The Never-ending Birthday Party Circuit
This year I got 9 birthday invites during the first week of school. You read that right. NINE!!!!
I have three kids in preschool right now and a blossoming social life in LA so that’s the name of the game these days. Attend? Yes. Click. Add To Calendar.
UGH!!
Birthday Presents for Kids Add Up!
The birthday party thing is CONSTANT. Especially if you have multiple children.
You can shop for each party, picking out and wrapping a custom gift for each child. For most, this is a burden and a giant time suck. It’s crazy!!
So you start going to that expensive place that wraps the present for you, and you pay a premium for the item and the “free” wrap… not a long-term solution.
The amount of money and mental energy being spent is just not practical.
There are really two choices:
a) Don’t go to the parties (which is hard if you love an excuse to eat cake and pizza), or
b) Figure out a way to streamline the gift thing.
Since it’s frowned upon to buy a 3-year-old a gift card (we need to change that), here’s the plan…
Saving Time and Money on Birthday Presents for Kids
- Every child turning X (insert age) gets the same thing. (Books are always great!)
- That “thing” must be available on Amazon.com.
- Skip the custom wrap. You spend $20–30 on a present and then you spend $15 on wrapping and a card!!! No thanks!
- Brown craft paper and colored raffia ribbon. It looks “artisanal”, which my husband says means it’s cool. (Also means it costs under $1 to wrap a present…find both on Amazon.com.)
- Pre-made custom gift tags are just gonna have to be ok. Go to tinyprints.com sign up and wait for a sale. DO NOT PAY FULL PRICE!!
- Write the child’s name and a birthday wish right on the package – any excuse to have the full spectrum of Sharpie colors is a good thing if you ask me!
- If you want to get your child involved have them “decorate” the present before you put the ribbon on. Stickers, crayons, glitter, whatevs! Um… now you did your birthday shopping AND did a craft with your child!! Boom!
- To save EVEN MORE TIME, buy and wrap in bulk. Buy 3–6 at a time and have yourself a little wrapping party. Wrap in the paper and set aside somewhere ready to go and then do ribbon and tag as you’re running out the door to the party. (Find a permanent little spot to keep the tags, ribbon, sharpies and a pair scissors so they’re ready to go when you need them!)
Is it a little less personal? Sorta-kinda.
Does anyone who has a child get it? Very likely!!
But guess what? We don’t have time to worry about that!
It’s good enough or maybe even more than that… it might actually be AWESOME!!
Now you can use your time to pick out that one favorite thing and share it with EVERYONE!!! And use the time you save to make some waffles!!! Win-win!!!
What are your time and money-saving ideas on the whole birthday present thing? Let us know in the comments!
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