"Typical" Birthday for kids.

[kayrosek]

So I've been reading all the Christmas threads and figuring out what gifts I want to get for the kids but we have a couple birthdays to buy for first. My sons birthday is Saturday and I have been buying for awhile but haven't started wrapping until today.
Anyway I was sitting here looking at his little pile of gifts and wondering what was typical for other dis members. Especially those with teens. Do you just get one birthday gift for your kids or multiple gifts?
DS(turning 13) is getting an android phone, 16 gig mini SD card, zombie target and throwing knives for him to do with dad, an iron man t shirt, zombie head stress ball, video game and I'm looking for some unique rubber ducks as he collects them. I'm also crocheting an Afghan but that wont be done for his birthday. Looking at all this I'm thinking I overdid it. He also has grandparents that will spoil him. He's getting at least that much from DHs parents and my moms getting him a google play GC every month to put new apps and stuff on the phone. So what do you guys do for birthday's as far as presents go?

 

[crisi]

One gift. Its always been one gift for birthdays. For Christmas it usually turns out to be about eight gifts - two from Mom and Dad on Christmas even - of which one is pajamas (oooh, exciting!) and five or six under the tree.

Mine are fourteen and fifteen.

 

[sksjasams]

My DS will be 15 next weekend. Where did the time go??

Typically, we get him several gifts, but this year he is getting one. The Nintendo 3DS XL. I got it on sale at Best Buy for $180. I am feeling the urge to buy more, but he doesn't really need anything else. In fact he hasn't even mentioned anything else.

I think your selection and amount of gifts sounds great

 

[Ginny Favers]

DD turned 7 a few weeks ago and got one gift (Lego Friends). She gets gifts from grandparents and aunts too... and then comes Christmas. I am at the point where I feel like she's swimming in STUFF and spoiled beyond belief. It's everywhere, some of it still sitting in boxes, unopened. So we're just doing 1 gift for birthday, and 3 for Christmas.

 

[aprilchem]

Mine (ages 4,6,7) get one gift as well, if they want something. We didn't get them any gifts at all until they turned four, and then after that we'll give them one thing if they want it. DS turns 8 on Halloween and he's asked for a $20 pack of Pokemon cards. Last year he asked for a microscope, and I spent about $60 on that. DS6 didn't really want anything for his last birthday so we didn't get him a gift.

We also tell them that if they have a birthday party then that's their gift from us. We don't get them an additional gift.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My daughter is eight and she usually gets one gift for her birthday from me and my husband. But what she usually wants is an American Girl doll. So, we will get her a doll and maybe an accessory too. For Christmas, we have gone overboard in the past but I'm determined not to this year and since I've already started my Christmas shopping....so far, so good.

 

[mjkacmom]

One gift, OR a party. It's usually in the $50 range, depending upon what they want at the time.

 

[angierae]

One gift. As she got older, it was often money, or one year it was concert tickets. Another year, both her grandmother and her stepdad and I went in together on her letter jacket for high school.

 

[3Gsandme]

I don't really have a pre-set limit. That doesn't mean that I buy out the mall, but it really depends on the kid, the interests, what's available, etc.

I had problems buying for my 7 year old this year. Nothing worked. I bought her a couple things and then took her out for a day with Mommy and Daddy. I was underwhelmed, but she was happy.

My oldest loves cash and a trip to the mall. Yes, ma'am. Easy peasy.

For Christmas, we do the following. Each girl gets a gift from each sister and one from dh and I that try open Christmas Eve. Santa brings there presents under the tree an fills stockings. I don't really put a budget on it and I probably do go overboard on the stockings.

 

[Happyjen27]

Only you know how many gifts is right for your son, regardless of what others do.

If you think you overdid it, you probably did.

If you are feeling that you overdid it, then perhaps put some of that away for Christmas.

 

[ICF]

Kids are 13 / 10 -- typically they get a few gifts, but combined don't cost more than $75 or so.

 

[Keli]

Dd is grown now but I always set a budget for her birthday and the number of presents varied according to cost of the items.
I can see from most other parents on the DIS that we were always way cheap with dd, lol. Finances dictated that in the early years and our own childhood experiences probably played a large role as well. Our parents spent very little on our birthdays (always had a gift though). My parents spend $10 on us, dh's about the same I think.
I don't know how much we budgeted for dd in the early years but I do know we topped it out at $30 in high school.
Since dd has been married we've budgeted approximately $50 on her and $50 on our son in law every year. We'll probably spend about that on our new grandson as well.

 

[me23xx]

I don't have any kids but for friends kids, nieces and nephews and god children I have a limit of around $30 us money, any amount of presents so long as its in that budget. For me and my partner we spend £100 each, so roughly $140, again that could be one gift or 100...
don't look at the amount of presents... do you feel as though you spent too much?

 

[kkandaj]

One or two gifts (that combined would be under about $50) or a birthday party with their friends.

 

[NYCDiane]

I usually get my daughter Broadway show tix for her birthday and $100 to spend on merch at the show and I take her for a lunch or dinner before or after the show.

This year, money is super tight. I was only able to get her a DVD that she wanted, along with a little cross-body bag she wanted from Journeys (thank goodness it was on clearance for $10), and I gave her $75 cash. All in all, I think I spent $100.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Mine usually get one "big" gift that is around $100, never over, from DH and I, and then 4 smaller gifts that makes one gift from each sibling. But the only gift they get from family is $10 from their grandmother. We stopped doing parties so we usually have cake and do something fun like go-karts or whatever that they want to do.

 

[chimilady]

One gift. I've never known anyone to give more than one.

 

[ceemys]

So I've been reading all the Christmas threads and figuring out what gifts I want to get for the kids but we have a couple birthdays to buy for first. My sons birthday is Saturday and I have been buying for awhile but haven't started wrapping until today.
Anyway I was sitting here looking at his little pile of gifts and wondering what was typical for other dis members. Especially those with teens. Do you just get one birthday gift for your kids or multiple gifts?
DS(turning 13) is getting an android phone, 16 gig mini SD card, zombie target and throwing knives for him to do with dad, an iron man t shirt, zombie head stress ball, video game and I'm looking for some unique rubber ducks as he collects them. I'm also crocheting an Afghan but that wont be done for his birthday. Looking at all this I'm thinking I overdid it. He also has grandparents that will spoil him. He's getting at least that much from DHs parents and my moms getting him a google play GC every month to put new apps and stuff on the phone. So what do you guys do for birthday's as far as presents go?

That's more than what I give my kids for christmas! lol I give one gift for Birthday. and it is normally about $20ish. or they get a GC.

 

[sksjasams]

Wow, OP, I have never seen so many responses of people that say one gift. Almost every single poster said one gift, and some even said none. As you have read on the previous Christmas threads, that is not very common. I'm not sure why you have received so many of the same response. As I said, I think your gift selection and amounts look great. Happy Birthday to your DS!!

 

[StuckInKS]

My kids aren't quite teens yet, but they only get one or two cheaper gifts from us. We also take all of them to our local T-Rex to celebrate each individual bday, where the birthday kid may also stuff a dino or they all might play in the paleo zone. Also, we also take them all to Dave & Busters to play each time afterward and/or to a movie. All total this is usually $150 for each bday. All of their bdays are pretty close together, along with Christmas, and they get a lot of presents from family in a short period of time. They also already have any possible electronics and so many toys they already don't have enough room for them. Not to mention that this year we have our two week WDW trip with MNSSHP and MVMCP (plus a week at the beach) right in the middle of all of their bdays. With all of that, they don't really need more than a few small gifts from me and DH.