How much spending money for 7 year old daughter?

[Lesley]

We used a combination of approaches...my ds(5 on our last trip) had his own money (gifts, chores, etc...) but we also wanted to get him a few things. We allowed him to pick out one small item each day that we paid for...under $10 but not necessarily that much. He ended up with a variety of interesting items...character figures, a map of Africa, pins, etc...We also got him one thing that he had his eyes on throughout our trip.

I think I may have to chose a better "structure" for his spending on our next trip....since we'll have 2 kids asking for things! (my dd was a baby on our last trip). Plus his 7th birthday is happening during the trip....hmmm.

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Lesley


1979 Contemporary
1992 Off-site
1994 Carribean Beach
1999 Fort Wilderness and Coronado Springs
2000 Polynesian and Old Key West
2002 Boardwalk Villas

 

[KaliRR]

We just moved our 4 1/2 yr old out of her bedroom and into a larger one down the hall. She is a little scared being in a different space and a little further from us at night. We put a calander on the wall and for everynight she sleeps in her room with no problems, she gets a sticker on the calander. Every sticker equals one Disney Dollar. So far she has 38, and we still have 52 more days before we leave. This not only gives her her own money to spend it will also get her used to sleeping down the hall. Hopefully she will continue when we return.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

We give our son (turned 7 yesterday) $20 per day. This covers his shirts and hats, and things like ice cream and candy. He hardly ever spends all of the money, and whatever is left over goes into his bank when we get home.

__________________________
Offsite 5/99 (never again!)
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[CarrieAP]

Great comments! I guess I am a bit more of a hard nose with my girls as I believe "no" is a wonderful word and teaches self-control. Seems to pay off though as they rarely whine or throw tantrums. As they are only 2 and 5 I will probably define their spending limits in terms of items versus dollars and then let them exercise choice. Example: 1 stuffed animal and maybe 2-3 small items for the week and 1 treat per day.

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[CindyAnn]

DS (7) and DD (4) each got 10 Disney Dollars to spend every day. In addition to that I bought each of them 1 inexpensive t-shirt.

They set out each morning with 10 dollars and a small pack of animal crackers in their waist pack. The deal was that both of them could do as they pleased with the contents of their waist packs. That meant, of course, that DD consumed her animal crackers about 5 minutes before we ate lunch one day, but I let her know when lunch would be, and then I didn't say another word. I'm pretty proud of myself for that. We also had an afternoon snack from the parks each day, such as ice cream or a cookie.

Although they would have been happy to spend thousands upon thousands of Mommy's and Daddy's dollars on souvenirs, I was surprised at how choosy they were when it was their own money. There was lots of consultation about saving Monday's money and adding it to Tuesday's money, and then would there be enough to buy the special Hawaiian skirt and lei?

All in all it was a good lesson in money management and letting them have control meant that there were absolutely NO arguments about wanting to have us buy more for them.

Cheers,

CindyAnn
Co-moderator - Restaurants Board

 

[DSx2]

Hmm... sounds like we may have gone overboard! We'll be there for 9 days and our boys (5 and 9) will each have around $130.00 cash and $20 in Disney Dollars.

They each rec'd some US $$$ for their birthdays and we've been paying them $5 US for their allowance since early in the new year. We figured if they each had their own spending money it would cut down on some of the I wants that can really add up. They will each buy a refillable drink mug, ice cream, treats, mini golf, souvenirs, etc. We'll buy their admission and meals but anything else they have to pay for.

We're Canadian so paying them their allowance in US$ costs us more but we would likely have spent the money on them at Disney anyway so giving it to them as their allowance is actually cheaper. Hopefully they'll spend it wisely and best of all..... they haven't been spending their money at the variety store every week. I don't think they realize they could actually spend it in Canada if they really wanted to. LOL

Offsite 81, 83, 85, 86
All Star Movies spring 2001

 

[JSR]

SandraC:

Did you mean $50 US (which is about $80 Canadian)for the week. That's probably reasonable. We are going Apr 27 - May 8 with DDs 7&3, and overspent on souvenirs when we were there in Oct/99. I may limit myself (and DW). After all, how many sweathirts/t-shirts does a family need??? However, we all know how realistic that is.

 

[eeyore0662]

My 6 year old daughter earned her own money, and saved money from birthdays--she ended up with $100 that we exchanged for Disney Dollars. Anytime she saw something she wanted, she would ask us to buy it for her, and we would tell her if she really wanted it, she had her own Disney Dollars to spend. All of a sudden, that "thing" she "had to have" wasn't quite as important to her. She ended up coming home with about $60 dollars from a 8 day trip. She has bought herself a few things from the Disney Store, but she still has $40 for our trip in May left from the last time.
I really think the trick is to let them be responsible for saving up their own money, and make their own decisions about how to spend it (within reason, of course). I am sure if we had just handed her money each day, she would have spent it all and been asking for more

Have a Wonderful day, Eeyore

 

[leebee]

I guess I'm really lucky, as my DD (now 7.5) has always been very reasonable about things. I think that spending money for kids depends on how much mom and dad are paying for. We always pay for meals and one ice cream per day. We bring water bottles, juice boxes, granola bars and fruit snax in with us, and DD never nags for other treats. If she does ask for something (like a pretzel), we offer to trade the pretzel purchase for the ice cream...Mickey bars win every time! We also steer her to the "reasonable" souveniers- tattoos, expanding washcloths, etc- most things are under $3, never over $5 per park. She usually comes home with one "big" souvenier per trip; earrings, teeshirt, etc., that we buy for her, within reason, of course. The hard trip was the one where the cousins each had $250 for five days! It was hard, but she didn't nag or whine, regardless of the amount of junk the other two bought. My sis was so proud of her, she bought her the $17 feather fan from the shop outside of Ariel at MGM- something I never would have bought! As I said, we're pretty lucky- Sarah's happier being IN WDW than lugging home endless junk FROM WDW.
For older kids, some folks give them a daily limit, with 2 guidelines: you have to carry home anyting you buy by yourself, and if you don't spend all the money you are allotted, you get to keep the cash! I hear these are remarkable guidelines for teens, they really cut down on the amount of stuff!