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.

And regarding party bags. I did a lucky dip instead and only spent a £1 on each item. You don't have to do party bags.

Ds 5th birthday party tomorrow. No party bags. I opted for £1 buttons Easter egg instead. Managed to get some really great birthday bargains at The Works. £5 is more than enough as a gift.

Probably not useful for you, OP, as you are two-thirds of the way through the year, but when my DS1 was in reception two of the wise and experienced mums suggested when we had the first all-class party to do a collection. £5 each and the birthday child's parents can buy them something fantastic that no single person, even a relative, could get them. We did this for the entire reception year, it was great!

Book people sets are great as others have said - one or two books and some sweets if necessary are a great present. Or ikea do some great stuff - wooden toy cars and trucks for £3 each, soft toys - an ikea rat plus a couple of book people books and that's only £4! Book people do multi packs of cards too that are good value; or I also get packs of 50 make your own blank white cards & envelopes and then put stickers/present toppers/random decorations/patterns of gold and silver stars on them. Also Tesco and Boots sales - I stock up as I go for the year ahead's presents.

Book people often sell great kiddie Book collections for 5

Those nice quality doodle drawing books are often cheap on amazon - pair with some felt tips

YY to all the suggestions here (Book People books, reductions, party presents box, regifting etc).

One of the best pressies for a mate of DS1's was (the mate's own request) Match Attax (then IIRC 50p a pack) and a big bar of chocolate (£1). He loved it apparently!

Simple party bag solution is just to to buy those huge bags of miniature chocolate bars and give one bar out per child.

Or wrap something little like a wilkinson rubber with a small cheap sweet that they usually wouldn't have.

Cake in a napkin and a balloon alternatively.

Seriously parrents will be pleased if you don't bother at all. Only child ever asked where the party bags were and I laughed and explained nicely that we went doing them. It was fine.

I haven't experienced this yet as my DD and DS are too young. But I was thinking, isn't 17 parties too many to attend? So much of the weekend is taken up in parties?

DS is 14 and I still don't spend more than £5. He spends it on their favourite chocolate and I wrap it nicely. It's always happily received.

It is perfectly acceptable to turn down a party invite (as long as you do it straight away and not last minute). 17 parties is utter madness!

I have a 5 limit too, and I have a "present box" which I add to whenever I see a bargain (or when I want to regift something nice but unwanted we've received) so I don't have to panic-buy something.

I normally give a shiny five pound note in a card (I also buy cheap cards, tesco sell them for 25p). I have recently been embarrassed because dd received a ten pound note from a friend for her birthday and I wonder if I am being tight. But then I think the reason I give money is because the child can then add it to any other money they may receive from relatives and choose something they really want. I give what we can afford. When they smaller though I used to buy stuff in the sales and save it till it was needed. Lack of space now prevents me from doing this.

I got some little science sets from The entertainer £2 buy one get one free and am simply handing them out..the past 2 years though I have done books wrapped.

Far better than the tat in a party bag...And a personal plee...don't put whistles on party bags it is no way to win friends...they mysteriously disappear in our house

I love ebay for party bag stuff. For dd's party I got a bulk load of dinosaur masks and they each got a bun and a mask. I also buy printed rice paper toppers from ebay for buns so I can have the cake and not clice it and just put themed buns in the party bag. Then I can use the same cake for the party and for having with family :) I also have sweetie jar that gets filled over the year with sweets from other parties and I dole it al out as the prizes or party bag fillers at my own dc's parties.

I buy all my cards from phoenix trading, ok so not dirt cheap but really nice and much cheaper than buying separate cards from the supermarket. I keep a drawer full of them and buy another 10 or 20 when it runs low.

£5 is fine for a school friend, sometimes less if I see bargains when out and about and I pick them up!

I have a box full of bits so when party comes round I have a present for boy/girl of relevant age!

I'm also lucky on the fact my mum works for a large supermarket and gets some great bargains and she never pays more than £2 for (some times these things are worth anything between £7-£15)

So these go in box to! Also I only by the 20p cards or packs of cheap cards for school parties

I get a bunch of stuff in the sales, and spend about £5-£8 and save it except for best friends when the dc like to choose themselves.

I suspect it looks like I'm quite generous though-I go for the 50% off bargains-got two huge lego sets from Tesco a few weeks ago for £8 each-should have been £30 tempted to keep them for ds