Presents for children's parties

[TheSunRisesInTheEast]

My granddaughters, 2 & 4, are in pre-school and reception and are invited to birthday parties from school friends almost every month. How much is reasonable to spend on a present for these children?

I spend around £15 per child/party but I know friends who spend a lot less. I was blown away by the generosity and quality of gift my DC received for his birthday last year and it made me up my game!

Depends on the area you’re in I would imagine.

We’d go to The Works for preschoolers and aim to spend below £10. Or one preschool party we went to, the mum requested second hand presents so DH went and bought a few things from the charity shop which I’m sure defeated the point of reduced spending and items coming into the house 🙄

DD’s 4th bday is coming up and I’m wondering what to do about this as I really don’t want 24 presents coming int the house but also, massive pile of presents is a key part of a 4 year old’s birthday surely.

It was usually about £10 at my DD’s primary school.

Thank you for your responses, I won't be spending over £10, I think I'll start a box of girls and boys presents from the sales in readiness. There are some good toys in Aldi at the moment, I'll start stockpiling!!

Up to a tenner but no more. Usually get a book and some sweets plus the card and gift bag/ wrap equals around a tenner. Had a joint birthday party last week so had to do it twice over which was annoying.

In our school there is a trend of giving the birthday child £5.

I spend around £10. Stock piling is a good idea, I used to buy lots of things in the smiggles sales. You can get nice sets for £5-6. You can also get nice books in The Works.

I also bought a box of kids birthday cards from Amazon (30 for £8) as buying cards adds up too.

My little boys birthday was just before Christmas and I was eternally grateful to the parents who opted to give him £10 instead. He was equally thrilled because he can now treat himself to toys throughout the year rather than December being so top heavy with gifts

The Aldi special aisle is a good shout. I recognise a lot of my kid's presents from there.

I only ever put £5 in a card for children's school parties, I don’t bother with toys always worried it’s just junk and figured the money can always be used for something they want or saved away.

I started a present drawer. When DSs were about 8 and 5 it was full of Lego bought on 2 for £15 deals, which seemed about perfect.

£5 in a card sounds brilliant, that would be £100 from 20 children, wow, it sounds loads when you put it like that. Obviously it would have to be pre-agreed, otherwise 1 x £5 might look mean. Am I brave enough to suggest it on the class WhatsApp? Maybe not. I'll do it for the 4 year old's 5th birthday in May, hopefully it will catch on 😀