Birthday Gifts- How much do you spend? - Page 2

[momtoS]

I spend about $15-$20.


And we have gift free parties with book exchanges.

[momtoS]

Originally Posted by mrspineau

I spend 50 on a child, 100 on an adult.

Holy moly....can you come to my birthday? (I am just kidding....) but wow you are generous!

I don't buy adults presents for their birthdays.....

[AnnieA]

Originally Posted by momtoS

Holy moly....can you come to my birthday? (I am just kidding....) but wow you are generous!

I don't buy adults presents for their birthdays.....

Hahahha! I was thinking the same thing! We have a cap of $10 for friend birthday presents. For our own kids, we spend around $30 for birthdays.

[elmh23]

Under $20, not including wrapping.

I don't think it's rude to just do plain cash, but I also don't think my daughter would like it (though a gift certificate is exciting to her, probably because we never spend cash and only use our cards.) That said, my favorite and dd's favorite present was a gift certificate to a local ice cream place (Stone Cold Creamery.) She LOVED it!

[SweetPotato]

We also aim for around $15 (give or take $5) Tuesday Morning is a GREAT place to find some really fun gifts for a good discount (I've picked up some nice wooden Alex brand puppet theaters for like $12!) Personally, I feel awkward when friends give my 4yo presents that look like they cost much over $15. When they're little, I feel like they're quite happy and satisfied without a huge outlay. I would feel really funny about getting cash from a friend as well-- I think I feel like a gift is more about the thought of choosing and less about the $ of it- so I don't feel comfortable about it being reduced to cash, at least for little kids.

[BarnMomma]

I don't put a spending limit on the gifts because I want to get the person something they actually like and that might exceed a spending limit of $XYZ.

I have a friend who oves to cook and so for her birthday i dried fresh peppers from the garden for her along with a cook book. But another friend required a trip to BCBG but she has tears in her eyes when she opened her present...it depends on the person.

For children, again, it depends on the person. I tend to lean toward natural toys- which are not inexpensive- because I feel they grow with a child so $50 spent on a gift is not rare. But if I know a child is REALLY into his sandbox for example then I would put together a little digging kit for them- and that would cost so much less. Or if a child loved biubbles then I'd get all sorts of bubble things which are again, not expensive. So it depends.

I LOVE giving gifts.

[Raine822]

We stick with 10-20 for children we don't know well. For close friends and family we buy something they would really like-whatever the price. We also ask the parents so as to not purchase anything they don't want the child to have.

[BetsyS]

We try to stay in the $10 range.

I recently went to a birthday party where they collected canned food for the food bank. I heart that child.

[lilyka]

I shoot for about $10-$15 including wrapping paper. we never buy cards. I will do cash in a pinch. usually a dollar per year. The only time I do gift cards is if I know the child is saving up for something from a specific place. For example I know someone who wants ice skates from s specific store so I got her a gift card for $10 to that store to put towards them. I knew the neighbor boy was saving up for a red Nintendop DS from target (the only place you could get that color or something) so he got a small gift card to target. Even when I do that kids each pick out their favorite candy to give as well.

for adults it just depends. i do not have any adults in my life I would buy a gift for really. I am more likely to take them out to dinner, make them something special, if I did get a gift it would be a bottle of wine or a six pack of really good beer

for baby gifts I usually make something.

[Lucy Alden]

Wow, you are all very generous. We don't buy cards because my DD loves to make them and our wrapping paper is usually repurposed paper from something else. So, for the gift alone, I max out at $5 . Of course, I find that a new box of crayons or bubbles is usually sufficient. Sometimes we get the little Lego kits. Last week I gave a new box of Pottery Barn Kids wooden blocks I found at a garage sale for $5 . Sometimes I can find a new dress at Target thats in our range. I try to be creative and think ahead.

[liliaceae]

Wow! I'm surprised at the answers. I haven't been to many kids bday parties, but I would probably spend around $30. Guess I can lower that amount without feeling guilty now!

[Just1More]

I'm trying to get down to the $10 range. Maybe up to $20 for a family we are close to, AND who isn't having a ton of people at a party.

We keep getting invited to parties for little kids (3-6) and there are 20 or more kids there. That's at least 20 presents, PLUS whatever the parents do. That's just too much. So, if it's a huge party, I do less.

And I don't like it when my kids get huge stuff from other people either. That means I have to go REALLY huge to make the cool thing come from me. I don't want Johnny's mom to have "made" the birthday, know what I mean?

[gbailey]

Normally $10. I'm a mega bargain shopper and usually have the gift months in advance. I usually like to buy books for birthday parties.

[Oliver'sMom]

Wow, I'm really surprised by the answers too! We're a very low income family, so I try not to spend more than 5 bucks on a birthday present. Granted, my son is only 3yo so his friends aren't really old enough to notice yet. I usually make a sock monkey (get a pair of socks in the dollar bin at wal-mart) and give them a book (my local thrift store will give you as many children's books as you want for free if you bring your kid with). Ds likes to make the card and we wrap it in whatever we may have around the house.

[cedoreilly]

I try to keep around $10. Much less than that, I find that I quite often end up with junk. I have done gift cards for McDonalds (I always make sure that the family is OK with McDonalds first). I don't usually do gift cards to other places because I don't want to have to have the parent pitch in so the kid can get what they want.