Micayla had her 4th birthday party this last weekend. I was sort of surprised on some of the stuff she got, as far as what they cost.

I'm interested in what you'd spend on a gift if you were attending a child's birthday party. I am not necessarily talking about a close relative or whatever, just the average bday party of a young child. I'm curious on how my feelings compare to others.

I usually spend ~$20 or so :nod:

Hmmm usually $10-20 depending on how well we know the kid, more for my nieces :)

Around $15-20, depending on who it is.

Depends on who it is. $15-25.

For Joe and Frances' classmates, $10 or less. For kids who we are friends with their parents, $15-20.

Depends on how well we know the kid, but I'd say the range is $20 - $50, with the upper end of the range being for the kids to whom we are closest.

I'd say $20 and up just depending on how well we know them and all that...

I would spend about $15-$20.

$10 - $15 Man, I feel cheap :lol: Thankfully, we haven't been invited to any of these, yet ;)

Depends on how well we know the kid, but I'd say the range is $20 - $50, with the upper end of the range being for the kids to whom we are closest.

Ditto....

We just went to a party on Sunday and I bought an outfit from Gymboree as the gift. I work there, so it was $32 after my discount. This little girl was invited to Jackson's party and gave us a gift certificate, so I know they spent about the same on Jackson's present.

I'd say $10 - $15 as well.

That's about what I spend.. $15-$20 on the average kid, more on family & close friend's kids.

The reason I asked is b/c Micayla got a few really cheap gifts. One person got her a single My Little Pony (just the standard one) that I know are about $4-$5 at Walmart. Another got her a Strawberry Shortcake keychain set. I saw it for about $6. And another got her a little dress from Target that had a price of $6.99 on the tag.

I just thought that was pretty cheap. I don't want to sound rude or stuck up, but come on! It cost me more than that to feed all of them. I wouldn't think of going to a birthday party with a gift of less than $10, especially if I knew they were feeding me & my kid, kwim?

I probably spend about 15-20, I think most parties cost about that much per kid so that is where I pull the value from. I feel as long as we covered our cost, we are good :aok: :lol:
I also take into consideration how much other people spend on gifts, for instance, a friend of ours gave the boys a Gymbo outfit and accessories for their birthday, I will try to make sure I spend close to the same amount on her daughters present. Make sense?

I also take into consideration how much other people spend on gifts, for instance, a friend of ours gave the boys a Gymbo outfit and accessories for their birthday, I will try to make sure I spend close to the same amount on her daughters present. Make sense?

I try to do this as well, dh thinks I'm nuts lol ..glad to hear I'm not the only one :)

I do about $10-$15 for classmates, more for family members.

Although, for those cheap gifts keep in mind that the parent may have let the kid pick the gift. :dunno: I've told Caroline sometimes that she can pick the gift for her friend (if it's someone really special), and if she swears that the kid loved My Little Ponies or whatever, I have to respect that. But if it's something cheap I do try to supplement it with something else to bring up the total final pricetag.

I usually spend $10-$15 on kid gifts. I just can't justify spending more. :dunno:

And, at least with my kids, it's always the cheap stuff that they love anyway! :lol:

If it was one of Aidan or Colin's friends from school, I'd spend $10-$15. For a family friend (and this is most of the parties we've attended), I'd spend $10-$20.

One of our friends gave us a GC for $35 for Colin's birthday, which I thought was excessive. I do not plan to reciprocate that amount for her kids birthdays which are coming up. It might sound awful, but we each have 3 kids and I don't want to set that precedent.

Probably $15-$20

Between $15 - $20

I plan to stay around $15ish. Like Julie - I figure that about covers our cost :lol: If I found something that was really cool for $17, though, I'd do that. If I couldn't find one thing for $15, I'd get a couple things to make up for it.

For Joe and Frances' classmates, $10 or less. For kids who we are friends with their parents, $15-20.
I agree with this. Especially since most of the kids we know are really young and their gifts are a little "disposable."

For those of you who said you want to "cover your cost" with your present, do factor in the expense of the party when you decide how much to spend? So if the party is at a play place or Build a Bear or something with a full meal, would you give a more expensive gift than if it is at their house with just cake and ice cream?

$15-$20 (unless of course it's valued at that much and I got it on great sale for like $5)

For those of you who said you want to "cover your cost" with your present, do factor in the expense of the party when you decide how much to spend? So if the party is at a play place or Build a Bear or something with a full meal, would you give a more expensive gift than if it is at their house with just cake and ice cream?

Actually, yes. I try to make sure that it's at least equal to or more than what they are spending on us to be there. Of course I have a limit that I'm not willing to go over, but I try to be fair, kwim?

BTW, I wasn't saying I had a problem with just spending $10. I think that's fine. I was just surprised to see people give a $4 gift. Especially when the girl's mom brought her husband & 2 other kids that I didn't invite and let them eat.

For those of you who said you want to "cover your cost" with your present, do factor in the expense of the party when you decide how much to spend? So if the party is at a play place or Build a Bear or something with a full meal, would you give a more expensive gift than if it is at their house with just cake and ice cream?

Yup.

I usually spend between 10 and 15 for Tylor's school friends (alyssa hasn't had any parties yet) That is about what they spend on him and so I feel that is fair. For our family friends I usually go about 20-25. We all talked about it when the kids were little and found that to be fair. (meaning family friends) My one friend has 5 kids and so she tends to spend a little more on my kids then I do because she knows I am buying for a lot more children then she is.

I usually spend somewhere in the $15-20 range as well.

We usually spend around $15 for kids in Ali's class. I stocked up on gift bags at a party store that was going out of business last summer and I always let Ali make a card with leftover scraps from my scrapbooking stuff. For family and close friends, we spend between $25 and $35. The last party we went to was a few weeks ago and Ali insisted that this little girl had to have the game Candyland. It was on sale at Target for $4.88 (I think), so I also picked up 2 books to go with it.