Birthday parties/gifts

[ThreeBecameFour]

I am sure this has been discussed at length before, but what is the going rate that people spend on gifts for birthday parties? DD aged 3 is now being invited to more & more. I also have a younger DS...What kind of gifts do you give & what do you spend? Some people seem v generous. I tend to pick up a little store of items as I see them in sales etc, for example the last party we went to we gave a book with CD (heavily discounted in a book shop - but no-one would know). I can't keep up with hugely generous gifts, but don't want to look stingy either. When we have parties we expect nothing in return, but birthday parties can get really competitive too, our last one was at home with a few traditional party games - but contemporaries had farm trips and all sorts...(One of which we didn't go to as logistically tricky and though the cost of the party was covered it was going to be a heavy hit to our budget but I obviously didn't let them know that).

All new territory for me...advice please!

i generally spend up to £15 all in present card wrapping but if i can help it i will keep it to £10 i have in the past bought puzzles board games books lego it does get very expensive

£10-£12 plus wrapping and a card and £20 if it's a close friend. DS likes to choose something himself so it can vary.

£10 a prezzies from me and I keep my eye out for sale items that would be good prezzies and stash them. A little more for close friends.

For nursery/school friends, I try & limit it to £5 but make sure that I buy things when they are on offer so the real value is always at least £8. I also stock up on cards whenever I see a Card Factory as they are only 29p each or similar. Given the number of whole class parties we are being invited to at the moment, spending any more would cost a fortune.

I spend about £8 - a bit more for really close friends if I see something they'll really like. Actually often it ends up less than £8 as I get quite a lot of stuff in WH Smith (small town, not much shop choice) and they always seem to have book offers, £5 off vouchers, etc. DS1 is at school now so his friends are the right age for all those craft / jewellery kits that all seem to be £7.99.

We've got a big joint party coming up (several children in DS1's class) and we've been asked to bring (if we want to bring a present) a £5 amazon voucher.

I'd usually spend about £10. I've just bought some toys for Xmas presents from Argos in their 3 for 2 sale which are £9.99 each but works out as £6.66 per present with the deal.

We also have The Book People at work so I bought 10 Julia Donaldson books for £10.00 so I usually add a book in as a second present.

I Try to aim for £7 per present and a card from card factory. I Only buy wrapping paper in the sale. I tend to go to toy shops like 'the entertainer' and bulk buy discount toys, or check out amazon's sale section.

Thanks all! good to know I am not being as tight pursed as I thought I was!

I aim for under £10. Cards and wrap bought in bulk cheaply.

I also re gift

You're all more generous than me, I do a £5 present and a cheap card. There are plenty of nice presents for that price. My go to at the moment are orchard games, they always seem to be 2 for £10 in tescos.