"Typical" Birthday for kids.

[lurkernj]

When they were younger they got one gift and a book, plus an in-home party with some friends. That ended when they turned 13. Now that they are 15 and 18, they get a small wrapped gift (like a DVD or similar)plus either $100, or a "usefull" gift that might cost more like a phone or kindle. We also take them out to dinner at a restaurant of their choice.

They have grandparents, aunts and uncles and usually get cash from them as well.

 

[reneaterry]

We spend around $200 on a party and between $100-200 on gifts. Girls are 3 and 6. Birthday parties were huge growing up in my family so we do them big. We still have parties for all the adults and give gifts although those are combined to celebrate all birthdays in a month. Dh thinks it's crazy because he never had a party.

 

[mumto3girls]

My girls are 13, 10 this week and 7. When they were really little we would just do a family party and get them some new toys and books--gifts under $100 total. Once they were about 4, we would do a party with friends, a separate family party--usually just cake and ice cream the night of their birthday or a weekend evening close to it and a few gifts--probably less than $100 total on gifts. Then they started wanting parties and big gifts--started with American girl dolls and then Nintendo DS's and then it was things that started with an I and kindles. Now I tell them they can have parties with friends if they want and those parties an be at home or out, but they get $250 total between the party and gifts. They still usually pick a party, but it is usually at home and then they take the rest of the money and put it towards whatever bigger item they want. We also usually go out to dinner with just our family of 5 sometime close to the birthday and still do a family party that doesn't count towards the total.

The family party can just be cake and ice cream the night of the birthday or a weekend night close to it and sometimes we do a cookout or other food. My oldest's birthday is close to Father's Day so we usually combine those and my youngest is near Labor Day so we often do a picnic with everyone. Middle DD's is this week and DH is traveling and we are super busy with sports and other activities so the family party will be later in the month and may be just cake and ice cream whenever we can squeeze it in.

 

[star72232]

Typically one gift. YDS just turned one and we didn't get him anything - he got lots from family and he doesn't know the difference. This year DD got more (a dress, a comforter and a gift card for the book store), but it's usually one gift. We have 4 kids (8, almost 7, 3 and 1).

 

[star72232]

And now, reading this thread, I feel like a cheapskate!

 

[lauradis]

And now, reading this thread, I feel like a cheapskate!

The best present I ever got wasn't bought in a store for me.

My father gave me his book ends.

Sure you can go and buy something new, but these where given out of love and I still have them years later.

I'm sure he felt little like cheapskate too.

 

[disneychrista]

It is not number of gifts for us it is $$. Christmas is $75 - $100, Birthday $50 - $75.

My oldest & her BF will get a few combined gifts and I will likely Spend $125 - $150 for the two of them .

 

[LMN]

Each of our kids gets 1 gift from mom/dad and 1 gift from each of their 2 siblings, so 3 gifts total. We don't do really big bdays anymore now that the kids are older. They each get to pick out where we go out to dinner on their bday as well as pick out their bday cake flavor and frosting flavor and I make them a homemade bday cake.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

I dont ever do a amount of presents , just an amount that I will spend . On the older kids 75-125 birthday and anywhere from 100-150 on the grandkids because they are little and some of the stuff is super expensive ( toy makers are raking all of us over the coals !)

 

[AZMermaid]

We give 4-5 presents from us. We don't have a real budget, but this is probably under $150 since my kids are little. My son just turned 3. He got a Toy Story scooter that was free with my movie rewards, a remote control Lightening McQueen, Gymboree clothes that he would have gotten anyway, a dollar spot set of plastic tools, some books, and a couple of small Planes. So that all cost probably $60 and the scooter is worth $40. He had a party that cost around $400 for the bouncy water slide, snow cone machine, pizza and cake and a few decorations. This seems like the norm around here.

 

[heartsy77]

Three out of four kids had birthday parties until they were 12. It was a little out of hand and one point we had a tubing party for dd at a ski lodge to the tune of $500 plus presents. Another year we took a trip to NYC and took all the girls to American Doll Tea Party. At some point we have had parties at all the typical party places in our area.
Thank god my youngest ( six) really isn't into parties; maybe it's because he's a boy? He turns seven on November 1st and hr hard time thinking of what he wanted to do let alone what he wants a present. He decided he wants to spend the day at Destiny USA in Syracuse: they have rope course and science museum. Then on to the Disney Store and pick out something he wants . Quaker Steak and Lube for lunch!
God I think boys are easier!

DD is turning 18 in Feb and she is already making a list.

 

[delmar411]

For the kids (we have 4) it is 1 gift from each person plus a joint gift from mom and dad (normally their most wanted item). So they get 6 gifts total. Not big gifts. Like my YDD just had her bday and she got
$25 iTunes card ($10- had $15 in rewards used to pay for this)
Minecraft for the Xbox ($20)
Stuffed pink monkey ($10)
LPS set & LPS figure ($18 )
Lalaloopsy train ($7 Had this set aside for over a year from a clearance sale)
Ariel mermaid set ($5 Also had this set aside for over a year from same sale)

She was very excited to get all these gifts plus she had cupcakes for school, cake at home, dinner out, and a party this weekend that cost way more than expected.

