Reception class parties. What presents should I get?

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Posting here as well as figured it might get the right traffic.
Still new to the whole class parties game and could do with some ideas and tips. How much do people typically spend on a whole class party at reception?
I live in a nice London suburb area, if that’s a useful info?
Have recently purchased some small notebooks with stickers and some packs of scented gel pens on the sale, does it make a very sad gift? Conscious not all parents will be happy with plastic tat or more soft toys etc.

They don't want books as party bag. They want sweets ha ha

You're entitled to your opinion but they seemed very happy actually, and really that's all I'm bothered about. Sweets are great but so is reading! They'd spent all afternoon in soft play and eating pizza/drinking slushies (and yes, eating sweets) with their mates so not exactly hard done by.

Thanks all, this was very helpful!
Not sure re the cash + bag of sweets suggestion, get the feeling it isn’t common around here! But will definitely look for offers for other types of toys and I will gift the notebooks and scented pens I have already got, don’t think it can be that bad as they draw so much and are starting to write at this age!

I agree plus as a parent I don’t love it when my DC is gifted a bag of sweets after they spent the whole afternoon eating junk at a party anyway

DD adorws stationery too which is why I have got these things!

Smiggles sale and stock up, max £10 when they are young and there’s loads of parties

Are you talking about party bags or the birthday kid’s gift? If it’s the actual gift, I’m in London too and would usually choose a decent £20 gift of something I know the child would like. In cases we don’t know them well enough and my child can’t tell me any clues, I’ll get a nice book and a toy eg dino egg, Lego box or craft set.

I mean gift for the party girl/boy, not party bags

£20 is a lot for me, we have 4 parties next month, that would cost £80, seems a bit much!

You see it’s board games that will be left aside/regifted here in my home. DD is not interested in them at all whereas she adores cute stationery, especially now she is learning how to write etc. so yes it depends on the kid ultimately but for us, scented gel pens are a much better gift than a board game she’ll use once and then forget about

I buy Lego sets for £5-8 after Xmas and other times when they are on sale. No need to spend more than £10, and best if you can do it for less.

I buy bulk clearance items from Smiggle, and I’ve yet to meet a child who doesn’t love the brand. You can often pick up a £3 water bottle or five stationery items for £5. I also add a book, as The Works sells bundles of ten for £10, and I like to include a few fun extras such as stickers or a bubble sword.

I make my own cards as well. A £1 pack of ten card blanks from Poundland gives me twenty A6 cards, and I print the designs at home. I bulk buy wrapping paper, and I search eBay and Vinted for bundles of reusable gift bags. Altogether, it costs me less than £7 per child, including wrapping and the gift bag.

For example, one of my reception gift bags included a Smiggle water bottle for £3, a Smiggle sandwich container for £1, a Smiggle scented pencil for £1, a book from The Works for £1, and a bubble sword from Poundland for fifty pence.