Reasonable spend for a kid's birthday

Smiley_Mum

Thanks for all the ideas. I haven't organised anything yet as my son has now caught chickenpox. I like the shoebox full of little goodies, rather than big things. I've got loads of shoeboxes in the wardrobe, been wondering what to do with them. My son said he just wants a book for his leappad, just got a new lightpen for it the other day and he's playing with it endlessly. Either a trip somewhere on the train and a meal out somewhere or a trip bowling and Starbucks but it's not set in stone. So long as he's fully well again, been under the weather for a while. My kids are quite easily pleased, I don't spoil them and they are quite happy with simple things. Thanks for all the info.

MATH

We have three children ages 10,8 & 5. They each have a birthday budget of £150 ea which we envisaged to be spilt anyway depending on what they wanted the most. Medium sized present and a medium cost party, Supersized present and no party, Mega party and a token gift. However, conceived of MSE parents as they are they invariably choose small party for a couple of friends, small gift and the rest of their budget put in their bank account.:D

toadhall

got three girls 6,8 and 10 this year. the youngest had a bouncy castle in the garden - £60 for a 15 foot square one and some food. i dont do party bags just a bit of cake and some sweets. the next had some friends over for a home made pizza and video afternoon and the oldest had a sleepover with 4 friends. total for all three about £100 not bad i think and pressies are not big mostly books and games, they get so much from others that we tend to not overspend. they are used to it so dont have a problem with it.
we do teach them the value of money tho.:)

Smiley_Mum

My boys love bouncy castles but alas, no garden. My folks have a huge garden but due to both of them (the kids) been unwell with one thing and another since the schools went back don't want to chance visiting incase we pass the bugs on. They'd love it though. A consideration for my youngest's birthday next year, summer time.

Pooky

I've always done a traditional birthday tea for my daughters, you'll be amazed how many kids have never actually played simple party games or sat down to a birthday tea, they all love it too.

I do the normal sandwiches, cakes, sausage rolls, bowls of crisps and choccy biscuits, jelly and ice cream and a cake - doesn't need to cost a fortune, play games such as pass the parcel, pin the tail on the (whatever animal), another favourite game is to sit them all in a room - send on child out and hide a small item, say a pencil sharpener somewhere in the room that's visable. None of the other children are allowed to help, they all need to sit as still and quiet as possible while the other one looks.....you'll have them all giggling away as they try not to give the game away.

As for pressies - I normally only spend £25 or under as we've got such a large family, they get spoilt rotton.

freyaluck

just to let you know my local sainsbury's has reduced invites/cups/plates etc starting at just 20p, not sure about other stores, but it might be worth a look.

jellyhead

gingham, my son understands that we chose not to have as much money as some families because i wanted to stay at home and look after him myself. when he was 7 he did ask to go on holiday to egypt, i said we could go as long as he went to the after school club so i could work overtime twice a week (i had a term time school hours job that meant i was always there to take him to school and pick him up, he knew i worked because i wore a uniform but other than that my job didn't affect him). he chose camping in wales instead, and for me to not work overtime. at 7 he understood and was happier for me to effectively be a stay at home mum.

my sons first few birthdays were a picnic in the park with lots of family invited, it's handy having a july birthday, it never rains

i'm a cheapskate, we use our tesco points and swap them for deals. we go to theme parks or have a meal in bella italia. we also collect tokens from the mirror i think it is. it's a tabloid, i can't remember which because i don't buy it daily, i just collect tokens when i read on this forum that they're doing the theme park tokens, it's around march time i think. you have to collect about 6 tokens and send them off, one application per household but i use all my realtives addresses too. they send free tickets for southport, legoland, drayton manor, american adventure, sealife centre and dungeons. they are totally free entry, not 2 for 1's so if you buy 5 papers each day and have 4 relatives who are willing for their address to be used you can get a carfull of people into the theme parks for free. i think the sealife and dungeons are 2 for 1s or adults only. we sell the legoland tickets on ebay for 5-15 each :eek: it pays for the transport costs to american adventure, drayton manor and southport

Savvy_Sue

jellyhead wrote:

my sons first few birthdays were a picnic in the park with lots of family invited, it's handy having a july birthday, it never rains

Huh! My eldest has a July birthday, and that's not my experience!

jellyhead

ooops! it was only his first 3 parties, i'm hoping it will be the same for baby roo, he was born july 29th. don't know what i'd do if i'd arranged a picnic and it was raining?!! i'd better formulate a backup plan, i know it's 10 months away but i'm not the most organised or 'with-it' of people

KK

I've never set a budget for my daughter (now 5) as such, but I don't spend a lot on presents - I leave that to the grandparents! But I have spent money on parties for the last 4 years. 1st 2 years were in the garden with food and a bit to drink for adults, then last 2 years have been in a play place - last year approx £120 with food, this year £300 but split between 3 children sharing the party. I hate party bags - they're always full of the same stuff, but my daughter loves them. This year I did those ready made lucky bags which seemed to go down well (£1.99 from Woolies - 3 for 2 at the time). I always make a birthday cake. This year I made individual fairy cakes for the children to take home - decorated with fondant icing stars (boys) and hearts/flowers (girls), coloured with food gels and made sparkly with edible glitter. They went down very well. I try and do different things each year, and for next year I said she could have a few friends and we'd go out together - it's 9 months away and she already thinks she's negotiated me up from 5 friends to 11! Her friend at school had a disco party and this was a huge success apparently (we were away). My house is small and to be honest a big party just means she gets lots of presents which I don't think she needs. She's worked out that a small party means fewer presents - and I have really tried to bring her up as non-materialistic! We don't spoil her at all. Also, I try not to get into the competitiveness with other children and their parties. Unfortunately once they get to school it is VERY important for their street cred to have a great party. Personally I don't believe in buying expensive electronic toys and so far she doesn't know anyone with a TV/Video/DVD in their bedroom, although I'm sure that will change. For Christmas I said I would buy her a plane ticket to LA (we plan to go to visit a relative) and she thought this was boring as we were going anyway! This really shocked me, so clearly Father Christmas will have to produce something. Also, at school they seem to spend a lot of time discussing what possessions they have and what they would like! I think we live in a very materialistic society and it is really hard to keep it away from your child.