How much do you spend on a classmate's birthday present? - Page 2

[CerridwenLorelei]

yes that is what I meant what a bummer

to have no half price !!

[onlyzombiecat]

We spend around $5 on birthday gifts to children... even the ones we are related to.
We have always been able to find a book or toy for around that amount.

[TiredX2]

For partiest that only one child is invited to that we are not family friends with I try to stay around $10. That is definately the low end for this area, but it is what we feel comfortable with.

If both kids are invited, or it is a family friend we bump it to the $20-25 range.

[becoming]

A $5 book would be fine, IMO.

[wednesday]

I spend $15 or less. I also buy gifts in advance. Like Marshall's sometimes has pretty nice kids toys that were originally in the $20-25 range, marked down to 12.99. When I see something good, I buy several and keep them in a closet. DS has been invited to quite a few birthday parties for his preschool classmates and it's been very convenient.

I see that what I spend is kind of on the high side compared to other responses. DS goes to a kind of pricey Montessori preschool, honestly I don't think it's that expensive but it does cost about 50% more than the other local options (which are all church preschools). Anyway I have been surprised by some of the gifts given by other children at these parties. They usually look quite a bit more expensive than what we bring. So until now I felt like I was the cheap parent! Good to have some perspective.

[mightymoo]

Originally Posted by wednesday

I spend $15 or less. I also buy gifts in advance. Like Marshall's sometimes has pretty nice kids toys that were originally in the $20-25 range, marked down to 12.99. When I see something good, I buy several and keep them in a closet. DS has been invited to quite a few birthday parties for his preschool classmates and it's been very convenient.

I see that what I spend is kind of on the high side compared to other responses. DS goes to a kind of pricey Montessori preschool, honestly I don't think it's that expensive but it does cost about 50% more than the other local options (which are all church preschools). Anyway I have been surprised by some of the gifts given by other children at these parties. They usually look quite a bit more expensive than what we bring. So until now I felt like I was the cheap parent! Good to have some perspective.

That's good to know cuz DD goes to a montessori school too - also pretty pricey. Of course its part of why we have less money to spend! I'm sure the Mom who drives a hummer won't bring a $10 gift.

[MtBikeLover]

$15-20

[bu's mama]

Originally Posted by zinemama

...My typical gift is one of those 12-muffin mini-muffin pans ($6.99 at our local grocery) along with the dry ingredients for muffins and instructions for making them. I put the dry ingredients in a ziplock bag and the ds decorates it with stickers.

I love that idea!! Dd loves to cook & bake & I'm always on the lookout for things like this.

and op...I usually shoot for $10 (which is probably cheap for around here), though AC Moore stocks Melissa & Doug stuff so I usually get something there with a 40 or 50% off coupon. I also have a 'gift box' where I pick up stuff that is a total steal & stash it away for when I get stuck on short notice.

[ollineeba]

We spend about $10. I try to get things on clearance, though, so it doesn't usually "look" like a $10 gift.
This past week I gave my niece a Tinkerbell doll (clearanced for $2.50 at the Disney Store), a coloring book, crayons, playdoh. I think the total was $7. And it looked like a lot

[mightymoo]

Thanks everyone for your input. I ended up getting two $5 books at Kohl's, 15% off, plus some playdough for about $1.50 and some hair clips (what DD wanted to give her) for $2. So we spent about $12. And our gift looked like the biggest, though most were books, so its hard to tell what folks spend, since they didn't open gifts there.

[mightymoo]

I started this thread last school year, but It hought I'd come back with an update since i'm so thrilled about my finds. For this year I found cute pink & hearts backpacks at the gap outlet for $2.77 (I bought every one I could find!) I then hit the Kohl's 50% off sale yesterday with my 15% off coupon and picked up playdoh, some playdoh toys and puzzles, each were $1.68

So, I now have 5 classmates gives all ready and waiting. Each gets a pink GAP backpack with a 4 pack of playdoh, 2 playdoh toys and a 100 piece puzzle of an animal. The whole gift cost me $9.50 each! I'm super psyched!

[Poddi]

I try to aim at $10 - 15. I think this is rather the lower range here. Most people seem to buy bigger stuff. I always think these birthday presents won't be appreciated anyway so I don't bother spending too much on them. I mean how much can you appreciate something if you open 20 presents at once? If it's me I'd rather have chocolate. Eat the yummy stuff and recycle the box. You'll never need to figure out where to put your new 3-foot-long pirate ship and 72 pcs of characters and accessories.

[Rainbowbird]

Wow, great ideas here!

I spend no more than $10 now. DS gets invited to so many parties, esp. at school--it would be too expensive to pay more than that. We've been to 6 in the last 6 weeks alone!

Hopefully we're headed for a breather now. I don't think there's another one coming up til Dec.!

[mightymoo]

Luckily DD's class this year is small - only 12!

[normajean]

I usually spend $10 or less for birthday gifts for DS's friends.

[absinthe]

I usually spend $10-$20 on presents for birthday parties.