Children's party etiquette

[StipyTiger]

I have a two and half Yr old. A girl at his preschool is turning 4 and his class have all been invited to a party. We've accepted the invite. What do we do gift wise? Do we bother with a card? Would a giant bubble wand suffice? First proper party he's been to and we don't really know the parents. I don't want to get things wrong.

Yes to a card (you can buy multipacks on Amazon which are cost-effective). We usually spend £5-10 on a present.

Yes I'd get a card. You could always stick a £5 in if you feel they might get a lot of rubbish as presents

I normally have a budget of £5 to £8 for someone from nursery (unless its a good friend) and buy a selection from The Works. I get a card plus something small like a colouring book and pencils, a jigsaw, an Orchard boardgame for appropriate age.

My DD had some lovely presents for her 4th birthday including a paint your own Elsa, an art set with crayons, a blow up chair for the garden, a fairy doll, sweets and stationery sets.

I never buy a card, get the kids to make one. Even a 2 year old must bring home paintings or can do a scribble. The cards just get chucked out anyway so may as well make it or recycle some "art"!

Presents wise i usually spend £5-£10 depending on party, who the friend is, etc, on something that my kid likes. Harder when yours is younger admittedly but something neutral is usually good.

I did find it useful to buy one roll of "cartoon" wrapping paper though when my oldest started going to parties.

Mine are older now so don't mind me just using whatever paper we have at home but when they were little I found it useful.

I also used to occasionally buy presents in advance so I had a couple of neutral things on hand, like felt pens and nice colouring books, or even would keep duplicates from presents they were given.

I also keep the ribbons from the ones they get and then send them out again, with the card stuck to the paper / tucked into the ribbon.

I’d say it’s bad form to go to a party without some form of card and gift. It doesn’t have to be an expensive present, a nice sticker book or something to paint maybe - going by what my 4 year old liked!