"Typical" Birthday for kids.

[reginaastralis]

DD just turned 10, and we're sitting here this morning addressing her invitiations to her party at a new trampoline place (which I'm happy to do instead of having the party at our house and having to deal with keeping the kids all busy, out of trouble and cleaning up afterwards).

We usually buy her a couple of presents, but this year, when we asked her what she wanted, she came back with "I don't need anything, so can we ask for gifts to the Hospital instead?"

Granted, I work at the local Children's Hospital and she has joined me for the annual charity walk in the past, but we had to miss it this year.

So after talking with her a little more, she decided to include a note in her invitations requesting donations to the Children's Hospital to support their pet therapy program in lieu of gifts.

I'm very proud of her decision, and where she is our only- if I had any concerns about her being spoiled, I'm not as worried now.

Doesn't it feel great to see that change! DD started this year off by saving $1 from every allowance to buy toys for toys for tots. This she hit me in the gut again when she asked if she could have friends (AND FAMILY) give her catfood to donate to the ASPCA. +1 for the kiddo!

And I feel you on the only comment as well. I had a "friend" tell me how spoiled my daughter was because she owns two AG dolls ... ugh ... and then my dd asked her if her dd could bring cat food to her party. Tehehe, I'll take that one too.

 

[1000HappyWishes]

I usually get 5-6 small gifts for my birthday. For Christmas I get around 14-15 gifts. One is usually pricey and the rest tend to be books. However for my 15th birthday I went to Six Flags with two of my friends, and for my 16th birthday my dad is taking me to Medieval Times with front-row seating. I got two gifts for my 15th and I most likely won't get any for my 16th.

 

[Ayleana]

My dd (6) and my ds (2) each only get 1 gift for their birthdays from us. Family and friends bring them more. But then my dd's birthday is 3 days before Christmas and DS's is a month later. For Christmas, I do set a limit on cost and try to keep them about equal cost wise and number of gifts equal too.