Savings on Birthday Gifts

Day 35

My daughter is in a wonderful class of 18 students. Almost every student in her class has a birthday party in which my daughter is invited. I try to take my daughter to everyone’s birthday party. I know this sounds crazy, but we live in a town other than the one we grew up in, so my husband and I have only a few close friends and no family locally. So I feel like spending time with her friends from school and attending their parties is an important part of her socialization.

That being said, I need to economize on spending on birthday gifts: Both for the sake of time and the sake of money. I can’t go out and purchase a gift every time there is an invitation. So when I find something good, I try to capitalize on it. Last month such an opportunity arose.

My local Pottery Barn Kids had marked down a bunch of items that make great birthday gifts. Many of the items were projects, books, puzzles, and interesting kits from National Geographic. All the items were on clearance and boasted an additional percentage off. I bought about $50 worth of toys and games. On Saturday my daughter had a birthday party to attend and I chose 2 items from the Pottery Barn Kids Shop: A National Geographic Kit and a Football themed game. One item was originally marked at $29.99 but I paid $3, the other was $9.99 and I paid $1. So for a grand total of $4, I was able to give a very nice party gift. And I saved $35.98 off of retail.

In addition, I placed the purchases on my Pottery Barn Credit Card, which gives me $25 in gift certificates for every $250 spent, so while I might be a long way off from the gift certificate, I am one step closer than AI was before!

SAVINGS TO DATE: - $ 697.57  (previous total + $35.98 saved off retail)

 TIME SPENT TODAY: - 0 (This occurred during a regular outing)