Sons birthday present.....have I done the right thing please?

McKneff

I'm a great lover of charity shops and car boot sales, and i have to admit to doing something silly, very often i will see something that i cannot walk past
i dont need it, my OH doesnt need it, but its a brilliant walking jacket,
top of the range, separeat fleece inside and it £1. I cant help my myself, i
buy it with the sole intention of giving it to a charity shop in our little market town, its cost me £1.00 my donation to the charity, the Charity shop will make at least a fiver and the seller is happy. Now i know its silly but i get a buzz and everyone is happy

funkymonkey849

McKneff wrote: »

I'm a great lover of charity shops and car boot sales, and i have to admit to doing something silly, very often i will see something that i cannot walk past
i dont need it, my OH doesnt need it, but its a brilliant walking jacket,
top of the range, separeat fleece inside and it £1. I cant help my myself, i
buy it with the sole intention of giving it to a charity shop in our little market town, its cost me £1.00 my donation to the charity, the Charity shop will make at least a fiver and the seller is happy. Now i know its silly but i get a buzz and everyone is happy

That's not silly, it's a lovely and helpful way of giving to charity

pennypinchingpenguin

hi there,

i think your child will be happy no matter what price you pay. i grew up in a single parent family and my mum struggled all our childhood and when i think back it scares me how desperate things were sometimes. but at the time i never knew any better so it didnt bother me. and now we are all grown up we have learned the true value of things so really its a life lesson beginning with your child and theres no harm in that. i feel that many children these days are given things so easily that they dont know the value of money and end up spoiled. my little cousin who i love dearly (is 10) is bought uggs and laptops etc for birthdays and xmas and even likewise from relatives returning from holiday - how is she to learn any different?
I volunteer in a charity shop and love the bargains that come along and if a child comes in and are using their own money to buy a toy or a book or something i just take whatever they have - eg. the other week a little girl wanted a pony and had 2p so thats what we charged her for it - she felt all special paying for it by herself and i think it teaches that there is nothing wrong with shopping in charity shops.
kids are ever changing anyway so whats the point in worrying now - theres a whole lotta years in front of you! X

Neil_McManus

Don't be silly

My 3 year old has had a whole raft of things I have bought off ebay for Christmas and as just presents.

We got miles of wooden train track and trains last year. We set up the biggest wooden train set in the world (maybe there has been bigger but it was big). Would have cost hundreds it was all in great condition and the bits that were a bit tatty got lobbed.

Did the same thing with the Tomy Thomas train sets the following year. He has nearly every character as a result and it cost a meer fraction of the new price and all works fine.

They are little, they get bored of stuff.

I will sell it all on ebay once he has got bored of it, saving someone else a fortune and saving resources by recycling perfectly good toys.

So you are not only presenting an acceptable present to your little one, but also helping save oil that goes into making the plastic for the toy. Great job. Sell it on ebay when he has done with so someone else can benefit.