To only spend £5 on gifts for ds's classmates?

[Moonfacesmother]

Ds is 4 and I'm reception. The first term I think there were three parties but since christmas we have been to 17. 17! There are nearly 60 children across the two classes and ds has had invites not just from this in his own class but some from the other one too as well as parties of children he knows outside of school.

I will be bankrupt at this rate! The thing is I spend £5 and it looks like I spent about 50p. Otoh I don't want to spend more as I suspect it disappears into a vat of plastic tat and I don't know in most cases what the birthday child like / already has.

So aibu to spend just £5? The most I've spent is £8 but that's because I forgot about the party until the last minute and couldn't find anything reasonable in the supermarket for much less.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

It's what I aim for.

Felt tips, colouring pad and a canvas from Wilkos to colour in.

Plenty imo.

[MrsKCastle]

Yanbu. That's a ridiculous number of parties!

I usually get books from The Book People- they often do 10 picture books or early readers for £10. Good quality books like Horrid Henry or Julia Donaldson. Each birthday child can have one or two books- nice present, very reasonable price.

[rockybalboa]

Course YANBU. My eldest DS is in Reception and I tend to stock up on books from The Works which cost £5 for 3! Nice books too. Sometimes activity/sticker books, sometimes just reading books. I do that on the basis that I would much prefer people to buy stuff like that for my DS rather than endless plastic Spiderman/Angry Birds tat which he LOVES but which breaks/falls apart/gets lost.

[HowContraryMary]

I really miss Woolworths and Chad Valley toys for this sort of thing. Everything on a 3 for 2 deal.

[Snoopytwist]

YANBU - Tesco do box sets of books for a fiver - Horrid Henry, The Faraway Tree, that sort of thing. You're mad to spend over that, as the kids don't care and no parent worth worrying about will worry about how much you've spent. Stick to your guns and when you see a bargain, buy three!!

[HexBramble]

At this early on in their school life, I think loads of parents are keen to encourage the socialising outside of school, and it's also a good chance to get to know other parents too. 17 is a heck of a lot though, but take comfort in the fact that it'll get less and less as they get older.

I stick a £5 in a card now and give it straight to the parent - and that's too kids that we know. For those we don't, I bulk buy books, recycle unwanted gifts (keep a little cupboard just for unwanted gifts) or make fudge. NEVER buy cards - DD's make them. Cards cost a ruddy fortune!

[starlight1234]

Stock up in the sales..If you see something good buy a couple and put them away...

Amazon can be quite good for doing that.

I aim for £5 too but often will go a bit over for his good friends

[chaletian]

HowContraryMary www.woolworths.co.uk/e/promo/3-for-2-gifts.end

[DilysMoon]

Not at all that's all I spend. Now that ds1 is in yr 3 there are far fewer parties and they are for particular friends I spend about £10 but for ds2 in reception with all class parties is £5 max.

[Moonfacesmother]

Some weekends there have been more than one.
Last weekend we had two on Saturday and one on Sunday.

I suppose I could start turning some down!

[formerbabe]

I only spend about a fiver...you can get quite good games/puzzles for that...esp if you get 2 toys for a tenner in some shops.

[PrincessScrumpy]

I aim for £5. I currently have a pack of 10 books that cost £10 from the book people - Julia Donoaldson ones etc. I will be giving one or two per child. I also got some Zooballs (no idea how to spell that) that should have been £10 but they were down to £3 each - I bought 5 of those!

[Sirzy]

I picked up some decent bits in the range for a recent party present! Jigsaws and things quite cheap.

[itstheyearzero]

I get t shirts in the sales. Spiderman, Tinkerbell, that sort of thing. I never spend more than 5 or 6 quid and lots of parents thank me for it as it's better than more plastic tat. Plus the kid is happy because they like the character!

[foslady]

At this age £5 was the going rate - The Works, B & M, Home Bargains and Argos/supermarket sales were our usual hunting grounds

[Waterfalls1]

I don't aim for £5. I look at the gift. I picked up a lovely hungry caterpillar art set in the Xmas sales for £1. Originally price £5. That will do nicely

[RagamuffinAndFidget]

I get those multipacks of books from The Book People (around 10 or 12 books for about as many £) and just wrap one up every time there's a birthday. We are pretty poor so that's the best we can do, but I don't think a book is a bad present really..

So no, YANBU to spend £5, you're being more generous than me anyway

[Moonfacesmother]

Tomorrow's birthday boy has a fizzing dragon egg thing that dissolves in water and a dragon emerges and a bag of sweets.

[cottonwoolmum]

YANBU. A thoughtful £5 gift is fine. Do you live anywhere near a Tiger store? They do great presents for £5 or under: soft toys, hobby horses, jigsaws, board games, mini snooker tables, canvases and art supplies, endless goodies. They don't look like 50ps worth.

Book people also great. Asda used to be very good too.

[Cyclebump]

DS recently turned three, I'd be horrified if people felt they had to spend a certain amount. A handmade card would be enough IMO. We've had some tough times financially and I'd feel awful if someone felt compelled to spend more if they were struggling.

[fisherpricephone]

£5 perfectly reasonable IMHO. Although the DDs were just at a friend's party and I swear the books they have come back with as their 'party bag' gift were probably more than the books we sent as presents (this is what happens when DH is left in charge of the presents, the parents are good friends so I'd have spend more than I would on a random all class invite from a child my DC never talks about).

Good

[Moonfacesmother]

Yes we had a party bag the other week and it had:

A book
A parachute man
A bat and ball
A colouring book
Some crayons
Some sweets
Some stickers

I am aiming to spend about £1 a bag for ds's party. This was more like £5 for the party bag!

[Tessdurbevilliespoon]

YANBU. Asda used to do really nice cuddly toys 2 for £10 back when I was little as did Berketex (Littlewoods) my mum used to stock up on them and get 10 for £10 from the book people, and that was 20 odd years ago. I'm dreading my daughter starting school next year. Not so much buying the gifts for others, but her being given a tonne from others, at the moment she gets 1 big present from me and the husband and then small presents or money in a savings account from grandparents and aunties and so on. Otherwise we would be drowning in toys and books!

[Grittzio]

Argos have a great selection to choose from, some Chad Valley toys, 2 for £15. Most if you buy separately are £9.99, but some are £12.99 separately. You can check online and reserve to collect, sometimes I'm willing to pay a little more for the convenience. Cards are bought in a bundle from the card factory or anywhere I see, as is wrapping paper, ikea do a good selection which I stock up on, some times it's the card and paper which if you aren't careful add to the expense.

[giannna]

I absolutely LOVE it when my kids get books as presents when they have their parties. Such a great present, and it minimises the amount of plastic tat cluttering up their rooms!

Like Grittzio has said, Argos are great for presents; I frequently stock up on the 2 for £15 deals. Also we live near an outlet branch of The Works and also an outlet of Claire's Accessories. I can usually pick up a good craft set or similar in The Works for a fiver or less, with an RRP of £10 or more, so it looks like a good substantial present. And the Claire's outlet often runs promotions of 10 items for £10, so I'll sometimes get girls a book for a £1 or so from The Works, and then 2 or 3 hair accessories/jewellery type items from Claire's.

I'm not sure how much My Little Ponies are these days, but when my eldest DD was younger they were around £4 or £5 each in Tesco, and it was also possible to get a basic Barbie in Tesco for £3.99, so I used to stock up on these for party presents.