Niranjana, Melissa and Andy

A couple months ago, we decided that we would celebrate Niranjana's next birthday with a trip to Disneyland instead of a party.

As her birthday is in January and generally on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, for two years in a row we've had a great turnout of preschool kids to Garland's Gymnastics (http://www.garlandsgymnastics.com/index.php), where the birthday girl gets to do the bungee (http://www.youtube.com/andyperdue#p/u/4/-ixUjGXyQw4).

It's been a lot of fun, but as Niranjana goes into kindergarten and prepares to turn 7, it is the right time to try some Disney magic.

So we started saving. Well, we talk a lot about saving. We want to pay cash for this trip. Niranjana said she would give up candy (maybe $1/week), Andy and I agreed to give up Starbucks (maybe $8/week). Obviously, this isn't enough sacrifice to cover three plane tickets to California, five nights in the Disney Hotel, meals, and a five-day park hopper pass.

Here is our strategy:

• Work for it. Niranjana is being encouraged to do chores, for which we pay her immediately. She can choose whether to work (and earn money) or not to work (and not earn money). She feeds the cats, she gets 25 cents. She helps me weed the yard, 5 cents for each weed pulled by the roots. The other day she took the initiative to sweep the kitchen floor and earned a handful of change (maybe 75 cents?). She was thrilled. Her work quality is still... developing... but we are rewarding attitude and initiative as much as the task completion. Using Dave Ramsey's terms (http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/), this will be her "blow money" at Disneyland to buy whatever she wants. Right now, she has enough for an embroidered Minnie Mouse hat and a balloon. Get 'er done, kid.

• Grandparents. We are encouraging donations to the Disney bank instead of "plastic stuff." We tried to communicate that in a way that didn't sound greedy or critical. This is going OK. Ammaji and I played "let's make a deal" with some items from India, which really kick-started the account. Grandma made a donation last week that is much appreciated. Maybe Niranjana should start selling her artwork?

• Philosophy. Disneyland is top-of-mind as we go about our regular activities. Example: We're at the store and I say, "ooh, that dress/patio furniture/Wii game looks cute/nice/fun and is on super double-deep-discount sale." And Niranjana will say, "Disneyland!" The item is not purchased. We do the same thing to her when she starts eyeing Zhu Zhu Pets or other random plastic toys that will be fun for about 30 minutes. We have a shared value that Disneyland is more important than buying unnecessary things.

• Savings account. Last weekend, we finally had enough greenbacks to justify a savings account that has Niranjana's name on it. A friendly associate at Hapo Community Credit Union helped us out. Niranjana's main recollection of that process is "I had to write my name a bunch of times."

We're still a long ways from our savings goal. And now I'm worrying that January is not the ideal time for the full Disneyland experience. It is hard to break the addiction to instant gratification. But we'll get there. And hopefully this family experience will help Niranjana learn the value of saving and planning.