Peter was beside himself with excitement to be invited to a birthday party for one of his preschool classmates. It was all he could talk about ever since I made the mistake of showing him showed him the invitation that came in the mail.
When my kids are invited to birthday parties, I typically spend between $10-$15, and I have my kids make the card. I haven’t bought a card in years.
I was talking to a girlfriend of mine shortly after her young son had a birthday party. Now, they live in a Kansas City suburb that tends toward the wealthy side (Johnson County — for those who know the area that will mean something). She was remarking about how many people gave $25 gift cards! We were of the same mind that $25 was too rich for our blood (and I daresay, completely unnecessary). She also leans more toward the $15 range…
How about you? How much do you spend on a birthday gift for another child’s birthday? Do you buy birthday cards? And I’ll go ahead and throw this out there… Do you appreciate it when your child receives store-bought cards?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Living in a place where the equivalent toy items (as compared to USA) cost approx. 50 – 100% more, we struggle with this a bit but realize it is the same for parents buying presents for our kids. We still try to keep it limited to the equiv. of $20 (less if I can find it) and try to be creative with things offered through Scholastic books, pick up items on clearance to have on hand and as the kids get older gift cards work well and you have more control over the price range.
We buy cardstock on clearance and my girls make cards using my scrapbook equipment.
Storebought cards – It makes no difference to me but I think my kids respond more to a handwritten card – even if it’s just on recycled printer paper!
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Since I only have one child and we’ve only been invited to a few parties so far, I have to say I don’t have a truly informed opinion. BUT, I’ve usually spent about $15-$20. This will most likely change as the parties get more plentiful and I have more kids! Also, I don’t know if they do this where you are, but most families here request no gifts, especially when they’re having big parties.
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jolyn Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Don’t see a lot of no-gift requests around here in my part of Ohio! But I don’t feel obligated to spend more than $10-$15, either.
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I think making your own cards is a great idea. I generally won’t buy cards, but if i do, they are always the $1 cards at target. I haven’t had the birthday dilemma yet, but i was recently struggling with how much to spend on teacher gifts.
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jolyn Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Ooh, teacher gifts! That’s next on my list to do. That’d be a great post, too…
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I try and stick to the $10-$15 range also…but my problem is that with twins…they both get invited. And then it turns into $10-$15 PER kid.
Cards….I recently stopped with the cards. The kid doesn’t care. I never a get a thank you anyway (that is another vent….). So I am not wasting the money. I make my own little gift tag out of extra paper.
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I try to get away with $10 if I can, but absolutely no more than $15. We get invited to so many parties from kids from school that we just go to the ones we are actually friendly with. There has to be a limit!
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jolyn Reply:
December 13th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Ann,
I totally agree. My son was so excited to finally get to go to a birthday party on his own; usually it’s his sister going and leaving him behind. We definitely won’t be responding to every invitation that comes our way over the years!
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