I have only two kids in elementary school, but between them they’ve gone to a couple dozen birthday parties so far. When the other three are in school—-whooooo, that’s a lot of parties to bring gifts to.
My goal is to spend about $10 for a party gift, and I can get a pretty good gift for that, even though I’m a somewhat fretful person and so my mission is complicated by my wishes to please the child and to please the child’s parents; to give a gift that won’t make a huge mess or end up with little tiny pieces lost all over the house or require intense parental involvement; to avoid sending the message that we watch too much TV and/or that we make inappropriate gender generalizations and/or that we are cheap cheap cheap. Ideally, I like the gift to be the child’s favorite present from the whole party, but also to send the message that we are a Quality Family. And did I already say I want all that for about $10?
Here are some gifts that have been pleasing successes:
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