Comments on: Why I Force My Kids to Contribute to Birthday Party Gifts

By: bank deals

bank deals — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:06:48 +0000

We make a halloween tree each year that everyone admires. The nice thing is it’s fairly cheap and easy to make. Get about ten of those plastic jack-o-lanterns that cost about a buck each and string them up around a tree at different lengths. String blinking/chasing christmas lights along and into each of the pumpkins. It looks fabulous. It’s great for trees in the front yard for when your guests arrive or if you have one you can see in the backyard. You could probably do this inside your house as well, hanging them up around a spooky room and dim the lights

By: Group Discounts - SavingAdvice.com Blog

Group Discounts - SavingAdvice.com Blog — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:39:36 +0000

[...] and Noble with my family. It is around the corner from my home and we like to browse. When my kids attend a birthday party, that is where they usually buy the gift that they will bring. When my wife wants a book (since she [...]

By: Carl

Carl — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:53:14 +0000

I like the concept. We have decided to restrict the amount we are willing to pay for a gift. We too find that $20 seems to be the going rate. I think now that my daughter has become a bit older, she can purchase the entire gift with her own allowance or earned money. I salute you Mr. Mitchell

By: Spicoli

Spicoli — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:55:57 +0000

i think it is improbable to have a child that is of the ages 1-9 to pay for their own party gift on account of, kids that young cant get jobs.

By: Persephone

Persephone — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:04:54 +0000

This article reminds me of a birthday party my teenage son attended. Over one hundred teens were invited. The birthday girl asked that each attendee bring an inexpensive children’s toy to the party. Several of the teens brought all the toys to a local chidren’s charity the day after the party. Lovely!

By: Ifedeji

Ifedeji — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:41:14 +0000

Wow! I don’t have any children yet, but honestly I believe this is a fantastic idea!! When I do have children, I am definitely going to do it.

This teaches several different lessons and also allows you to maintain some type of relaxation on weekends – I can’t imagine it being too extraordinarily fun to work all week and then spend part of almost every weekend at kiddie parties.

Thanks for sharing!

By: Invited to a party? That’ll be $10, son

Invited to a party? That’ll be $10, son — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:49:25 +0000

[...] the new post, Mitchell remarkable which he as well as his mother “easily could have outlayed over the [...]

By: Topwaystosave

Topwaystosave — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:06:59 +0000

My little one is only 15 months, but when she is older I love the idea. Great article.

By: ang

ang — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:03:05 +0000

I am right there with you Leslie, #1 poster. I refuse to do goodie bags and we do nothing fancy for our kids. Most of the time we just do a family get togehter with family only and as my kids get older they can have one or two kids over. As for them attending other parties, my solution this year is EVERYONE is getting $10 g.c. to the Ben and Jerry’s.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:37:50 +0000

I think the whole party thing has gotten a bit out of hand as lizajane said. I like your idea or the budgetting idea or the no gift idea.

I have one friend who gives her kids just about anything they could possibly want. She started, at an early age, telling them that any birthday gift they received had to be donated to the less fortunate. Doesn’t quite fit in to your idea of helping to make your kids fiscally responsible, but I always thought that the concept was interesting and helped to make her boys aware of just how lucky they were.

I also remember, when I was a personal financial planner, being asked by a relatively newly divorced mom to sit her two young teens down and explain the financial facts of life to them. Their father was getting paid under the table to avoid paying child support, their house needed major repairs and designer anything or the latest electronic toy was no longer an option. Tight budgetting wasn’t an option; it was essential, if there was going to be food on the table. Boy, were they shocked! But their mom told me that they understood, started helping out and stopped whining for things they didn’t need, but which their mother felt guilty for not being able to give to them. I have the feeling that a lot of parents are having that conversation with their kids these days!

Too many young people are raised with no sense of what money really is or what effort a $100 pair of jeans represents. I’m a firm believer in starting children young with chores tied to an allowance. They learn that they get paid for their efforts, not just because they exist. Also, if they want something that is outside the family budget, they know just what it’s going to take THEM in order to buy it. By their teens, parents ought to be sittng them down and explaining how credit cards work and why they’re generally not a good idea and simple taxes, too.

Dang! Got a bit off track! LOL

Basically, I agree with my first statement at the top.