To ask how much you spend on presents for kids you don't know?

[TessieVanKendre]

My DD started reception September and has been invited to a fair few parties. Thing is, I always feel obliged to take a present for the child ( which I absolutely have no problem with at all) my problem is, I never know what to get and how much to spend. I try not to go over £10, but you don't really know if that's too much or too little.

What do you buy for boys and what do you buy for girls? (turning 5-6)

A fiver won’t buy much. I always asked the mum at that age what her dc was into and bought appropriately. If they weren’t into anything in particular I would give £10 in a card.

I do £5-6 ish. More for a good friend or children of my good friends.
I have a cupboard full of craft/science kits that I bought on offer. I figure these are a nice activity for a wet day which is subsequently disposed of, therefore not plastic tat taking up space in the house.
The ones that frustrate me are joint party invites where the invite is worded from all 3 children even though you know that your own child only plays with one of them. Then you have to get a gift each and it gets pricey. My DS has been to at least 10 parties this year, and 4 of them were joint so two/three presents.

£5 to £10 when they are reception age and constantly at whole class parties as DD currently is.

I spend more (about £15) for close friends or for dd10's friends who have small number but usually more elaborate dos .

I'd been spending £10 ish on gifts until it was my son's birthday and loads of people gave £5 in a card. I just do that now, no faff for me and I know it'll go towards something the kid wants.

BogglesGoggles but she or her husband must work near one. Or they must occasionally go into town to buy something specific and can stop then? Even when we lived in a village it was impossible for a week to pass without going into past a bookshop at some point.

Why 'must' they work near one? Not everyone's lives or locations are the same. The point raised was about being near shops that accept book tokens, and here that is an infrequent trip to the city, literally when we can't avoid going because we need school shoes, have a hospital appointment, DC has had a growth spurt so needs a job lot of new clothes, etc. Everything else is done online / from Argos/ supermarkets / home bargains. My DC dislikes shopping trips almost as much as I do, so it's not a weekend activity we would choose to do if we don't have to

We've been spending no more than £5. I've got some nice wooden jigsaws for the 1 year olds and books for older kids.

I just used to make up a goody bag from poundland. Say books. Stickers. Bubbles. Coloring books and felts, a little toy, bag of sweets.

@BogglesGoggles

stop at the bookshop on your way home

There speaks someone who thinks everyone commutes in the same way as they do. There is no bookshop on the way home. A trip to the bookshop is an hour’s round trip, plus, the vouchers are DDs, not mine to spend, plus, the times we go to the bookshop they never have what she wants so end up having to order and collect which means two trips. The rare times we buy books we do it online, but generally we use the library.

Giving a book token to a child who you don’t know is telling them they should read. Usually done by someone who is all holier than thou about children not reading. Not all kids enjoy reading for leisure and many would not welcome a book voucher. If you don’t know them and want to give a choice, give a generic toy shop or amazon voucher.

^^ showing my age there with “book token” 😂

I aim between £5-£10 but it depends how organised I've been (buying stuff on offer etc) and how close DC is to birthday child.

Generally 10-15 pounds but after seeing this post I think it will be less in future 😂

£10 -£15. At the weekend we often go to the cinema or trampoline park if we aren't busy and easily spend that amount. When she has a party we won't do an activity so the way I see it is someone has paid to do a nice activity for my child to be involved in, often a softplay, trampoline, disco in a hall, zoo, craft, party at their house with lovely food or games, usually 2-3 hours, I would define pay that for my child to go and enjoy an activity so I'm more than happy to pay that in a gift to say thank you. I'd say all presents we have received have also been taken £10-15. As for global warming and waste, oh please, I'd be more concerned about flights and 4x4's and waste from mass animal production than kids birthday parties for goodness sake.

One of the (only) things I will miss about DS’s school is that one mum stuck her head above the parapet a couple of years ago about parties (small village so most parties until 10ish tend to be in the village hall) and now most parties are either £2 coin or £5 in a card and then a couple of weeks later the kid shows off the big thing they bought with their money.

DS was more excited by spending his £60 on a a new scooter than he was anything he’d been bought by family because it was his gift from “my pals”

£10 is the going rate here. Now they’re older I just put the £10 in a card.

Are all Mumsnetters on their uppers now? These threads are always exactly the same. Posters vying for who can spend the absolute least on a gift for a party, thinking they’re so clever for splitting multipacks of this and that, regifting tat their own child didn’t want, stocking up on bargain basement rubbish.

Yes OP, you do take a gift to a child’s party - you sound unsure about this. Never mind your “absolutely don’t mind at all”, it clearly irks you.

To the poster who cannot believe any adult could possibly have £30 to their name for party presents - did it occur to you that some people have more money than you???

Yeah you have to take something but doesn't have to be expensive. We are on our absolute arses atm so I do the multi pack thing with books or craft sets from Hobbycraft. Previously we probably spent maybe a tenner.

DD (5) had a party recently and the gifts she received were mostly £5-10ish I would estimate. Although she did get a couple of bits that were probably around £20 from people we didn't know Very generous of them but unfortunately something we can't reciprocate

Yes OP, you do take a gift to a child’s party - you sound unsure about this. Never mind your “absolutely don’t mind at all”, it clearly irks you.

Fucking hell, love!! Did Someone piss in your basket today? Calm the fuck down!

Bet you feel all high and mighty now that you've had your classic Mumsnet rant!!!😂😂

Under a tenner. Books are good. And as a parent you don’t actually want to have 30 presents for a child to be honest which you can get doing the whole class party.
I honestly though about asking for a charity donation or something instead but didn’t want to be THAT parent..

Waterstones gift cards or Smiths gift cards work well cos the kid can pick a pressie or book or toy themselves.

At a young age usually around £5 - books, games or crafty stuff really. Older primary age when there are fewer parties around £10. If not sure what to buy I go for a book token, cinema voucher or amazon voucher.

£5