Cheap presents for 5 year old schoolfriends - birthday parties

elona

Have a look at www.thebookpeople.com
They do sets of ten childrens books for about £9.99 or less - £1 for a book that would normally be at least a fiver.
They do a really good range for boys or girls and give advice what age group they are for.

They are not a book club and you can choose as much or as little as you want.

nearlyrich

A friend of mine has just bought a £5 voucher for the cinema for her son to take to a party I though that was a really good idea.

Manchester_Justin

For my 3 year old son's friends' birthdays and xmas presents, I'm really impressed with Home Bargains/Quality Save right now.

Plenty of great action figures for around £3.99, including King Kong, various X-Men including Wolverine, Fantastic Four, Narnia, Batman (from Begins movie), and larger figures/vehicles/playsets up to £9.99.

All of course originally double that price in Woolies, Toys R Us, etc.

Becles

nearlyrich wrote:

A friend of mine has just bought a £5 voucher for the cinema for her son to take to a party I though that was a really good idea.

I'm not sure if that is a good idea!

At my local Odeon, it's £6.15 for an adult and £4.45 for an under 15.

You can't send the child on his/her own, so it means the parent has to put their hand in their pocket to pay for their ticket, plus any other siblings/partner.

When I was a single parent on benefits, I wouldn't have bothered using the voucher, as I wouldn't have been able to afford the extra tickets for me and my other son.

Rachie_B

Becles wrote:

I'm not sure if that is a good idea!

At my local Odeon, it's £6.15 for an adult and £4.45 for an under 15.

You can't send the child on his/her own, so it means the parent has to put their hand in their pocket to pay for their ticket, plus any other siblings/partner.

When I was a single parent on benefits, I wouldn't have bothered using the voucher, as I wouldn't have been able to afford the extra tickets for me and my other son.

odeon do kids screenings on a sat / sun morning £2.50 per child and the adult goes free

http://www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/kids/ you have to check on a wed as to what will be shown that sat / sun

this wkend it was cars

fsdss

in january i usually visit wilkinsons when they have their 75% off sale of toys there i buy loads of items.
example, recently i've given a police station cost £3.20, large box cars 75p, power rangers toy £1.24. barbie ken 99p. craft boxes, window paint set. i usually buy the most expensive items that are reduced. and spend about £25-30. this does about 20 parties. i also get my children to make home made cards, which usually incorporates the childs picture. this works out loads cheaper. and the presents are usually one of the best!!! to keep it cheap also i buy 2 large rolls of wrapping paper (girl / boy) and sometimes i even get christmas paper to use, such as plain silver wrap/ pink / which is mega cheap in jan

rio

Thanks for everyone's advice. This may sound tight, I have no problem in spending money on the friends who my son plays with regularly, and come to our house etc. I just don't want to spend loads of money on children he doesn't really have that much to do with. When it comes round to our little one's turn we will take him and four friends to the zoo and then to McDonalds on the way home, and that will be his birthday treat. I'm not putting on a party for 28 children. I think a lot of this is to do with oneupmanship on behalf of the parents!

apples1

Boots have lots of stuff on 3 for 2 in their Xmas range however these are great presents for birthdays. I have stocked up and will use them for birthday presents over coming months. They have the suitable age range on all the own brand boxed games/toys etc which makes it so easy. Excellent range of stuff including own brand copies of popular things (like Hama beads etc) which are spot on for that age range.

super41

rio wrote:

Thanks for everyone's advice. This may sound tight, I have no problem in spending money on the friends who my son plays with regularly, and come to our house etc. I just don't want to spend loads of money on children he doesn't really have that much to do with. When it comes round to our little one's turn we will take him and four friends to the zoo and then to McDonalds on the way home, and that will be his birthday treat. I'm not putting on a party for 28 children. I think a lot of this is to do with oneupmanship on behalf of the parents!

It's not tight it's common sense! I limit presents to £5. As other people have said you can get good presents for this amount especially in sales etc. My DD has just gone into Reception and there are 58 in her year - hope she's not too popular!! Slightly off topic but have others found that parents are now giving chocolate/sweets to everyone in the class when it's their child's birthday? Who starts these things - and why? Just more cost and oneupmanship I guess. Been to a party today, and it was very nice but honestly don't think the parents would get change from £200 - my food budget for a month!

Crazychik

What I used to do, and still do - is hit the January and Summer sales of places like argos, woolies etc, buy whats suitable in the sale. and put away. I spend on average £5 per child per party.

So if a party does come up un-expected, you have a present readily available, I remember buying an action man figure, for a fiver, should have been £15. These are the bargains which are worth it. And the parents think you've spent a fortune!!!!