My son got invited to a birthday party today at 1. The invite came last night at a ball game. I feel like I need to get a gift but can not get away from work to drive to go get one. The boy is 6 so gift cards may be a good idea but I need one that I can print from home. Anything else besides Amazon where you can print gift cards?
Why jump through hoops to bring a printed present? Unless you really want to do that. My idea: On the way to the party buy a cute birthday card (at the drugstore) and write a note: "gift to be delivered this weekend!" Then go to the toy store tomorrow or order on Amazon an item to be delivered this weekend. (But if you are nervous about not bringing something "to unwrap" today or you just want to be done with it, cash is great too.)
I also vote for cash in a card. All kids would like this, probably even more so than a gift card. And this was a last minute invite, so I would not feel bad at all about not having time to shop. They're should just feel lucky your child is able to attend.
I can't think of any off hand (hopefully other moms will know of some).
Another idea I thought I would just mention - is cash. I know, I have never done this myself (I always prefer to give a gift card if not a gift) but my kids have been thrilled. One child ends up giving them cash at parties, and they think this is great. Even at young ages, this happened.
My kids would use it along with a gift card they would get, and get a really big item and it would work out really well. Just another option.
I think Walmart does it too and there are sites you can go to to order an egift card. But as this is kind of last minute, I would go with cash. My kids love getting cash. They then have their own money. If I give cash, I try to make it special--like 6 gold dollars, or 5 $2 bills. Or 10 crisp $1 bills, depending on how much. Once I put money in side the pages of a book.
If he was only invited last night if you can't get him anything I would not worry about it. If they were supper concerned with you being able to buy a gift they should have invited him more than 24 hours before the party. Just my opinion.
my kids make cards, and i put a little cash inside the ones i don't have time to shop for.
It's reasonable to not take a gift when the invite is the night before.
Usually, drug stores and grocery stores sell gift cards. If all you find are restaurant gift cards or sporting goods store gift cards, you can also buy one of those Visa gift cards, like a Vanilla card, where he can use the card anywhere he wants, like the movie theater, to buy a toy at Wal-Mart, a pair of sneakers at Target...You would pre-load it at the register when you purchase it and you could write down an amount on the back of the card, or put it with a birthday card indicating the amount he's being gifted. I know for a fact that Vanilla cards are sold at the drug store because I have purchased them before for Christmas gifts.
$10 in a homemade card, bam, done.
Stop at a local grocery store and get him a big bouncy ball and a card. Easy.
