"Budget Souveniers" for family (Mr Potato Head)

[kimsuenew]

Hi! We have two darling nieces and a nephew (siblings) that would LOVE to go to WDW but thier parents cannot swing it. The six year old told me the other day that she would be really good if we would take her with us! I feel so bad but cannot... my party of 3 (at a value with free QSD) would have to jump up to a Family Suite because there would be 6 of us and also... my mobity and health is so challenged it simply is not possible.

Ugh, guilt!

This trip is long awaited and will be our entire Christmas present... DS, DH, & I will have stockings and one small gift under the tree... otherwise all money goes towards this trip, including the $250.00 we each always get from my husbands parents.

I plan to mail the kids each a gorgeous postcard and bring back a (somewhat, lol) affordable souvenier for them!

I am considering buying three cheap Mr Potato Heads locally here so that we have "three bodies" and then filling up a box of "WDW parts" while we are in the Parks.

Are there neat parts out there still? Any special ones? Parts for boys & girls? Do the parts that they have really seem like/show Disney? They will all fit the regular bodies right?

I figured that by doing it this way (including buying a small Rubbermaid type container to house everything in) would be less that $40.00 for everything and it would be a nice, fun, souvenier for them of WDW.

We have an only child so for those with multiple children, would this "thrifty? combined gift work? TIA!

 

[Earstou]

If it was me, I would give it as three gifts, one head to each child with their own set of pieces, otherwise they will fight over the pieces.
I believe (from reading here, have never done it!) that quite a few pieces will fit in the box, if you buy your head elsewhere, so you could probably get enough for all three in one box and divide it later.
Buying containers is a great idea, but I would buy smaller containers that have room for one head and pieces. You could buy WDW stickers to decorate the containers, too!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I think that is a really nice idea, and my girls often got/get one gift to share among themselves and they had no problems with it. I would for sure buy the heads away from Disney, and yes, there are lots of amazing parts. You can fit a lot into a box and be sure to get arms since they hold the parts like the arms y ougt at home do not.

Mr. Potato Heads have been a family favorite for years, even though my kids are older and only play with them when we are babysitting our friends' kids, they still always ask for any new pieces they have when we go to Disney. We now have a large Rubbermaid container of pieces and they always say they HAVE to get all the pieces so their kids can play with them someday.

I now it is hard but don't feel guilty, your family is saving for this trip and going without things to get there. Bringing this home for the kids is a very sweet idea, you are a nice aunt to do so.

 

[GoofyMomInOhio]

I know how you feel. Our August trip will be our 9th family trip and my two nieces would love to go with us but have never been. I really like the Mr. Potato head idea and am thinking about borrowing the idea for the 4 year old. Her older sister isn't into toys so I'll have to come up with another idea. My kids would love the potato heads and would be good with sharing parts. I'm saving/planning to take my nieces in 2012 but they have no idea.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

I love the potato head idea. It is my favorite purchase each trip. I love to pack the box and see what all I can get in it. My kids love them. What I did was buy the heads at yard sales when I saw them or at resale shops. Then I cleaned them up( they looked new) and then added the extra parts that I got from Disney to them. I think the kids will love them and have a great time playing with them. We use them to decorate also.
This time ( we got back last week) we bought the star wars pieces as well as the pieces from the NYC disney store that are now in Orlando.
We have also done the same thing with the my little pony parts, but my girls tired of it quickly. So now we just do potato head.
It will be fun for you and a good gift.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

I think the potato heads would make an excellent gift idea--I love them. The majority of the Disney parts are extremely Disney specific and aren't available in stores. Of course, I am biased--I have bought at least one box every time I've gone to Disney.

I highly recommend getting your potato heads locally (or check to see if they already have a potato). It will come with eyes, mouths, noses, and feet. Make sure to buy arms at Disney World. The Disney arms are designed to hold items, where the ones that come with a regular potato do not. You will need three sets of arms for three kids (watch rights and lefts on the arms, gloves, and pirate ears as they are all side-specific). I accidentally got two right ears and no left ear on the pirates once--I was able to exchange it, but still...

