Gifts... what you want or what the kid wants?

[bestjob]

My dd is turning 9 this year, and for the first time I am having a hard time finding something on her birthday list that I'd like to buy for her. Any voices of experience out there? Should I just cave in and get the Fashion Polly Mall, or should I buy a chess set because I think she'd get something useful out of it? I want her birthday to be special, but I want to give her gifts that mean something special to me, too. What to do?

[OdessaEarthenMama]

I am in the same predicament, I want to buy my dd all these retro things from my childhood that are coming back, ie: Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, etc... But they're into the newer stuff.

My husband tells me to buy what she wants, because ultimately she'll be happier. Usually I just cave in and buy them what they want.

[Dar]

How about the polly mall *and* a reasonably-priced chess set? Rain loved pollies for years and still plays with them sometimes, I just wish the clothes didn't rip so easily!

I do try to keep a balance between things she asks for and things I think are cool and think she'd like, and it works out pretty well.

What she and her friends really love now (she's 10) are gift cards. At first I was sort of against it, because it seemed like giving just cash, but it's really more than that - there's a cool factor to "the card", and it's kind of like having a debit card and being like mom. I've noticed that she's very careful with her spending withe her cards, whereas with cash it just flows.

Dar

[bestjob]

Thanks for putting it in perspective. The gift cards are great at times. I gave my niece a set of them for Christmas last year, all arranged in a construction paper "purse". She loved them because she could get what she wanted, but her mom loved them because they were a bit restricted (the big $ one was from the bookstore and the little $ one was from the mall.)