Leah: My daughter is 11 and she keeps getting invited to parties throughout a year. Before I knew it, I was spending more than my budget for her classmates and herself on gifts. That’s when I decided to get in charge of my gift giving habits. Even if others spend more on my child, I decided not to feel pressured to match dollar-to-dollar if it’s not in my budget. For me, the numbers that work are between $10 and $20 for her regular classmates, and between $20 and $25 for her closest friends.Helen: Do you really need all the gifts people bring for your kids? Often time I get the exact same gift from two different people. In those cases, I save the effort of going all the way to the shops and changing the gift, and simply pass it on to another person. It may not be super personalized, but chances are, they are going to love it!