My ODS's bday is on Wednesday and he has literally just asked for Minecraft and an ice cream cone. The IL's claimed the video game and I believe they are also getting him his own special controller so we got him a few tins of the park starz figures that he likes ($14 each), the minecraft Legos ($30 each set, 1 from each sibling) , a $25 iTunes card, a mini light saber kit thing ($2 on sale). He isn't having a party and we aren't going out to dinner so his gifts while pricier still come out less than YDD's bday.

 

[leebee]

We have an only, so we don't worry so much about sticking hard and fast to a budget. Having said that, I am pretty frugal and think that a birthday party can be celebrated with cake and ice cream in the back yard just as easily as it can be at the local bounce house! We have done a variety of things for DD over the years, depending on the circumstances. I usually tried to hold it to about $100 for a party, whether at home or out. Birthday at our house always means cake and ice cream, and dinner out (at a family restaurant like Olive Garden) or your choice of what to have for supper at home.

DD's birthday is the third week of September, so often I kept much of her back-to-school clothes and gave them as birthday presents. She seemed to do much of her growing over the summer so she needed new sizes by her birthday, anyhow. She also would get a variety of smaller, fun things. Now that she is older, the presents cost more, and as she buys her own clothes as she needs them, these are not part of the gifts either. We usually try to get her something she's been wanting but is out of her price range. Last year (19th birthday) we got her a net10 slider phone so she could type-text and hooked it to our credit card so we pay the monthly bill (before that she had a trac fone and knew that the 400 minutes we paid for had to last the entire 3 months. She was good about this- but was ecstatic that we upgraded her to this phone). This year, we went all out and bought her a MacBook Pro. She used graduation money in 2011 and bought a Lenovo, which is old, heavy, awkward, and confused by now, so after losing school work or not being able to access course info, etc., she used her savings in April 2013 to buy a Dell. The Dell's hard drive crashed in late August! Yes, still under warranty, but really? Three weeks' repair time? I inherited a MacBook Pro at work and knew immediately that I wanted one for DD for her 20th birthday. We gave it to her a bit early, right after her Dell went in for repair. She is ecstatic!!!

Now I am gearing up for her 21st. She has said for years that she wants to celebrate it with us at Disney, at the Food & Wine fest, so she knows what we are planning. What she doesn't know is that I am going to try to get a safari view room at AKL as her "surprise" present. The trip itself is for the whole family (ok, all 3 of us) to celebrate her 21st, but we always stay offsite or at a value. If I can swing a safari view room, she'll DIE. It's been her dream (and mine) since the very first time we set foot in AKL to go to Boma!

 

[kkmcan]

Usually one gift and a small party or get together with their friends (4 or so friends over for video games, cake & ice cream and possibly a sleep over). In years past, we have given a new scooter, Nintendo DS, a basic phone when they entered middle school, money or the like.

DS's b-day is 5 days after Christmas so I always have to make sure I reserve one of my better gift ideas for his birthday and not for Christmas.

 

[strmtroopr96]

Thank god my youngest ( six) really isn't into parties; maybe it's because he's a boy? He turns seven on November 1st and hr hard time thinking of what he wanted to do let alone what he wants a present. He decided he wants to spend the day at Destiny USA in Syracuse: they have rope course and science museum. Then on to the Disney Store and pick out something he wants . Quaker Steak and Lube for lunch!
God I think boys are easier!

My 7 yr old LOVES the ropes course at Destiny USA! She has been twice and finally got her big sister to try it out on our last trip out to Syracuse. Both girls could have spent hours on it if we had let them. WonderWorks is fun too plus the mirror maze is open now and the go karts are fun even just to watch.

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter will be 14 soon- she typically gets broadway tickets for her birthday and a party. The "party" at this age is usually me taking her and 5 friends out someplace like laser tag or paintball and then out to TGI Fridays or someplace like that for dinner and dessert, then they all come back to my house and sleep over.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Usually one present, around $50-$75 and a bday party.

They get enough from family and friends. A few times I've convinced them to forgo a bday party in lieu of a bigger gift, which is way less work for me.

 

[luvmy3]

I don't do a set number of gifts or a set $ amount for birthdays. It really depends on what they want/need at the time. My dses birthdays are coming up and since dh recently bought dirtbikes for them, they aren't getting much for their birthday. I told them the bikes were for their birthday but I do want them to open something on their day. One wants a video game and the other wants a Steam gift card.
My dd turns 16 on her next birthday and she wants car money. In the past I've done a room re-do so that was several gifts, a night at a waterpark hotel for her and a couple friends, a year's worth of cell phone service so she could finally have data ).

 

[Sparkly]

I only used to get one gift from my parents, then a couple more from other relatives and £20, which was a FORTUNE to me when I was a kid. I loved spending it at the toy shop on new Barbie dolls and things like that.

I think I got a Kindle for my last birthday, and then money or other small gifts from other family members.

 

[scrapquitler]

My DD had her 17th birthday earlier this week. I asked her what she wanted, and I fulfilled her wishes: Little Mermaid Blue Ray DVD, Much Ado About Nothing DVD, Rainbow Loom kit with extra elastics and a big box of Ferrero Roche Chocolates. I also made the meal that she chose, and we had ice cream cake with Grandparents.

She got money from an aunt $20, money from an uncle $10, two hoodies from her Grandparents and $25 from her other Grandmother.