I just spent a ton of time looking through the Minnie Mouse Main Attraction march and its all so darn cute. It makes me want to buy ears for my girls for their fave attractions and the little loungeflys too are so adorable! But my hesitation is always…uhhh…what do I buy DS so he’s not left out??! I often feel like this in regards to pre-trip prepping…with my girls I’m like ‘let’s go get our nails done before we leave!’ but then I struggle to come up with something equally exciting for my son (and he does NOT care to be included in the nail salon pampering!)! He’s already outnumbered with 3 sisters and no brothers and I never want him to feel more left out than he already does being the only boy. What have you all done with your sons/husbands to help them get excited for trips?
Is there something he particularly likes at Disney (characters, movies etc)?
We are not big on dressing up for a trip, but I do usually get my kids new t-shirts or something similar before travelling to WDW. I don’t stress about it being any single theme, last year my son got a new Star Wars t-shirt and my daughter a mickey hoody. I know this is pretty tame by Disney standards, but they were excited to wear the new shirts on the first day 
I always got my boys t-shirts from JCP - they have a nice Disney section locally. Also new bucket hats or baseball hats.
I’ve seen baseball caps with ears on them that are really cute! I don’t know if they’re an Etsy type product or where you would get them. But I think they’re a nice option for boys who want ears but not the traditional old style hat with a rubber strap under the chin or a (girls) head band. That being said, when i took my daughter’s friends to Disneyland last August, the boys (age 19 at time of travel) each wore a headband with ears and/or a Stitch hat with the chin strap.
Another option for a Star Wars boy is a shoulder Porg or Marvel shoulder Groot.
Kohl’s and Old Navy also often have inexpensive Disney/Star Wars themed clothing. Once I bought my son some nifty Chewbacca mittens from Hanna Andersson, but it didn’t turn out to be that cold when we were there so they didn’t get worn. My sons usually aren’t so interested in clothing/merchandise as much as rides and food. When they were little I bought my boys kids guidebooks with pictures and descriptions of the rides so they could pick what they wanted to go on. Another option for older kids is to get them a gift card to be their own funds for souvenirs and snacks.
Yes - Kohl’s! But we didn’t have those stores when my boys were little… we do get stuff there now for the girls. Frankly, even our Walmart has a ton of Disney stuff. I just got DD14 a great Mandalorian shirt today.
All great tips. Thanks y’all! I do generally buy shirts which is fun but I tend to get all caught up in the fun, glittery stuff too and then struggle to make it fair - which my boy is sensitive to for sure. This will help a lot!
How old is he?
He’ll be 8 in July.
My DS was and still is into Pluto. He went to Disney for the first time when he was 7 and we got AP for DLR for the year. I got him a fun Pluto hat, a number of Pluto key chains to hang from his little park backpack, a small Pluto stuffed animal (which he ended up hauling around the park anytime we were there that year), Pluto stickers, a few pins which he traded for Pluto pins in the park, and a few different shirts with Pluto on it to wear at the parks.
around that age, my nephew enjoyed getting pins and wearing his lanyard with them on it around the parks. he would fill it up pretty quickly with new ones or others he traded.
Is he into pins? I bought my kids a collection of pins just for trading off of Amazon (be careful as there are lots that are not “real”). I think I got like 8 pins for $20 or something. He could use them just for trading. My kids don’t like to trade the pins they pick out at the parks so this was perfect.
If you are going to do parks at night, cool glow gadgets are fun. They have things other than the generic dollar store version. He could share/distribute to his sisters and therefore it could be his pre-trip gift.
Baseball cap or Star Wars sunglasses.
I have 3 boys and only 1 girl so I understand your angst. 
I have two grand-nephews that have/had birthdays in May. They are now (or will be in two days ) 6 and 7. I had the best time picking out lanyards and pins for them on eBay. One likes Chip and Dale, the other Donald Duck. I tried to be careful to by pins in new packaging so they weren’t dirt cheap. But now they have a lanyard and pins for trading on their next trip. Hopefully, I will get to join them when they go!
My grand-niece is 3 and was quite distraught that she didn’t get a lanyard and pins. So now I’m building her collection for her birthday in September! She’s getting a mainly Frozen theme. I think the pins are so much fun. I try to have a stash for trading even with my girls who are 17 and 20!
Yes!! They all love pin trading. This next trip will be the first time DD4 will get her own set to trade. She’ll be so excited!
Just polled my DS10 twins. They pointed out they found a place of honor in their room for their shoulder Porgs. And still love their Star Wars shirts. If he’s into baseball hats, that’s the other direction to go.
My DS15 never picked a souvenir at the parks at all. I think he was just happy with the refillable mug.
Well all my boys get are new shoes and shorts.
I like the hat idea. It’s a way to prep that’s similar to nails. Is he too old for a stuffie? You might get them all a small stuffie, if not. Or a toy.
Oh that’s a good idea! He loves battling/wrestling/fighting. Ha! Anytime he’s around my poor dad its like instant punching and boxing matches! He and my husband also like to pretend to cut off one another’s heads with the POTC swords we purchased on our first trip. Oh, boys. SWGE opened up right after our trip last year so they haven’t gotten to experience any of that yet. I bet they’ll be tons of Star Wars stuff he’d be interested in.
I have 3 boys, no girls. My one son is 8, the other 2 are 11, but they turned 8 on our first trip to Disney as a family. I got them Disney T-shirts and a small Disney stuffed toy each at the Disney store. We watched all kinds of Disney movies before our trip. We also did a paper countdown that trip.
At Disney, they got the Build Your Own Lightsabers at the end of the Star Tours ride. They still play with those almost 4 years later.
We were supposed to be there this week and they were planning to do the Build a Droid with their gift cards from birthdays and Christmas.
My kids get super excited to go just by talking about it, so we don’t feel the need to go over the top.
Oh, what about magic bands? Do you already get them all cool ones? If you usually get standard issue, maybe he could get a cool one while the rest get standard? Just to make it something special for him.
Yes, we got them upgraded ones last summer when it was first offered. I think he has a Star Wars one. I’m torn between buying them stuff before or letting them choose souvenirs when we’re there. It’s so fun to surprise them with it beforehand but then they end up wanting stuff when we’re there too anyway. I may just end up getting them each there own Disney Gift Card and letting them choose their own stuff. My only hesitation with that Is that they’ll likely pick crap that won’t last long and won’t really serve well as a keepsake. Last February, they chose thing like Elsa spinning glow up light things and daggers from Pandora that are now broken. 