How much spending money for kids?

[PinKy]

Any thoughts on how much spending money you give your kids/allow for vacation? (for souvenirs and fun extras like that) Or - how much for yourself/family? I'm trying to fix next year's WDW budget and thought I would get some opinions. (seems we always go overboard):mickey:

[tink2006]

It would depend on the age of the children, etc. I get $150 in Disney Dollars when we check in for my DS14. I also allow him to have charging privileges on his room key ($100). I started giving him Disney Dollars when he was about 10. I started letting him charge to the room when he was about 12. He'll be getting his yearly Disney allotment in about 25 days :number1: :D

[vamaggie]

Our kids (DS10 & DD4) will each get about $60 to spend on souveniers/arcade etc. If they want to bring some money of their own they can too (up to about $30 more each) We go for 6 days so that's about $10-$15/day which seems to be good for them. Forces them to also think about their purchases and not impulse buy/play since once it's gone, it's gone (and the "Mamma ATM" will not be open!)

[r4kids]

Our kids earn "Disney Dollars" for extra chores, good behavior, good report cards. They have earned $55, $34, $24 and $19. Clearly our oldest daughter is the most motivated. Our kids are 12,9,6,4. This is in addition to their regular room cleaning, dishes and laundry chores. I want them to feel good about themselves for earning the money and instead of constantly asking us for it.

[dolphinmickey9170]

We allowed our DD16, $200 for our last trip, and of course, we probably gave her more by the time you figure it all out.

But usually, it's around $150 for each one.

[Belle--86]

DD's (13 and5) each get $100 in Disney money and we also buy them a teeshirt, stuff animal, hat and now a Disney pin.:)

[Speedy1998]

We do not give them anything. They are allowed to bring whatever they have saved in their piggy banks.

DS went with $240 came home with $220.
DD went with $170 came back $20 in debt to me (I hope she marries well)

[r4kids]

We do not give them anything. They are allowed to bring whatever they have saved in their piggy banks.

DS went with $240 came home with $220.
DD went with $170 came back $20 in debt to me (I hope she marries well)


LOL

[jax86]

we gave our boys about $75 each but they also bought their own $. or you could just do what my sister did. buy your kid everything he wants so he won't pitch a fit and embarass you. she spend over $600 on him in just 5 days!!
i just LOVE my family!!

[campdisney]

We had both kids save up at least $100 each for our last trip (it was the first trip where they we actually old enough to earn their own money with extra chores). Prior to that, we had the same budget for them -- we just supplied the funds when they were smaller.

This trip, oddly enough, both came home with leftover cash (one had $20, the other $60). When it was our money they were spending previous years, nothing was left over -- go figure! ;)

[magicofdisney]

So far we haven't designated a set amount. My girls (7) each get $15 a day to spend. That seems to work really well. One spends impusively, but doesn't complain when it's all gone. The other makes informed purchases. My son (9)pretty much knows what he wants before we get there, so he may get a couple days worth of money up front. He also realizes that once it's gone, it's gone. Occasionally I'll find them working together to pull their money so one can get a special gift he/she wants. :mickey: We make several trips to Disney, being FL residents and season pass holders. We don't always give them money. This is usually only when we're there for a week on a family vacation. BTW, they earn their money, it's not just given to them.

[DisneyWhirled]

we gave our boys about $75 each but they also bought their own $. or you could just do what my sister did. buy your kid everything he wants so he won't pitch a fit and embarass you. she spend over $600 on him in just 5 days!!
i just LOVE my family!!



Sounds like our friends! They have a child the same age as our that always gets everything/anything they want. It is very hard for my child because, although he does get a lot, he does not get everything. We are trying to teach him that we cannot have everything we always want. It is getting harder and harder as the boys get older to explain why "friend" has everything given to him.

[ImagiAsh]

Well, I'm turning 20 and my brother is 17. Had this question been asked ten years ago, we would have said $50 each from Grandma. Had this question been asked now (which it was), we would say $50 each from Grandma. :laughing: I have a job and can afford to purchase my own souviners, but my Grandma always finds a way to hunt us down last minute and slip a fifty into our pockets. :mickey:

[crazeedizneefinatic]

The past 2 years my son has "earned" his money by selling some of his toys and such. He also does special chores for money. Not just his regular pick up his stuff or make his bed, he does not get paid for things he should do anyway, LOL!:mickey: This year we are up over $230! We counted it the other night and he was so excited. Of course, he will not be allowed to bring all of that which burst his balloon. We have another yard sale scheduled for Saturday so he has been busy. He is also excited he has a birthday right before we leave. His bank account and Disney money is getting nice and hefty!

[CNDkanga]

We've not been to WDW but will go in Jan. 2008. For our disneyland trips the children (who are 7,5,3 and have been to disneyland 3 times, except the youngest who has been once) they earn money throughout the year...saving it up in their piggybanks. My middle daughter always manages to save the most but she is so compassionate she makes sure everyone has the same amount and doles her's out to those less fortunate in the family, this is despite me saying "you earned it, keep it for yourself!!" Sometimes I wonder what I'm actually teaching my children. They usually go down with about $100 for spending money each. Last year my middle daugher really wanted a princess jasmine costume but we could not find one her size. She is determined when we go to Walt Disney World she will find her coveted Jasmine costume! My son, the eldest child, usually blows his money on the light-up things and little trinkets. My youngest loves stuffies so that's what she ends up with. I don't usually buy them items, I feel the trip is my gift to them, and they never ask for anything so it seems to work out just fine. We do bring some things back for a couple of friends and usually something for the teachers (the preschool loved the Mr. Potato head accessories!)

[BritCody]

I don't give my kids DD 16 and DS 13 a specific amount. They save money up for the trip and they spend some of it. Then the rest of the time either I will pay for it or their Grandmother will pay for it. 9 times out of 10 Grandma still spoils them!!!

[BigRedDad]

I am not sure what we will do for our budget. Our DD will be 2 and turning 3 on our visit in Jan 2009. Both sets of grandparents will be there, so they are going to spoil her to death. There is no arguing with the grandparents. They will do what they will do.

Since it is her first trip and her birthday, she will pretty much get what ever she wants. However, future trips will be about $25 per day from us and whatever she has saved from her piggy bank. I will never let her touch her bank account until she is 16. I don't think I will even tell her about the bank account until her 16th birthday.

[AuntDJ]

Our kids are 9; 8; 5: like you we had almost a year to plan...so

We made special "Disney bucks" on our computer, then we made a list of things that can earn you additional dollars (besides regular chores). Things like not kicking your shoes off as soon as you walk in the door; not throwing your back pack in the floor when you come home; not fighting with the siblings; good grades; things like that.....then we has a craft day and made really cute boxes with disney stickers and stuff so they could put the disney bucks in them.

We made demoninations (like really $) but used .25 & .50 so they weren't really worth much, so we could give them 4-5 for something and they felt as if they got a lot but really it wasn't. The other good thing is you can give these out as much as you want as it was a quarter. So if one does something special (even as simple as sharing) you make the rules for these dollars and the don't require a trip to the mall for real disney dollars.

We knew we would be giving them $$ to spend on the trip, but this way it seemed as if they were earning it. Also, by not giving real $$ they were not tempted to spend it anywhere else.

We ended up giving each one $100 to spend. They carried it in their own wallet and were actually very thrify about it. Of course, we bought things like T-shirts so it didn't have to come out of their $. They made the 100 last the whole trip, I was really impressed by that!

Good Luck with whatever you decide!
DJ