Thrifty Thursdays: Saving on Birthday Gifts
One mom I talked to recently commented on the fact that she and her son seemed to be going to at least one or two birthday parties every weekend. I don’t know what it is about spring birthdays, but I’ve been feeling the same way.
It’s always nice to be on the guest list, but the truth is, buying presents, gift wrap and cards for all the parties can take a big bite out of a family’s budget. To save some money, I’ve come up with a couple of solutions.
First, we never purchase birthday cards. My son loves drawing, so it’s a win-win situation. He can create something just for the birthday girl or boy, and we save by not having to spend money on a card.
We also re-use gift bags. I never throw out bags that we receive gifts in since they can be easily used again. Usually, all we need to do is attach a new tag. The other option is to create your own gift wrap, though if that’s too time-consuming, you may just wanna bite the bullet and buy some from a store. If you can find gift wrap on sale (usually after the holidays), you can find some great discounts.
As for the gift itself, you’ll probably have to spend some money. But if you can scour around for toys or books on sale -- which I’ve discovered is one small silver lining of a down economy -- then you may not have to break your budget.
How do you handle the expense of birthday party presents? Do you have any savings tips to share?
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Comments
My oldest son is in middle school and I actually find that giving some $$ or a gift card($10 or less) is the easiest and least expensive gift. They love getting their own money that THEY can use however they want, plus I save a trip to the store and the headache of trying to figure out what they may like. For a pre-teen, this has worked well for us this year.
I love that your son makes his own birthday cards for his friends. Older children can create something on the computer. If you’re in a time crunch, you can create a gift tag out of colorful paper. Sorry, Hallmark, but at kids’ birthday parties, cards usually get only a passing glance. I spend my greeting card budget on older folks who love to get cards in the mail.
I think the hand-made cards are a great idea, along with reusing gift bags. We do that in our house. Another tip is to shop for cool stuff at a dollar store. You can usually fill a gift basket with neat things for 5-6 bucks as opposed to $20 at the toy store.
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I shop at Dollar General for classmate birthday gifts. During the summer you can assemble a summer themed birthday gift bag for around $10-$12 by choosing a few summer items like a water gun, float, pool ball, paddle ball game, bug catchers, sidewalk chalk, sunscreen, etc. We reuse gift bags and definately make our own b-day cards!!!! The cards mean more for little ones when they’re homemade!
I stock up on toys when Amazon has their big toy clearances a couple times a year. I can usually get a bunch of great toys and games for 75% off or more. This makes it easy to stay within my $10 per child gift limit. Also, my local Walmart has a clearance aisle that usually has some great toy markdowns too.
As for cards and wrapping paper, Dollar Tree has cards 2 for $1 and rolls of wrapping paper for $1. The 99 Cent Superstore carries gift bags for 2 for .99 cents.
I like shopping at Half-Price Books for birthday gifts. Not only do they have a fabulous kids’ books section, they also have CDs for fun/educational computer games, board games, some toys and puzzles, etc.
Reusing gift bags or nice wrap, and making your own cards (or keeping nice blank cards on hand and tailoring the message to the recipient / occasion) are good practices. When it comes to gifts, however, I think it is much more worthwhile in the long run to select (or make) something thoughtful, that has quality and usefulness, not a bunch of cheap dollar store items that will break imminently.
A good literary work or story book can be enjoyed for years. Or a gift that speaks to the interests of the recipient.
I purchased a bunch of items from the Oriental Trading website to make up an “art backpack” gift. I include water color paints, paint brushes, glitter paper, fancy scissors, stickers, foam art projects, frames, sun catchers and paint, beading projects, etc. Most items come in groups of 12. After I purchased a big box of art items – I just had to divide them up into 12 identical gifts. Art packs work for both boys and girls. I got to cost about $13 per gift since I bought everything in bulk. I assembled the 12 gifts in September and my kids could easily give them to friends at birthday parties all school year.
I have two school aged girls who go to birthday parties all the time.
For gifts I go to Michaels. Almost every week in the paper there is a 40% off coupon. Plus now they have clearance aisle.
My best bday score was on the clearance area. My daughter was going to to parties one weekend. I bought two pairs of create your own slippers, and two crayola sun catcher kits all for $10.00 ! Put them in a gift bag and she was good to go.
I tend to use online gift shops to send gifts to Australia as that is where my family are based. I have a few of my favorite online shops to use but I always have a look around to see which ones have offers on or if I can find a coupon to use. I normally find something that is either reduced or a coupon for between 10% and 20% off. It takes a bit of time, but it would take me longer to find something from a shop and then package it up to send over there.