To be fed up of group child parties where I'm expected to buy at three gifts etc??

[Snowwhite83]

Hi,
My 6 year old son really enjoys going to other children's parties which I realise are expensive for parents and I don't mind bringing gifts but it annoys me when its three or more kids together and I have ti buy multiple presents. I also don't like buying rubbish as a rule and I find its impossible to get a present under a tenner these days. Am I being unreasonable and should I stop grumblimg and fork out? Or say my child can't attend?

Thing is, op wants three seperate parties to go to which presumably would then be very close together so would still cost her three presents likely put of the same pay cheque

The OP isn’t objecting to buying 3 presents though, she just wants 3 parties in return for her cash!

Our nursery class, going into reception all have birthdays in the second six months of the school year. So a lot of us parents have buddied up in twos or threes to save clashing parties/ too many parties to attend. Especially as the invite list is their classmates. Not expecting presents! Certainly nothing over a £10!

Pmsl

wss meant to say separate

The OP isn’t objecting to buying 3 presents though, she just wants 3 parties in return for her cash!

is she stamping her feet?

I’m pretty sure she is 😂

Not expecting presents!

...

Certainly nothing over a £10!

So that's a yes to expecting presents then, approx £290 worth in total.

You should be a miserable twat like I was. Never did a whole class party for my lad.

I used to keep a box of party gifts that I’d add stuff to as I spotted items in sales or reduced sticker items. It saved a lot of stress especially if the invitation arrived unexpectedly late (scrumpled up in a games bag on a Friday night for the Saturday). My kids picked the present(s) they wanted to give to the party giver(s) and it helped me spread the cost a bit when my finances were quite tight. I never spent a lot. Also bulk bought cards.

Eh? Surely that poster just meant she’s not expecting presents, but if people do buy presents (which she has little control over), she doesn’t expect that anything would cost over £10.

I do this too.

The best thing to do is start a rule in the class called a Card Party. In other words you just bring a card.. but in practise everyone puts €5 in it. Or sometimes people add a bag of sweets or similar. It’s great not receiving 20 art sets instead the child has 20*€5 to buy something decent. It’s so relaxing !!!!

But that's how it starts....

Just cards.... Some people start putting in £5...so more people do that, then some bung in a bag of sweets... So more people do that, then it won't be long before someone chucks in a book ...and a small toy... Etc

I wish we could do the 5-10 pounds without looking like a cheapskate. It's usually 20-30 pounds with ds class. The kids do joint parties and it's a small class(18 kids), so we all know each other's kids well. Last weekend was a joint party with 3 kids and I spent 75 on presents and another 10 on cards and wrapping. However, the parents always hold these events at really expensive activity places and they foot the bill so I don't mind paying for the gifts I guess as ds gets a nice day out.Ds returns with a nice gift bag of toys too.

But what on earth do you buy???? I'm trying to imagine buying 17 presents of £

I'm trying to imagine buying 17 presents of £20-30 all different. Because of course you could buy every child the same off you but across you that's 17 different good sized presents on top of what they get from parents and family. That seems ludicrous.

Who decided 20/30

assume school is Private at that cost and class number of 18

Surely you'll end up buying 3 separate gifts anyway? I wish more parties were group ones rather than 20 individual ones

The cost of two extra presents is a very reasonable price to pay for having two additional party-free weekend mornings/afternoons.

If every child in the class has a whole-class party, that's 2/3 parties PER MONTH. If you have multiple children, it must be much worse.

It would be a good idea for school classes to publish a birthday list at the start of the year so it's easier for parents to buddy up on parties.

@Blondeshavemorefun our class size is 17, most definitely NOT private but a small village school. You know what they say about assuming......

But the child would go to three parties !!!

But it’s not a transaction!
Who has time for all these bloody parties anyway? Don’t you have other stuff to be doing at the weekends? Joint parties are fine by me.

Indeed. Apologises

tho I don’t know any country /village school that parents could afford £20-30 present each time

what /who started this amount

£5 ish is plenty esp if getting 17/18 or even 29 presents as our class is 30

Pound land or Wilco's any thing cheap or just wrap up something you're child don't use or play with

You are correct it's private. I'm not sure how the price range came about, as when I joined it was already happening. The gifts are usually a nicer lego set and a good book per child. The parents do put together a really nice day out, a good spread and a gift bag for each child. Don't get me started on collection for end of year teacher gifts 🤣