Birthday Etiquette

Hi C.! I have a 6 year old daughter and had this same dillemma when she started going to day care when she was 2. I usually based my spending on how close my daughter was to the child having the birthday. If it was one of her better friends I spent closer to $20-25. If it was someone in her class, but not really someone she played with all the time, the gift was closer to $10-15. I will say that I feel that people who spend less than $10 on a gift for a birthday party seem cheap in my opinion. For the most part, to put together a party, after all the expenses, the parents are usually spending at least $10 per child who attends the party. I'm not saying you have to spend more than what it would cost the child to attend, but I know people who do base their gift spending on exactly that. Also, the cheaper you go, it's usually junk or something the child probably already has 20 of (playdough, crayons, little dollar store plastic toys). No one needs more junk, if you know what I mean. Oh, and one more thing when determining the price, I'm talking retail. If something's on sale or you can find a popular $20 Barbie on clearance for $5, THEN you can spend $5 on a gift and get away with it. Good luck!

well...personally, if i barely know the people i typically spend about $5-10. but, i do try to get a few things that add up to that amount. like for instance, you can get a kite for $1 at Wal-mart and then maybe a couple other really cheap toys. we got our 2.5 yr old son a kite for easter and it has been the best $1 spent! good luck!

You can pretty much buy a really cool toy for $15 bucks. Just go to Target or Walmart. It will all come back to you when your child has his birthday. Don't stress too much. Every gift is appreciated. Besdies, you didn't get the invitation for the gift. You got it b/c your child has new friends.

I have spent about $5.00-$10.00 on presents for daycare birthday's. I hope this helps!

I get about a $10-$15 gift for kids we don't really know (school friends) and this seems to be the norm in our group. Close friends and family, of course, get more.
I've given bubble machines ($10 at Target) the past few b-days and they have been big hits with the 2-3 year olds.

I have 3 VERY social children. That has always been a rule in our house unless the child wanted to perform extra chores for extra money to buy something extra. There are lots of nice gifts for $5 and $10 these days especially for boys. My daughter always hated that!

I definitley cap my gift spending, as do the majority of the other parents in my children's day care class. We do attend the parties as our schedule allows, I believe this important for my children's social skills (b/g twins, 3-yrs-old) as well as giving me as opportunity to meet and chat with their classmate's parents.

Hope this helps... V.

I had the same dilemma this year when my daughter started preschool. I choose to spend $20 per child - knowing that the kid really doesn't care how much the gift cost, but not wanting to seem cheap or ungrateful to the other parents.