Kids birthday presents

[jeepgirl30]

My DD4 is starting to get invited to a lot of birthday parties. She is in daycare and has 22 kids in her room.

About how much do you spend on birthday presents? We just had my DN3's birthday, now my other DN will be one this month. Plus DD has 2 birthday parties to attend.

We had Vday, St P's day and Easter are coming up. The daycare does parties for all the holidays and the kids give each other treat bags. It all starts to add up.

I normally spend $20 on a gift. Is this cheap? Could I get away with less for the school friend's parties? Like 15?

The kids are now having parties at Chuckee Cheese, PlayZone, etc. For our DD we have just had home family parties. This year we may do a picnic at a park.

 

[frannn]

clearance or regular sale on a great toy & get a few extra general toys if you can. I purchased a really cute 18" doll for my DD2 when it went 1/2 price at Target (final price was 15 + tax), and got an extra for one of her friend's birthday. Some toys are classics and never go out of style, like Disney Princess dolls, certain dvds, etc.

 

[christinadei]

I also stock up on toys when they go on clearance. I have a bunch of boys and girls stuff for last minute gifts. In general though, I spend about $10 per gift on children and $20 on family kids. My son has way too many birthdays, both family and friends, plus all the holidays, i like to do little things for the kids in my son's class and also the kids in the family. I usually stock up on stuff after holidays for this.

 

[ilovediznee]

My daughter gets a lot of invitations too. A friend of mine gave me the suggestion of $10 for classmates and up to $20 for a good friend. Kid Connection is the Wal-Mart brand and we got Tanner a great tool set that I think he'll really like.

I also do not buy cards. I make calling cards with our daughter's name on them out of blank business cards on the computer for now she can write her name. Right there saves at least $1.

Diane

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

I spend $10 on school parties, $15-20 on friends and $25 on my nieces and nephew. I also look for toys on sale and stock up. I found Walmart has cards for $.49 and buy wrapping paper at Dollar Tree.

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but my kids keep getting invitations within 2-3 days of the parties. My twins birthday bowling party is coming up and I sent out the invites 3 weeks in advance.

 

[mum of two pirates]

I used to be a mom who sent the $20 gifts and then we started to get to many invites. Now I have one son in kin, and one in first. I started letting the boys pick out 2 or 3 books to give as gifts. sometimes it could cost as little as $3. or as much as $12. It depends on what my child thinks they would like. I started buying extra books out of thier book orders at school. Sence I am at the school in the clases a few days a week I realized how important it is for the kids to have lots to read at home. ordering the books out of the book orders gives the class more points for free books in there room also. and you can always find a couple of books for a buck. We have a box we put them in and then they pick out of it. At christmas we give two movie tickets, (here $7 for both) or a gift cert for pizza, to the friends that stay the night and they spend a lot of time with, that way wether they stay here or there they can choose pizza or free movie night, parents seem to like it.

 

[robsmom]

The secret to cost effective birthday's is as others have stated to buy in advance when there are sales. I particularly like the buy one get one free games sales at Toys-R-US. I will stock up on games in the age range for my son's classmates. Saves money and shopping trips. I think $10 is fine especially if i can get a gift worth $20.

 

[tar heel]

$20 is much more than is necessary where we live. I shoot for $10, but I also kept (when my kids were younger) a bag of stuff I got on clearance. I once got 10 hardback Arthur's Birthday books at Talbot's for $1 each. Depending on how close my ds was to the other kid, that was either the whole present or part of the present.

When my kids have had parties, they've usually got a couple of more expensive gifts, a couple of dollar store gifts and the rest right in the $10 range.

 

[CinderellasMama]

I usually do $10 or less. I shop the clearance section quite a bit and stock up on toys when they get down low enough. My Wal-Mart is always having half off clearance (1/2 off red sticker) on weekends. I keep an eye on stuff and when it gets to a price I want to pay I get it. I have gotten so many great toys for $1-5!! I also print my own cards on the computer or have my daughter draw a picture. I reuse gift bags (we have tons from gifts given to us) or buy them when they are on clearance. I also use the funny papers from the Sunday paper to wrap with. My family did this when i was growing up and people seem to get a kick out of it.

