What are your birthday present tips?

[Afiwo]

Hi all,

I'd love some tips!

Reception has started and so has the onslaught of birthday parties 🥳 I'm wondering what everyone does about presents. Obviously we don't know these children yet so don't really know what they are into, I want to avoid reaching out to 29 sets of parents to find out what their child might like. I also don't want to end up spending £100s on presents over the year. That said, I do care about presents and like to be thoughtful about what we give as gifts, I don't want to give tat 😊

How do the most experienced amongst you deal with present giving?

Many thanks!

[FrannySalinger]

Books. Always books.

[ILiveInSalemsLot]

I find not many people give books so I usually buy a book and put £5 in the card.
Ryman also do fab art sets in a wooden box for a good price.

[TheTurn0fTheScrew]

I have become quite jaded on this one, and resorted early with DC2 to cash in a card, to avoid giving something not quite right.

I appreciate if money is tight this might not be an option, in which case I have yet to meet a small child who would not be thrilled with a box of maltesers and a small pack of lovely brand new felt tips.

[Afiwo]

Thanks all, helpful. I also thought books were a failsafe option!

[BottleOfJameson]

Get a big book people collection (Dr Seuss might be nice for reception age, there are also lego books etc etc) then just choose one for each birthday that comes up. If you want to add a little extra thing you could get a cat's cradle or small wooden toy too.

[merryhouse]

I used to buy little bits of stationery (though I realised eventually that my sons were a lot less excited about stationery than I was...). A character pen/pencil/ruler/notebook set doesn't cost much.

I don't think I ever gave books to classmates - too much of a minefield over differing reading levels!

Pretty sure I once gave a box of Maltesers.

(I've spent my life being more or less socially clueless so take this with a pinch of salt) I wouldn't bother adding extra money if you've got something wrapped.

[PoohBearsHole]

Tiger (the shop) can be your friend - lots of arty craft stuff. Or a book.

[Bbq1]

Colouring books and felts
Books
Craft kit
Stationery set

Enjoy the ease of present buying while your dc is so young, its gets much harder once they get to 9 or 10!

[ArfArfBarf]

Small Lego set

[evilharpy]

I often give something related to drawing or colouring in, so a packet of decent markers/twistables/pencils and a colouring book or sketch pad.

[Afiwo]

These are great! Thanks all.

[Bear2014]

Books here too. We try to avoid obvious ones, ie Julia Donaldson etc so go for something a bit lesser known. Stationery works well too, or a nice set of colouring pens. We try to avoid toys for two reasons - adding to the plastic mountain and in case it's not their thing/ a duplicate.

[MatchaMuffin]

Craft stuff like Shrinkles, small Hama bead sets.

I tend to avoid books for younger children since so many people give out books instead of party bags. You know they only spent £1 on it from a book people set, but handing over one or two books for a gift and coming home with another in return feels not quite right. We absolutely do buy books or book tokens for older children when we know their taste.

[Spied]

Slime/clay sets to the children with parents you do not like much😉
We go down the pencil case/pens route too.

[Normandy144]

I try to opt for gifts that disappear or have some usefulness and/or longevity to them.
The biggest hit by far was bath bombs, i buy a nice colourful one in an interesting shape from Lush and it always goes down well.
Sweets/chocolate is also good.
A t-shirt for summer time birthdays is good or some kind of accessory eg. Sunglasses, hair accessories, hats, gloves etc.
Books and book tokens are good too.
I also recommend the usborne sticker books and travel activity pads which are good for birthdays in the spring and summer as people can use them if they are travelling on holiday.

[Shortandsweet20]

You can order sets of 10 books for £10 from the book people. You could just order those and give one a time? Works our £1 each then 🙂

[BubblesBuddy]

Do you think your DC will go to 29 parties? I would have to start saying “no” and send regrets.

[Oriunda]

Cash in an envelope. Most people give £5 or £10. When you’re hosting all class parties you do not want 30 loads of books/stickers etc.

Thankfully those days are nearly over, but when opening presents I sit with a notepad and make a list of what everyone gave, tick off when they’ve been thanked. Also handy for ensuring that any regifts (one year we got 3 identical sets of Minion figures) don’t get regifted back to the giftor!

[amy1008]

I'm new to the birthday party thing. Just want to know when do people stop inviting the whole class, thanks

[Aprillygirl]

Nice pencil case, colouring pencils etc. Puzzles, games, arty/crafty stuff.

[AnnaMariaDreams]

In reception Orchard toys games- sometimes in Aldi or a set of 3 to break up in Sainsbury’s toy sale.
Now in year 3 I do a small Lego set but there are less parties!

[Igottastartthinkingbee]

Amy we have my DDs party coming up soon and we haven’t done a whole class thing. I know another of her classmates (reception) is also doing a smaller party a few weeks later. But we are both second time round reception parents. So it’s not a given that everyone will do a whole class party or even a party at all. I reckon a lot of the class will have BIG parties though, lots of very keen ‘first child at school’ parents.

The whole class party thing settles down by year 2. Although the odd one still happens.

OP I sometimes buy those stationary/book tins from Asda. They have loads of different themes (Trolls, Shimmer and Shine, Toy Story, Cars etc) and once the contents have been used the tins are nice for storing pens/kids tat.

[amy1008]

Igottastartthinkingbee thank you, that's very helpful. I'm a 'not so kind first child at school' parent, and I got 3 parties waiting before half term! I don't want to disappoint dd as she is very kin. Really looking forward to year 2

[Igottastartthinkingbee]

😂 I was the same Amy I don’t know why it came as a shock when my first one was in reception but I hadn’t expected so many party invites from people we didn’t know. A party every weekend is one way of getting to know all the new parents that’s for sure!

[peonyred]

After the first few parties where a small child literally disappeared behind a pile of presents, the parents in our year decided to each give a fiver per child. One parent (usually the closest friend) would take the collection and buy a bigger present from the whole class with the money. That way we stopped adding to the pile of useless plastic in our homes, and got a decent present for each child. There are only a few years where everyone goes to every party so it wasn't much of a chore for anyone (and it saved us all money).