Scrooge?- Fed up with the constant buying of presents!

zippybungle

I do understand where you are coming from, BUT isn't having loads of little prezzies to open part of the fun for Kids? Having 3 Kids myself (8, 5 & 3) they all love having loads of little prezzies to open.

I buy things for Birthday parties as and when I see a good bargain, but in general don't spend more than £5 unless it is for a close friend.

As someone else said, the bookpeople website is really good for packs of books which you can split up, Home bargains is good for bits and bobs too and also poundland! (before Xmas I bought some light up Bakugan toys).

Zippy x

boiler_man

I too try not to spend more than £5. I look for items in the sale to squirrel away and if I only spend £2 and it's not a best friend, I don't worry about it as long as it looks more expensive.

The Book People are fab and the sets of book can be split up and put with something small like a bag of sweets.

charlies-aunt

My DD's are 19 and 22 now so parties etc are a thing of the past . . . . . £7 seems quite a lot to spend a childs present.

Just a couple of suggestions

A pair of pretty socks (£1-1.50 from Tesco or Matalan) and a pack of sweets

A large-ish jar filled with penny sweets, lollies etc

A couple of craft packs from the Poundshop

Plastic box of HM Playdoh plus a mini baking set with plastic cutters

Shampoo, conditioner and a 'giftpack' of hair clips, scrunchies etc (Poundshop or bargan madness

A jigsaw /puzzle book/ age appropriate joke book plus sweets

Picking up items in sales, poundshops etc is well worth it - makes pulling together a present easy and low cost

mumto2loves

hi

my daughter is 7 now and she has been to quite a few parties this year and last where there has been a small note on the back of the invite to say the birthday girl is saving for ....... so a gold coin in her card instead of a present will help her get her ......

her close friends i did put £5 (in £1 coins so i was sticking to the request) in but the others i just put in a £2 coin.

maybe if this was started in your circle / area/school the other mums might actually be glad of it and follow on from your example.

happi_2

Like some of the others, I tend to stock up on kid's presents when the sales are on or if I just find a bargain. Halfcost (halfcost.co.uk) often have really good offers - I've just bought loads of bits as my children seem to have parties every weekend, but it does mean that my house looks like a gift shop! At the moment they have lovely wooden pink jewellery boxes for only £2.99 and various other bits for around the £3 mark.

http://www.halfcost.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=11&productId=61805&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10407&categoryId=11060&cache_entry=-1

HTH, Happi