How much do you spend on your kiddos friends birthday gifts

[AKLRULZ]

We usually budget about $20. But dagone, I'm feeling uber cheap this morning - my 12 year old daughter had her spa/sleepover party last night. First of all, she received only gift cards for AE, Abercrombie, Hollister, etc., which is great, we typcially do gift cards too - but I kid you not that of the 6 girls she had as guests the least expensive amount on a gift card is $50 and one is for $75!!

I'd like to be 12 again I think!!

 

[PrincessMom2002]

$75?!

I usually spend $20.00. Neither of my children have had their own friends party yet so I'm not sure what other parents give. Your DD made out like a bandit!

 

[cepmom]

yikes! That's way out of my budget for friends presents. I try to keep it at around $20 ~ less for friends we don't really know well like kids in their class that invited the whole class to the party. I couldn't imagine giving a $50 or $75 GC for a kid's gift unless it was my own DD!

 

[Skatermom23]

Wow that's a lot of money! We do $20 GC to those same places.

 

[EthansMom]

My kids are 5 and 2.5. I usually spend about $15 for a birthday present for a friend and $20-$25 for a cousin. I might lean more towards $20 for one of DS's best friends.

Around here, some people spend a LOT on the birthday parties themselves. If I tried to "cover the plate cost", I'd need to spend $25 or $30, but I'm not going to spend more money on stuff just because someone wants to throw an over-the-top party. Also, I don't expect people to spend more when I have a more expensive party for my children. In actuality, neither my children nor any of their friends or cousins need any more stuff.

I try to have one or two decent gender-inspecific gifts on hand so I don't have to go shopping every time DS gets invited to a party. At 5 and 6, legos and play-doh make pretty good gifts, IMO.

As the kids get older, we'll probably go for $25 gift cards for regular birthday parties and something more for a big blowout (like a sweet 16).

 

[tiggerlover]

$50-$75 is way too much for a child's friend, in my opinion. I don't even spend that on all of the nieces and nephews. We will usually spend $15-20 depending on who the friend is, if it is a closer friend it will be $20. Family is more, but definiely not $75.

 

[laura001]

My youngest is now 14, and we spend about $20.00 per gift. If it is her best friend, then usually around 30 or a little higher. Things are way out of hand when it comes to parties.

 

[Becky2005]

YIKES!!

It depends on how good of a friend but usually no more than $30. I do try to keep it in the $20 range though.

Guess I'm cheap but on the other hand, she has never gotten extremely expensive gifts either so it seems normal in our neck of the woods.

 

[Fan2CSkr]

I spend $20 on either a gift or a GC. I have boys and they are still young. I think its different with teens and girls. I see my SIL's spending more $.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Nope. $20 range (unless it's something we KNOW they want, and the friend is close). It's nice to see we're close to others in amount.

I can't imagine giving a $50.00 gift certificate to a 12YO unless it's a member of my own family (and even THEN......). Wow.

 

[grlzmom]

We try to stay in the 20 dollar range for the littler kids (pre teen), and about 30 dollars (mainly gift certificates) for the teenagers.

That is about the norm around here.

We have seen people getting really extravagant with the sweet 16 gifts around here and its a little scary.

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter got a gift worth 75.00 from a kid in her class for her 5th birthday, I thought that was nuts. The only thing I can think of for that was the boy was the "bad kid" in the class and none of hte kids in preschool or kindergarten would invite him to their parties, I told my daughter she would not have a party if she did not include everyone so maybe since it was the first party the kid went to that is why they spent so much....Normally I give between 20-25 depending on where the party is, who the kid is (a good friend or just a classmate) and if the party is just a home party its usually a little less of a gift.

 

[Sherri]

Typically we give $25.00-$30.00 for the parties they can attend.
The ones they can't go to we send $10.00 in a card.

 

[TurboKitty]

We keep it at 20.00, or less if we can get away with it. I do shop all year though, as I've found perfect presents for specific friends on clearance. Nothing like giving the clearance priced Sponge Bob karoake machine to the huge Sponge Bob fan normal price 49.99 - bought for 19.99, or the Xbox memory card to the Xbox game freak.

 

[kaw1218]

We stay in the $15-$25 range for gifts....unless it is a very close friend....then we normally don't go over $40.

 

[cristit14]

Depending on how close the friend is, usually $15-20. I think we have gone as high as $30 for a close friend.

 

[Liberty Belle]

We usually spend about $20, give or take, depending on the child's interests. Spending $75 would be like coming overdressed to a casual party, I would think. I would be uncomfortable and embarrassed.

 

[kdudley3]

It depends on the type of party. If the kids are going to Dave & Busters, out to eat & a movie or to Great Bear Lodge, I buy a more expensive gift ($30-$50).

If it's just cake and ice cream, I'll give $15-$20 cash (let them decide how to spend it).

I usually try to do as I do for weddings, try to cover the cost of the guest/guests participating in the event.

 

[mytwotinks]

This is very interesting to me because I was shocked at how much $ the girls that came to my dd9's party last week spent on gifts. I seriously think that even $10 is plenty. I will go up to $15 for someone that my dd is not close to and up to $20 for a kid that we are closer to. I don't feel at all bad about only spending $10 on even a close friend though if it is something I know that they will like. I would be sooooo uncomfortable accepting a $75 gift for my child.

Honestly it never even crossed my mind to cover the cost of my child's part of the party. I don't really take into consideration where/what the party is at all when we buy a gift. As far as an at-home party being worth less, I don't agree with that at all. I have had slumber parties at my house that cost much more $ and were much much more work than the ice skating party I just had that only cost about $110.

 

[kdudley3]

This is very interesting to me because I was shocked at how much $ the girls that came to my dd9's party last week spent on gifts. I seriously think that even $10 is plenty. I will go up to $15 for someone that my dd is not close to and up to $20 for a kid that we are closer to. I don't feel at all bad about only spending $10 on even a close friend though if it is something I know that they will like. I would be sooooo uncomfortable accepting a $75 gift for my child.

Honestly it never even crossed my mind to cover the cost of my child's part of the party. I don't really take into consideration where/what the party is at all when we buy a gift. As far as an at-home party being worth less, I don't agree with that at all. I have had slumber parties at my house that cost much more $ and were much much more work than the ice skating party I just had that only cost about $110.

That's why I don't do sleepovers anymore !!!!!!