Souvenirs to bring from home?

Jbabymama

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 10, 2019
What souvenirs do you bring from home to give the kids at the parks or hotel? We are bringing lanyards and pins to trade for the first time. They have the autograph books and new Disney water bottles. Do you bring your own glow sticks? Anything else I should think of? (The kids can pick a few things at the parks to buy as well. I was just trying to save on somethings ahead of time that they might enjoy.) kids range in ages from 3-9
 
Other than pins for trading, we don't really bring anything else from home. If we aren't going to buy it in the parks, we don't buy it somewhere else. We try to set expectations before we go that nothing should be expected and we may or may not buy things while we're there (sometimes this is successful, and sometimes we still end up with kids sad we aren't buying something they just HAVE to have, but I feel like that happens regardless of how much or little you get).
 
Before our last trip we bought Star Wars cuties mystery pin packs (Disney official) from eBay and we traded what we got in doubles.
 
I bought bubble blowers at Target. My kids wanted them on our last trip and I couldn't justify the price, so for the next trip we brought them from home and they were thrilled. Also t shirts (we're that family) and light up toys/glow sticks for the parade. Kids really liked glow in the dark face paint the day we went to Pandora at night, also from home.
 
Any glow stick/toy. Kids beg for those at the parades. Bubble blowers. I swear every little kid under the age of 6 has one!! A special Disney plush, but honestly mine always found a plush in the parks they “just had to have”.
 
Any glow stick/toy. Kids beg for those at the parades. Bubble blowers. I swear every little kid under the age of 6 has one!! A special Disney plush, but honestly mine always found a plush in the parks they “just had to have”.
 


As others said definitely glow sticks from the dollar store. For my kids first trip this past year (they were 6) I got them autograph books and Mickey ears with their names embroidered on the back. I brought small gift bags in the suitcase and gave them both of those things before our arrival day dinner at Chef Mickey’s. I also brought my daughter a Cinderella Disney Parks dress with accessories and gave that to her before her BBB appt. It was like new from a consignment sale and it saved me from having to spend on a dress in the park (I told her it came from Cinderella and the fairy godmother played along 😉).
 
I'm putting together goodie bags for my DD's birthday trip (but my DD is turning 30!) I put battery hand fans in our bags, pins (of course!) and water bottles.
 
Glow sticks!
Mainly so I can see them at night. But that is not new to Disney, we take glow sticks anywhere we go at night; At Disney, we bring extras so we can share with kids around us.
Also, pins so we have some to trade in park, already on the lanyards.
Then we set a dollar limit per kid for spending money but they come home with so many freebies they are happy wit that and buying 1-2 things. This time, they said they are ok not buying anything, but we shall see. The girls still have the things they bought: charms, bracelets, music box, Pandora stuffies, umbrellas from china. The boys bought toys and pretty much broke them all (monorail, busses, alien saucer, slinky dog)...so I told them we should spend money on treats instead and they can get whatever they want (which is a huge thing for me as a crunchy mama).

I DID buy a $20 bubble wand for my 2 year old last time because I was sitting for 1.5 hours waiting for a fireworks show...that was one of 2 items he got lol.
 
Glow sticks! Mainly so I can see them at night. But that is not new to Disney, we take glow sticks anywhere we go at night; At Disney, we bring extras so we can share with kids around us.
Also, pins so we have some to trade in park.
Then we set a dollar limit per kid for spending money but they come home with so many freebies they are happy wit that and buying 1-2 things.
OH! Stickers!!! Those were a hit to decorate water bottles, the stroller and their autograph books.

I DID buy a $20 bubble wand for my 2 year old last time because I was sitting for 1.5 hours waiting for a fireworks show...that was one of 2 items he got lol.
 
Absolutely, I brought lots from home for the kids as I found stuff in the dollar stores or Target, glow sticks, light up wands, spinny things, fans, water bottles, lanyards, mini bubble wands.

Go to the craft aisles at Target, Walmart or Hobby Stores, you'll find autograph books. Target for specialty clothing, Disney t-shirts, bathing suits, sandals.

Amazon for other souveneirs, or clothing they might want to wear or "dress up"
 
Go to Target or Walmart and get the stuff to bring home ( 1/3 the price and just as good.) they wont care that it came from the parks or resorts. The only thing I buy is 1 peice of original artwork to bring home.
 
If you're going during hot months, those water bottles with fans were a great hit with my kids. Even those little tiny hand held fans. It's very cheap at dollar stores, Wal-Mart, Target, etc. but cost a small fortune at WDW
 
We bring Disney themed misting fans with us when we know it will be hot there. Otherwise, they each get a gift card of a set amount and that is all they’re allowed to spend. We set aside a certain amount of birthday and Christmas money from family (25%) for gift cards (the other 75% goes into their savings accounts) and then that’s all that goes on the card for each kid, unless someone buys the kids Disney gift cards for a present.

Edited to add: we always bring Minnie ears from home but have the kids pick one less than necessary so that the kids can pick one as a souvenir from us.
 
Glow sticks for sure, or glow bracelets. I used to wait for the buy one, get one free stuffie sales on the Disney website and pack them rather than pay full price in the parks. But I always seem to buy at least one stupid overpriced toy per trip anyway. Two trips ago, it was a bubble wand, last year, it was a Buzz Lightyear spinny thing. To me, the $20 on the thing my little one wanted right in that moment, to help pass the time while his older brother rode rides he was too short to go on, was money well spent.
 
None. My kids know (knew) from shopping trips when they were little that they didn’t get everything (not saying they would get everything in Disney). So it was a special day at target if they asked if they could get something and I said yes.

My kids never asked for a lot of stuff. They had their Disney money...one year one kid brought gift cards and change...lots of change! They usually have about $100 to spend and if they go over a little then we will fork over the few dollars. They were really good about figuring out how much they could spend and what they wanted and what they could get or have to put back. This way we aren’t coming home With a ton of crap.
 
The kids used to get gifts from Mickey and Minnie (us) just before the trip. We would sneak and place a box on the front step with a note attached to the top. They usually got a stuffed animal (from their favorite movie or character)and something for the trip like a cup, beach towel or blanket. We started going so often that Mickey and Minnie started giving them Disney gift cards.
 

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