How expensive birthday gift would you buy?

[Mariann321]

Hi! Got an invitation to a friend's kid's 3rd birthday party. It's the first one I'm attending as a young parent. How much would you normally spend on someone else's kid's birthday gift? Don't want to come off as a stint but also not overdo it.

We usually spend about 50 on close friends kids.

Somewhere between £5-10 for me for parties my kids are invited to. For niece/nephew level I’d spend £20-30.

@Mariann321 I buy my friends' kids an age -appropriate book or two and some chocolate normally.

The thing is, if you go in too generously it'll bankrupt you in a couple of years! I'm late 30s and have six godchildren and seven nieces/nephews as well as my friends kids, school classmates etc. So everyone just gets a carefully thought out book.

If it's a niece/nephew I might get something more but remember they will be bought lots from other friends and family too.

I would be surprised if £50 is anywhere near the norm.

Class party £10/12
Close friends kids £20/25
Nieces and Nephews £35/40

When our DC were you get the nursery group parents agreed to each put £5 in a card and the birthday child got something bigger with all the money.

Toddler group each put in £5 and purchased something like a teepee or balance bike etc. it was a great set up.

£50???? Surely a typo!

Between £5-10 is a reasonable budget for a small child.

We spend usually £15-20.
Including birthday card and birthday bag.

£10 for a class party gift and £15-£25 if the child of a close friend. £50 and upwards would tend to be for family or godchildren.

Why don't you ask for any suggestions and then you can see the price range your friend is expecting you to cover.

£10.

£50 is too much.

The children you give gifts to at their parties will be the children you invite to your own child's parties. Their parents will not want to have to buy your child a £50 present.

Soon you will find yourself attending a party most weekends. You need to be able to keep up the present buying so don't go overboard.

£5 for a three year old friend's kid. You have 20 years of gift buying ahead. You need somewhere to go!

£10-15 max would be my budget.

Up to £20 now on friends parties. But ds is 11 and doesn’t get invited to many these days, he has a couple this month but for a year now it’s levelled out at about one every other month.
when the dds were younger one of them would be invited to a party every weekend, used to spend no more than a tenner.

At that age if a friends child I'd go to £15. Up to £10 for a nursery/school party

£15 for friends child
£10 class party

£20 quid max unless it's a special birthday (18th/21st).
Class party or casual friend £10.

£50 is mental.

I said for a close friend. That's what our close group spends on each others kids. Close as in we go decades back. For class friends it's much less.

£5.

For general kids party usually about £12-15.

If it's their best friend then more like £20.

For one of my friends kids then about £30.

Thanks everyone! Some great insight! 🙏

£50 doesn't sound that real, it has to be a typo!
I'd go with £5-10 and maybe a smartshow 3d birthday video in the close friend/nephew case.

£5-10 for a general class party
£15 for closer friend’s child.

Same.

£5 for class party at that age

For a 3yr old's party all you need is book/small toy and some sweeties. Don't overthink it.