I have a 4 year old daughter and all her friends who are into Princess and girly stuff so I keep and eye on hair clips/accessorries, cute bags/backpacks, etc. Last year I bought little backpacks and duffle bags with dance themes for $1 each!!! They made great gifts with a little extra stuff inside. It looks like I spend a lot of gifts because I give several but I don't because I've bought it on clearance.

Brenda
yes, I'm cheap...lol!

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

Somewhere in the $10 to $20 range.

 

[crl]

In our playgroup, we agreed on $10 per child per birthday. Otherwise you're right about it adding up. Search clearance racks. I knew that I would need to buy for at least x number of kids and I've been hitting the sales for items.

 

[christinadei]

I also buy gift bags and wrapping paper from the dollar stores ($1) and cards for $.50. I just got a few cute pair of heart sunglasses for $.25 each and jelly watches with blue hearts for $.50 from CVS valentines stuff. You won't know it's valentines though. I got lots of lip gloss for $.25 at walmart after christmas, a few pair of slippers for $1 and some little glittery bags with hair accessories, for $2-3 each. I have a stockpile of stuff. Oh and after easter I got basket wrap and grass really cheap for gift baskets through the year.

 

[jenr812]

I have a gift closet (a section of my closet, really) and I also buy stuff on Clearance. But I've run into the problem of buying things just because they are a great deal, and then having them sit forever because they really don't fit my kids' friends' tastes. So when I see a great bargain on clearance, I try to think of a possible recipient before putting it in the cart. It works well.


I also stock up on school/art supplies at back to school time, when Crayola products are dirt cheap (I really do think there is a big difference in art supply quality). I buy 24 packs of crayons for 25 cents, markers for 88 cents, etc. Then I put together craft bags, with crayons, markers, a pack of construction paper from the dollar store, pipe cleaners, glue sticks, etc. They've gotten rave reviews.


Another inexpensive and fun gift is to get a large plastic bucket and fill it with a couple bags of microwave popcorn, some movie theater type candy (inexpensive at walmart), and a couple free movie certificates from the local rental place.


Right now Target has that dollar section at the front of the store. A lot of the stuff is junky, but my target currently has soft cotton baby onesies, washcloths, etc. For $15 I got a bunch of stuff and put it together in a cheap basket from michaels for a great baby gift.


The value of my gifts range from $10-$40 depending on who the recipient is, but my cost is usually a fraction of that, if I plan ahead. I absolutely HATE it when I have to buy something last minute for a party because I don't have anything at home. I hate paying full price. Funny story (kind of)... last year we went to a surprise dinner party for DH's boss and I was running late and forgot to grab a gift bag before we left home. So we had to stop at the store for one and paid $4 for it!!! (We weren't near a dollar store). It took us 20 minutes to get to the party and it took me that long to get over the fact that I just paid that much for a stupid gift bag when I have several nicer $1 ones at home LOL I'm a nutjob.

 

[dizagain]

$20 on b'day gifts for kids? Yikes! My DD's are getting on up there (9 and 11) so the gifts are getting more expensive, but still not $20! More like $12-$15. When they were little we spent around $10. I love watching for the deals....Limited 2, Justice, and Old Navy often have great "stuff" on clearance and we get a bunch of little things and put them in a cute bag or purse from Target.

 

[powellrj]

$20 on b'day gifts for kids? Yikes! My DD's are getting on up there (9 and 11) so the gifts are getting more expensive, but still not $20! More like $12-$15. When they were little we spent around $10. I love watching for the deals....Limited 2, Justice, and Old Navy often have great "stuff" on clearance and we get a bunch of little things and put them in a cute bag or purse from Target.

I just got gifts today for up coming parties DD is going to at Limited 2. Great buys on jewlery, and clothes.