Sassy Girl and Bossy Boy were invited to a birthday party for a school friend. We have known this family for about 4 yrs, as their son has always been in one of the kids' classes. We have never gotten together outside of school, but that is probably because of Bossy Boy's needs, and the other boy has just recently "come out of his shell."
Anyway, nice party. The kids had a blast. Swimming, a few small games, pizza. Mostly, it was a bunch of kids running around and being kids.
Having twins, I am sensitive to the gift thing. If people came to our house, I would hope they would treat them as individuals....i.e., individual gifts. So when they go to a party, we do the same: 2 kids bring 2 gifts. Here in lies some of the problem. When you are on a tight budget and need to get 2 gifts, it is hard to find something that doesn't look cheap, but is!
In the end, I got the kid two gift cards, totaling $25. He can pick out his own gift. I thought that $25 for a birthday gift was ok. Some of the other people there spent about that much....some a little more.
So, what is the answer? With 2 kids, should I have gotten a more expensive gift? Should it have been $20 per kid, totaling $40? Was $25 too little? Am I putting too much thought into this?
I'm sure the kid was thrilled he got 2 presents instead of 1, so don't worry about it. I have 7 neices/nephews so at Christmas time my budget is $10 each max. I bargain shop throughout the year, so it doesn't hit me all at once. Spend what you're comfortable with and don't worry about what the kid expects. You said birthday boy just kinda came out of his shell, so I'm sure he was just excited to have a birthday party with friends. Keep up the work on the debt. You'll get there!
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