I want to get a few things in advance of our trip to save a few dollars…what kinds of items have your 8 yr old girls been getting at the parks???
My daughter was 9 on our first trip and the things I remember her buying were the Mickey ears that light up and flash in rhythm to the music of the shows, an autograph book for character meets, some trading pins, and a plastic Cinderella’s castle with Cinderella and Prince Charming figurines.
I know you are planning to purchase a few things ahead of time, but if you decide to let her pick out anything in the parks, we found at that age that my daughter loved having her own gift card that was for souvenirs. She could spend it as she pleased, but knew that was all the money she had available.
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Not at all cheap but the only thing my 8 year old wanted at that age was a princess dress. For her it had to be Elsa but a princess dress it needed to be!
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One of my daughter’s favorite things to do was to pick a pearl at Japan in EPCOT. It’s less than $20 to do this. Before our trip I went on Etsy and found a Minnie Mouse cage on a necklace to put the pearl in. That also was relatively inexpensive (I’m going to say about $12). She wears that necklace all the time. I also got one for me.
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Pressed pennies are the classic inexpensive souvenir. We have been doing this with my daughter for years (she’s 9 now) and she still loves them and has them displayed in a booklet. As we approach our vacation, when we find a shiny new penny, we set it aside to take with us to use, thus increasing the excitement when she gets to drop it into the machine and turn the crank.
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My daughter was big on the Hello Kitty selection in “Japan”. Same store as the pick a pearl. She also wanted to get a pressed penny whenever she noticed a machine.
We bought pins ahead of time from ebay and did a lot of pin trading in the parks. It was a fun way to feel like you were shopping, but not spending 
Second vote here for Minnie mouse ears.
At that age, my pre-trip shopping included some Disney themed t-shirts, a bunch of glow bracelets/necklaces to hand out while waiting for nighttime events to start, Disney themed stickers/tattoos from the Dollar Store, a full selection of colored, clickable Sharpies to go w/ the autograph book we purchased as soon as we arrived.
A little younger and I would throw in a character set from the Disney Store. If she’s still into them, I would grab one.
I have to say, the thought that my dd put into what color Sharpie each character should use to sign her book was quite extensive. She had it all planned out well before she saw each character!
I agree with this one: pressed pennies. My DD 7 last trip loved them. They sell display books and that may be a good pre-park gift and fill with pennies and then she can press them everywhere on your trip.
My DD also enjoyed getting pins from favorite rides and characters and trading with CMs at the resort food court so we didn’t have to waste touring time looking for pin traders.
I hope we remember to do pick a pearl this trip–I completely forgot last trip and we never even saw it.
I love the silhouette outline portrait thing, sorry I dont remember exactly what they are called. I still have mine from 1985 or so and its great.
I am pretty sure there is a TP plans youtube video that describes it better.
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thanks everyone!
i’ll check out some ears ahead of time and the pressed pennies too. I never knew about the pearls thing in Japan - how neat!