Once Upon a Toy has the best selection of parts. I wouldn't go to the one in Toontown because it costs the same and they have far less to choose from.

I would ask a cast member to help you fill your box because sometimes you get one that enjoys the challenge of stuffing as much as possible in. I am an excellent box stuffer, but a cast member still helped me when I was almost done (she put the Dumbo headband ears in the box for me)--the top had to be taped shut where the flaps touched and Dumbo's ears were entirely sticking out the top of the box (the sides of the headband were actually in the box), but since they put it there, it was fine My box looked like it was wearing the ears.

For each kid to be able to play at the same time, I don't think one box will get you very far. You will probably need at least two boxes to get enough parts for three kids to play. Also, the extremely large pieces can be bought individually if you can't get them into a box for about $2 each. Ariel's tail and the Buzz Lightyear ride bottom are two that come to mind that take a lot of room in the box.

You will need more than one set of arms (one set per kid) and may want extras of the accessory stuff in case they both want to have the balloon, ice cream bar (most popular here), popcorn box, pizza, pretzel, crown, etc. Those pieces are small and can be stuffed around the larger pieces. Remember to fill the bottom of the shoes before you put them in the box (ice cream bars can fit inside the hollow of the Mickey shoes for example). I would get your potato before you leave so you can see which eyes and noses it comes with--you may find the same eyes in the park and don't want to waste space on something you arlready got with the spud.

There is a jumbo plastic potato you can fill who holds the volume of three boxes, but it is harder to fill and has no give to it. The boxes have a small amount of stretch and flexibility (nobody said the box had to be square when you were done, so it can be stretched to fit pieces that wouldn't normally fit). The plastic potato won't be able to hold all the pieces again anyway since they won't be as careful putting things back and there isn't room for the potatoes.

I would plan on two boxes of parts (take the parts out of the boxes immediately upon leaving the store since to fit the most, you need to mush pegs a little bit and you don't want them to stay mis-shapen), three potatoes from another source, and a large plastic tote. You could give each kid their own potato wrapped separately and then give the bin of parts as a group gift (make sure there is enough room to just toss the potatoes and parts in the bucket together without being careful where you put things or their parents may hunt you down).

If they really love it, I'm sure there are Dissers who would be willing to help you add to their collection later. I know it is a very popular toy, so I doubt it will be discontiued any time soon.

Another fun idea would be for you to dress up the spuds different ways (before you give them to the kids) and take pictures of the different spuds to include in the package--test driving a present is good in this case. Then the kids can play a race game to have each kid pick a picture and race to get their spud to be like the one in the picture. If you do this, make sure you don't reuse parts that you don't have multiples of (you can't have two pictures that use Mickey's yellow shoes if you only have one pair) so they can't both need the same piece and find there aren't enough pieces available. The elements of searching for the right pieces and trying to be fast may keep the older ones interested longer.

 

[Christie74]

I think its a great and thoughtful idea. I'm planning to purchase the body parts this time around. How much does a box full cost? TIA

 

[mandyb]

I think its a great and thoughtful idea. I'm planning to purchase the body parts this time around. How much does a box full cost? TIA

I need to know about this too! It sounds like you can get a flat rate box and fill it with potato head parts? My kids LOVE Mr. Potato and I definitely have to get this for them! Someone please fill me in! Where do we get this, how does it work, and how much does it cost (not that I care)??

 

[kimsuenew]

Another fun idea would be for you to dress up the spuds different ways (before you give them to the kids) and take pictures of the different spuds to include in the package--test driving a present is good in this case.

I want to give a BIG THANKS to all that took the time to reply! I am going to get the bodies here, and buy individual containers to present them in! I love the above ideas to take pictures... I have decided to take pictures of the dressed MPH's all around the Pop Century icons! The kids will love that!