Kids parties and present value should be about the same as party cost?

[ElatedMauveFox]

I was told rule of thumb is that a present for a party should be generally what the party cost - eg soft play at £10 than £10 present?

Aibu

I have never heard of this for weddings either!
No kids party presents I would never spend more than £20, probably normally closer to £10. Personally I would much rather someone spent £5 on something they know DD will like than £50 on something that’s hit or miss

This makes me sad. Imagine teaching your child that only friends with wealthy parents deserve a nice present from you.
We've spent lots of money on parties but in part it's because DS is a Feb baby. I'd totally have a party in the park if he was summer born. That wouldn't even be to save the money but because the kids would likely have a great time. Isn't that what this is all about!
I would hate to think that the fact that we hosted an expensive party stopped any friend from attending, because of gift expectation. I want my son to have the best birthday - gifts don't really matter, if all his friends are there.

Meeting basic cost is the " rule of thumb". Life is competitive and when all guests gifts are compared some look mean and some look generous. Giving under the basic costs regularly causes social exclusion by a group. Have been shocked to witness this but it happens

I am not focussed on reciprocity.

I host a party of my choosing. If a guest chooses to give a gift - lovely. I don't sit there questioning whether someones has spent the £17.50 required to cover the party cost per head!!

No. Same for weddings too, no.

I honestly wouldn’t mind if someone got my child a £1 bag of sweets if anything I’d assume the child had chosen them and I’d just be happy they had turned up to my child’s party to celebrate the birthday x

Precisely. Honestly DS just loved opening them and absolutely did not feel like the cheaper gifts were lesser (or even crossed his mind to think about the monetary cost), I wasn't bothered either. I don't feel like the party thrower should have an expectation for a gift to x value in mind when they invite children.

I do this when my DC attend parties, but have no expectation regarding the gifts they receive when I’m hosting.

So if the party was a picnic in the park, how much would you spend on the present?

£10 or slightly less if I could find something nice on a deal.

A gift is normally 10-20 here no matter if it's in your garden or at softplay. One kid came without gift and one with a 50£ bill. I was more embarrassed about the latter because it was way too much. I quickly gave the one without gift a bag of sweets to give ds and nobody noticed and DS was as happy for the sweets as the 50£- bless him.