"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! (or "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!") - I want this! Buy it for me?"
You can try to teach your kids not to want all the cool stuff they'll see when visiting your favorite theme park, but let's face it: You're fighting millions of dollars in research, marketing, and product development. Parks employ and contract with thousands of people whose job it is to sell your kids stuff. You can't win.
So why try to fight a hopeless battle? Focus on what you can control instead - putting a stop to the whining.
Here's a simple solution that's worked for me and for hundreds of other parents: Make your kids spend their own money on theme park souvenirs. Give them an allowance before you leave on vacation, or, better yet, make them earn their theme park spending money doing chores or other work.
Tell your children before you leave on the trip that they can't ask you for money to spend on souvenirs. If they want anything, they'll have to spend their own money. Get started now, though, months before you leave, so your kids will have a fair opportunity to save and earn they'll want for vacation.
Your kids can get an idea of what's available, and how much it will cost, by going on the Internet with you to the parks' online merchandise stores:
You're trying to teach your children how to make a budget, shop around, and learn how to make their own informed decisions about spending their money. Plus, by encouraging them think in advance about what they want to buy, you might find that they're offering to do even more work around the house so they can earn extra money for the trip!
Ultimately, you're trying to change the way your kids react when they see something cool in the store. Instead or reflexively wanting and asking for it, you want them to start thinking skeptically about it instead - "Is this something I really want, or need? Can I get a better deal? Or would I rather buy something else?"
When kids are spending their own, hard-earned money, they're a lot more likely to ask themselves that question than if they're always tapping into Mom and Dad's seemingly bottomless wallets.
So by making your kids spend their own money on theme park souvenirs, not only can you put a stop to the whining, you can help raise some smarter consumers, as well.
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Problem is only last till their 10 or so
Better to train them to not expect souvenirs. You're there to enjoy the park. Memories are the best keepsakes. Take lots of pictures and videos, but t-shirts and keepsakes will be quickly boxed up and forgotten.
There are some things you can do. Buy some cheap related merchandise at home. Bring them on the trip to satisfy the urges. If I will go to SeaWorld, bring a penguin stuffed animal and hide it in the backpack. Take it out when the kid has a breakdown. At home, a 3 inch penguin cost $5. At SeaWorld, it will cost $8 to 12.
I noticed that Disney Store has an excellent sales and clearance rack. I will go there to buy some discontinued items. Bring those to the park and surprise them when they are bored or most whiny.
1. Star Wars merchandise- Due to licensing issues, you cant get SW items online.
2. Pins and Mystery Vinylmations- Face it, few pins are avalible online, so youretty much have to buy them at the park. Unlike the parks, Mystery Vinylmations don't come from the same box, thus leading to a more likely chance for doubles.
3. Event merchandise- Besides eBay or Amazon, any theme park event merchandise isn't avalible online.
4. Limited Edition items- Do I even need to explain this one?
Yes, ordering online can save money, but sometimes you just can't.
If a second or third whining occurs – well, it’s on - and a full fisted fight occurs behind the nearest bathroom where I kick the ever loving Snot out of the whining brat…
(Disclaimer - This note is not intended for the Humorously challenged. It is just a joke).
We don't buy something every time we go to a park. If we do, it's always on the way out. We give the kids a budget or we explain that we're just looking this time.
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