School party present ideas. Is this a good idea or not?

[coldtea]

Maybe i'm the only one not to have heard of this!!

One of the children in ds's class is having a party & rather than receive x amount of £5/£10 presents one of the parents has offered to do an overall collection so we've all put £5 in to buy the child something big that he would really like.

At first i thought it was a fantastic idea(saves all the unwanted presents that flood through the door).

Then i thought surely as a 5 year old having 10 presents is better than 1.

What do you think??

[Twiglett]

5 year old would prefer lots of presents to one big one

half the joy is the giving and receiving

DS enjoys choosing and wrapping presents for his friends (he's 4)

[RTMTMML]

ditto the twig!!

[BadHair]

Ds had 10 people for his 3rd birthday party. He had 15 or so presents, most of which he never played with. There are 2 toys that he still plays with now (18 months on), but the rest are either gathering dust or in the charity shop. He got fed up and whingey when he was opening them, too.

I know there's a bit of an age difference, but if the child has lots of toys already I'd say it would be much better to club together to get one big one.

You could always get him some sweets or something small if you want him to have something to open.

[BadHair]

Should add that the birthday child will probably already have lots of presents from family, so he's unlikely to go short of parcels to open.

[Bozza]

But twig what does one do when asked what a little girl friend would like for her 4th birthday and he suggests a citroen van? Resorting to sexism I suggested girls might not be keen on citroen vans and the light dawned and he suggested a barbie. Actually managed to steer him onto some sand pictures from ELC. But agree with the lots of presents being fun scenario.

[roisin]

I think it's a great idea, as long as the big present is something you know he will really appreciate.

My dss have always been completely overwhelmed by the 'heap of plastic junk' from a large party. Quite often they have tired of opening the presents after just 2 or 3!

[LIZS]

We used to do this within our nct group but it was only 5 people clubbing together and the kids were much younger. Not sure ds would have seen the value of 1£50 present as opposed to 10£5 although could see the benefits from parents' p's ov.

[juniperdewdrop]

Never heard of it either. I can see it's a good idea in principle but think the child should decide IMO.

[starlover]

you'd feel bad if you couldn't afford to put in £5 too...

[coldtea]

Ds had a party for 28 children last year i'm not sure i could think of a present for £140!!

I do think having a set amount helps though as it means no-body feels uncomfortable about spending more & i've never spent less than £5 so that seems reasonable

I did ask ds which he would prefer & he said 'lots' i don't think they care for what the present is it's the seeing & opening which counts! Maybe i should remember that the next time he's invited to a party & buy something from the pound shop

[yoyo]

I think it's an excellent idea and one I'd heard of before. I have mentioned it to people in the past but noone has expressed much interest. I would ask the parents for guidance with the present though.

Having two girls I've seen enough bead sets to last a lifetime! Always stress how much mine love reading and choosing books but very few people seem to give book tokens either.

[RTMTMML]

Yoyo, I think that the reason people don't give book tokens is because some, like me, set a £5 limit on pressie buying (it mounts up when you have more than one child and they refuses to become unpopular and pinch the others lol). A £5 token looks stingy or like you haven't bothered whereas a pressie can look more expensive iyswim.

Having said that I would love for my children to get book tokens as they read an awful lot. I use the Book People Online to bulk buy books for pressies and my local children's bookshop always suggest really good books, esp if I want to spend a little more.

[yoyo]

RTMTMML - I wouldn't consider it stingy if someone gave mine a £5 book token (I'd be delighted!). I find it very hard to find gifts around the £5 mark but there are always books for this amount. I have been known to produce a book list when people have asked what my girls are intersted in - perhaps this is a little cheeky?