I was wondering how much people spend on children's birthday gifts. My daughter has been invited to many birthday parties so the gift purchasing is adding up. Thanks!
We don't get invited to a lot of BD parties so we usually spend $15-$25 depending on how well my daughter's know them.
I generally spent $10 to $15 when my girls were younger and attending a lot of parties. Now they are teens, it depends on the party. Best friends get more $$, fringe friends, less $$.
One thing I found very helpful when there were younger was to really keep an eye out for great sales. They used to have these castles that opened up like little play houses. They were originally $30, but then they discontinued them and Toys R Us clearanced them for $10. I bought five of them and put them away for parties. I did this with a lot of different things so when an invitation came, my girls would 'shop' for their friend in my stash of presents. We always had great gifts, even last minute, that didn't break the bank.
We still occasionally do this. Victoria's Secret put their 'Pink' totes on sale last year for $5, so we bought four. Then when an invitation came we went and bought sleep boxers and matching tank in the correct size, then put them in the cool Pink tote as a sleep over present. They were a big hit and totalled less than $15.
A little advance planning and creativity goes a long way!
Unless the child is someone really special to you and your child, I would say between $5 and $10 is good. For the children, as long as it's something they enjoy, price isn't an issue. You can get plenty of good books and toys for less than $10. I've even found that a few dollar store items put together sometime pleases my grandchildren more than a big expensive toy.
My most memorable gifts as a child were the box of crayons (usually the 8 or 16 crayon sized box) rolled up in a new coloring book and wrapped like a tube, that I received every Christmas from my grandparents. They had a number of grandchildren and were on a very limited income, so that was the best they could afford for us, and every one of us appreciated those coloring books and looked forward to them.
My kids are teenagers now and they don't give presents except to their best friends. I don't feel the need to go bankrupt buying presents for kids I don't really know and my kids know that.
For their BF I let them spend up to $20. I'm amazed how often they can find a GREAT gift that the recipient loves for $10 or less. One of our favorite gifts to give are movie passes. We can get a two pack for less than $16 for the theaters near us. But I have to say most of my kid's friends just prefer the company of friends and don't care about gifts and they will most frequently just hang out at the birthday person's house and do movies, games and junk food all night long.
i buy a nice hardcover used book for under $10 and wrap it up really pretty. when it's just to bring to a friend's birthday party, it's really the thought that counts. times are hard and if they are hurt that you are too cheap then maybe they're not worth building a relationship with.
$15-$20 when we (I) don't really know the kid or family.
I say try to spend no more than $15 if you can for a toy.
Depends on the age of the child. For younger kids, I usually do somewhere around $7-15. Older kids, $10-20. I often buy things I see on sale (Target clearance is great for this - once I got craft kits for $3.99) and keep a stash of them for birthday parties. Those multi-packs of iTunes $10 gift cards are great for that purpose too.
One way I save on this stuff is I have always had the kids make cards for their friends' presents - no need to spend money on a card if you've got paper and crayons at home.
