How we planned & budgetted for a Disneyland Vacation.

I have been putting this post off long enough. One of my girlfriends will be going to Disneyland with her family in March so I needed to get my buns in gear & finally write this.

I will do this in bullets to keep it clean & easy to reference.

To some this may not seem BUDGET friendly, BUT you have to remember a budget doesn't mean cheap, it means working with a set amount of money.

We had put aside our money about 8 months before we actually went on this trip. Those 8 months were stress free because we didn't have to worry about saving & we knew what amount we had to work with.

Disneyland Vacation on a BUDGET

• First & foremost make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck. I did my homework & am happy with the road that we chose. I went to our travel agent, asked friends who had been, & searched endless websites with tips/tricks for a Disneyland vacation on a dime.
• COSTCO proved to be the most price efficient.Our $1,400 package included:
• 2 night stay at the Disneyland Resort Hotel
• 3 3-DAY park hopper passes
• 2 Premium Character Dining Meals (Goofy's Kitchen & Ariel's Grotto)
• A bonus $20 Disneyland giftcard

• The Dave Ramsey Method....ENVELOPES. Husband & I have been using the envelope system since our Honeymoon (almost 5 years!).
• Everything that we would be spending money on that week was categorized in an envelope: $925 (note-this amount included meals during our week of travel outside of the 3 day Disneyland Vacation)
• Gas
• Food
• Snacks
• Reagan Fun  $ (this included Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique)
• Jax Fun $ 

•  Set aside more than you think you will need... unexpected costs come up & it is better to be safe than sorry

• It is VITAL that you do not spend more than what is in your envelope. NO CREDIT CARDS! Unless.... you have the cash to back it up with the receipt.
• Mobile Apps
• MouseWait was a huge help on our trip. It allowed us to see where restaurants were in relation to our current location. We could view full menus & prices of all dining spots (snack bars, sit down, fine dining, etc.). All of the rides were listing with the height requirement. It did all this & SO MUCH more. This proved to be the best Disney app we found.

• Because we are budget crazy, we downloaded a spreadsheet app (Simple Spreadsheet) to keep all of our dining money in order (in case we used the credit card). This allowed us to see how much was left in our budget for meals each day. We put in what we budgeted for each meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) & it would give us the difference left over after ever amount entered.
• Reservations
• Make them early! Like 2 months early. Places fill up quickly. 
• To make reservations for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique call DINING ((714) 781-7895). I know that sounds odd, but they are the ones who will set up your appointment. For more info check out this site: Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
• We set ours up for an hour before our Ariel's Grotto reservation (good reason to call early)

•  Random Costs
• Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
• The Coach Package includes hairstyle, shimmering make-up, princess sash, princess cinch sac and body jewels — $44.95, plus tax. PLUS TIP 
• must be 3 years old
• Mouse Ears
• Range between $14-$17 

• Embroidery is an EXTRA $7
• Charactar Dining Meal
• Goofy's Kitchen
• Breakfast & Lunch: Adults (ages 10 and up) $25.99, Children (ages 3 - 9) $13.99
• DINNER PRICE: Adults: $31.99, Children (3-9) $13.99
• Hours: Brunch: 7:00 AM– 1:00 PM (Mon. thru Fri.), 7:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Sat. and Sun.) Dinner: 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM Daily 

• Ariel's Grotto
• BREAKFAST PRICE: Adults: $29.99, Children (3-9) $17.99
• LUNCH PRICE: Adults: $33.99, Children (3-9) $19.99

• To check out prices & hours of other Character Dining options go here: Disneyland California Character Dining

If you want to check out what we did on our trip you can go here: Disneyland Day 1 , Disneyland Day 2  , Disneyland Day 3

Questions are more than welcome. Please comment or e-mail me at Ashliebear@gmail.com

Christmas Eve.

Here's a peek into some of our Christmas decorations

Daddy had suggested that we make Santa snickerdoodle cookies. So Reagan & I whipped up a batch for one of our favorite guys.

Christmas Eve morning my fabulous MIL & FIL came over with breakfast in hand {biscuits & gravy} & lots of presents. We had such a great time laughing, eating delicious food, & exchanging gifts while Reagan's new Beauty & The Beast movie played in the background.

In the evening we headed over to Braden's sister's house for a scrumptious laid back pizza dinner. She had the table decorated so cute with name tags. Even the kids table matched.

After dinner the little cousins (Griff,Piper, Reagan, & Jax) exchanged gifts.

 On the way home the kiddos fell asleep, but Reago managed to wake up so she could set out cookie for Santa & carrots for the reindeer.

Once both little ones drifted off to sleep, it was time for Santa to get to work....

I saw a DIY a frame tent online & thought it would be such a great gift for Jax. Braden put the frame together previously. All that was left was to attach the fabric. I had bought canvas & to my dismay, it was not large enough. So... we improvised with an old white sheet. Worked out perfectly!

While Mr. Claus worked on the tent, this Mama got to work on the filling up the stockings.

Thank goodness Braden put together Reagan's special S-A-N-T-A gift on Thursday night. It took 4 hours!! I was checking the current price of it this week & on Amazon it was priced at $300.... you can bet I didn't spend that much. I debated between a pink kitchen or this bake shoppe & I couldn't be more happy with my choice. It is DARLING!!

A few special aprons hand sewn (not by me) so her friends can play too

A fun cook book for her & I to bake together

We also did our annual Christmas Eve JAMMIE exchange. Reagan's are pictured above & Jax's will be in the following Christmas post (as well as Braden's). Here are mine....

And, one last look before Bed Time...

Our Christmas Card{s}

Okay....

So I get a little crazy excited to put together my Christmas card EVER.YEAR. In our busy life we don't ever get a chance to have a GOOD photo of all of us. That is where the Christmas card comes in. You see, for the last few years I have used Kristin from www.littlepeanutcards.com to take our family photos then use her genius to come up with the PERFECT card to send out to ALLLLLLL of our family & friends. And, each year I'm sure I drive Kristin nuts with my anxiousness to get said cards :) {thank you Kristin!}

Anyway, back to our Christmas card THIS year.

A few months back I won 25 free shutterfly cards from a fellow blogger. Yippeeeeeee!! And, about a month back there was a sweet deal for $40 worth of Pear Tree Greeting cards for only $20. So I snatched it up because I have used them in the past & was VERY happy with their quality of card. I got 25 photo cards from Kristin, 25 from Shutterfly, & 25 from Pear Tree Greetings for a grand & glorious total of $75 Christmas Photo cards.

So here's how they turned out....

Kristin's GORGEOUS work

Pear Tree Greetings Ornate Ornament card

FREE Shutterfly Cards

Merry Christmas from our family to yours :)