When we used to take my niece on holiday she would have acquired a couple of hundred pounds from various relatives for spending money. I gave her the option of spending it as she went, adn when it was finished it was finished, or dividing it by the number of days and having a daily allowance. She went for the second option and if she didn't spend the day allowance it was added to the next day's.

luci

Thats good idea, maybe i should do that with my younger daughter Couple of hundred pounds .. she must of done well !

CourtneeLouise x

You should have seen how much she had when we took her to Florida! She was able to pay for her own park tickets and still have a few hundred left!

luci

i bet she loved it ! i know my daughter would, i remember when she was a little younger about 4 years ago when she was 4 she would cry and cry for about an hour if we were in town and didnt take her in the disney shop to buy something! , we were looking at going to Florida last year , but the flights are a bit too long for her, do you rekon its worth a try next year?

CourtneeLouise.x

hya, every year my daughter ( age 7 ) gets spending money off the grandparents for her hols, usually about 50 euros and we tell her she can buy whatever she wants with it , but, when its gone, well, its gone ! and every year, she does the same thing, see's something she likes, then we say, 'well, chick, get your money out to pay for it ', then she says 'what ? why do i have to use my money ?'. then we say 'cos its your holiday money' and then she says 'i'll do without, then ' . Unbelievable ! I mean, we have tried to teach her the value of money and not to squander it, but, blimey, she's taking it a bit far ! thats kids for yer !

Usually we give our wee fella 5 euros a day (if in Europe obviously), he can use that for all the silly little machines etc and when its done its done. I always buy his ice cream etc for him.

This year, we're back in Turkey, so I'll give him 10 lira a day (about £4) again, he can spend it on what he likes and it saves me getting a headache. He normally just buys silly things like bouncy balls, tattoos etc.

We use whatever spending money he has saved up and as he's only five, he doesn't quite understand the whole money thing and how much he has, so we make it up whatever he needs to have his daily allowance over the fortnight. He did not bad last time and had managed to save about £25 all by himself.

When my children were smaller , we gave them so many euro's a day for
them to buy their bits of whatever, instead of " can i have or i want " but made them understand that
once there daily allowance was gone that was it until the next day, its funny how quick they learn when they know its their money they are spending . We always paid for ice creams and drinks .

When they were younger, we used to give them so much spending money per day. As they got older, we used to just give them a wedge and expect it to last for the entire holiday. It went through daughter's hands like water (not selfishly..she used to just buy all sorts of tat like presents for everyone) and laddo was a miser and used to spend it on the pool table and refreshments with maybe a t shirt thrown in at the end of the holiday.

Now they are older still (19 and 16), daughter pays for her own holiday with her mates but we help her out with a couple of £hundred and laddo gets given a lump sum of spending money at the beginning of the holiday. We are hoping that he will be able to contribute himself soon though as he is just leaving school and has a job interview tomorrow for an apprentice travel agents position with Thomsons!

We've always done the same as Luci, divide her spending money into daily "chunks", and if she doesn't spend it, it gets added to the next day's money. Seems to work fairly well

Doesn't anyone encourage their kids to save up their pocket money and birthday money for holiday spends?

I don't Sandra because I limit the amount my daughter has for pocket money each month. Most of her friends (they are all 15 going on 16) get £10 a week whereas we only give our daughter £25 a month as she just gets through money like water and if I gave her the extra £15 a month it would just be frittered away.

So mentally in my mind I have that spare £15 a month to 'play with' for holidays or if we need to get her mates birthday presents etc. My Dad tends to give them both £25 to take on holiday, which I change into Euros, Lira, LE etc as well & we just top it up depending on if we are AI, HB, SC.

Although if we do any clothes shopping like we did in the Algarve cos we found a Zara and Mango with sales on, my credit card tends to take the strain.

Doe

SandC wrote:

Doesn't anyone encourage their kids to save up their pocket money and birthday money for holiday spends?

Yes.
Since Tom has been able to spend money, we have saved his half pocket money up off grandparents etc and he has taken whatever he has saved up. It has given him a lesson in learning the value of money. My parents also save up for him and his cousins, 1p, 2p, 5p and 20p's soon mount up over the year.
It usually amounts to around 10 euro's per day, which he spends on amusements, pool table and "tat" as I call it. If he has any money left over it gets carried over for the next day. He's very good with it.
I honestly though all parents did the same, as that is how I was brought up too.

That's why I asked really as that's what I thought.

I am so tight I squeak . the only money mine go with (17,15, 11 all boys) is the money their nan gives them,usually about £20 each which all 3 blow at the airport on bags of haribos , and nuts and zoo magazines (the older 2 anyway). For the older 2 for some unknown reason this seems to add to the grown up feel of their own room for 2 weeks . dont Ask.

we are normally A/I anyway so there really is very little they need . We pay for their diving which is very expensive and they have to come to us for anything else . I.e the odd banana boat ride and maybe some fake designer jeans or t shirts.

Eldest one is now working but while he is training if he wants to come with us we will pay. what I will expect him to do is dip in his pocket and pay for our eats at the airport and see his younger brother OK for drinks etc if they go outside of the hotel of an evening .

If they want to take money for anything else I expect them to save their pocket money which is only £25 a month + middle son does a paper round. in other words go out and work for it . sometimes I feel really bad that they never have cash on them but how else would I pay for all these holidays and I actually think they do very well considering . when middle son went sking with the school which isnt cheap I might add I expected him to save or use money he got for his birthday for his spending money.

lyn

I encourage my daughter to save some of her pocket money for holidays as well. Usually she manages to save around £35 which is then added to by her grandparents. Last year, she took around €75 and still managed to come back with €40. I do buy her ice creams and some of her treats, but considering shes only 4 years old, she is really good and if she sees something she likes normally asks if she can have it and use her money. Although I do use her money to buy a bucket & spade, I normally end up paying for the lilos/boats/inflatables myself. Saves hassle.

I think its good that she has her own money and then she can buy all her bits of "tat" (to pinch cazz's word!) without nagging me.

Sarah

Hia, I have always divided sons money, so he has a certain amount each day, and if its not spent, it goes over to the next day, but for the past few yrs, he also has to take out of his own money what he wants to spend in the airport (amazing how little he spends when its coming from "his" money, lol)
Son has learnt the value of money (he's 15 now) he has been saving for the last few yrs out of pocket money, birthdays and Christmas, for whatever he wants, as i say to him, once its gone its gone, and when he knows we are going on holiday, I have to admit, he will save that little bit more

yea, i think i will carry on doing this , but with what some of you lot do thats one of the reasons i give them a certain amount too so they dont keep on asking for money all day seeing as we go to cyprus every year though its now gone to euro, i think my daughters are going to find it hard!

CourtneeLouise x

What we also did with my niece was promise to match what she had saved herself from pocket money, but not from the money she was given specifically for the holiday.

luci

I can remember going away to majorca with about £30 and feeling so rich! Mind you that was about 1987!