The Gift Box

Birthday invites and parties flood our Spring weekends.


“Mom, if I’m invited, I must go to these parties.” For a split second, my daughter morphed into Paris Hilton.

While I rejoice in the fact that we are not the Hiltons, I would love their pocketbook. Nonetheless, Babydoll’s social life dances on.

Surely this clever idea was a seed planted from someone else, possibly even a WFMW post, so I relinquish credit to the first reader who recognizes it as their own.

We have a Gift Box. If I spot a toy, book, or craft priced cheaply, I purchase it and add to our Gift Box. Heck, I’ve even contributed duplicate gifts belonging to the girls to the box. Shhhh, don’t tell them.

Then, when the girls attend a party on short notice (all the time) or not, the girls select a present for gifting from the Gift Box. So often, school kids’ parties and presents whiz by in a blur, and to spend much more than a tener is a financial burden and a waste.

At first, I was afraid the girls would moan and groan to have the gift selection for themselves. Nope. It is amazing how children enjoy the gift of giving.

In fact, I’ve created worse problem: The other day we were out and had no time to retreat home to the Gift Box, and Babydoll was actually bothered; disappointed that we had to go buy a gift at the store!

For more tips, check out Shannon's blog!