Party Gifts and Presents
Our children seem to have a far better social life than parents do! There seems to be a never ending round for birthday parties and social gatherings for them to go to. It seems to start as early as 2, there are plenty of first birthday parties too, but lets be fair these ones are more for the parents than the child!
Never ending parties does also mean never ending party gifts too and with thirty or so children in each class that could mean up to thirty or so gifts for each party… that’s a lot of gifts. Ok so not every child will have a party and not every child in every class will be invited to every party, parents do seem to be getting more selective and having smaller gatherings but even so, in the first year they are at school it’s a fairly safe bet that they will be invited to at least 12 to 18 parties in that year. Its also a fairly safe bet that for the majority of those parties your children go to, the gift buying will be last minute and in some cases it will catch you out completely!
There is a growing trend of forward thinking mums who are stock piling birthday gifts in a cupboard ready for those last minute pre-party moments when instead of rushing out to your local discount store for a suitable low cost item to wrap in cheerful birthday wrapping paper, the same discount store can probably also provide the all important card complete with correct birthday age on it! How many times have we met up with other mums out on the same last minute dash and then of course there is always the worry of duplication at the end of the day the choice is limited to a couple of items that fall into the correct age and cost appropriate category and if you have more than five parents out on the same desperate dash into town…. Well chances are.
Why not buy them in advance? Bought a couple at a time when you see the right gift at the right price. Discount stores are great and they do have their place but lets face it, there is a huge difference between a good quality thoughtful gift that has been bought in advance and one that has been purchased in a last minute dash.