the family stopped for popcorn, we paid. If a kid elected to get popcorn while the family was headed off to something else, they paid. We paid for ride photos that we liked. We bought a round of T-shirts at various times at our discretion. But they bought shirts that they liked as well.

It worked great. So for 7 days, each kid, in total, had complete control of $150 and access to about another $100 with our approval. In that way, each kid came home with something we thought was worthwhile and at the same time, they enjoyed buying things that only they could understand the value of.

And it may seem inverted that we exerted parental control over their savings while the kids had free reign on the money we gave them each day as a "gift", but in the end, the money that we guided them on from their savings actually went towards the durable items that they brought home. So when they look at those things (ie. the art supplies/sketchbooks/drawing books), they talk about how that came from their savings.

 

[Ityldu]

When we went in 2000 DS was 5 and got $10/day from money he saved. Not only did he never ask us for money, but he had more fun buying us snacks and presents for his little brother then buying stuff for himself.

He'll have been saving over a year by the next trip and we know there will be more money then an 8YO should have. He saves every penny and asks all grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc. for Disney money. He'll get $10-15/day. If he wants something big, he'll have to save money until later in the week. He said he wants to take us to dinner and buy us other stuff with the extra money. He's so excited and we can't wait for him to take us to dinner. DH and I agreed that we'll put the money he saves us into his savings account.

 

[jillhou]

It really depends on your kids......I have 3 boys and they are not into all the little souvenier stuff really. They all seems to get something art related, a stuffed animal and maybe some candy. I think the last 2 trips, they had 75 bucks to spend and that was plenty. They had to use it for some snakcs also! We bought breakfast, lunch and dinner every day with snacks between each meal. If they wanted an extra Mickey ice cream - they spent their own money. Really cut down on the 'I wannas" where food was concerned.

If you have kids that love all the little junk - then they are going to spend more money. I did not make my kids use it for clothes - I bought each a shirt and that was all as far as clothes go.