What would you give for this gift?

June4bride2be

Our neighbors gave us a HUGE lot of Geotrax for R. I mean hundreds of dollars worth! They all seem to work and are in great shape. It was a combined collection between 2 houses, 6 kids. They didn't want anything for them, just space since they were no longer used. We are thinking of setting it all up for Christmas morning as his big gift.

I was going to give the 6 kids a full size candy bar for Halloween and tape a $5 Target GC to each one.

Does that sound ok, too much or too little? Any other ideas? Kids range for Kindergarten to 5th grade. 4 boys and 2 girls.

Thanks! 

Bianca42

Do all of the kids know that the trains were given away?  My neighbor often brings me things her son has outgrown...but she does it after he goes to school so he doesn't see.  He would never miss it, but he would freak if he saw it leaving.

Since you are thinking about using it as a part of your Christmas gift, I would probably give the gift cards to the parents so that they can use it towards Christmas too.

Bianca42

Oh, I would invest in a battery charger and a bunch of AAA rechargeable batteries.  Those trains eat through batteries like nobody's business.  My oldest has a ton of them and we love them.

I was buying a pack of AAA energizer rechargeables whenever there was a coupon.  But, I've found that if you watch CVS, they often run specials on their brand rechargeables.  There should be some good sales on them leading up to Christmas.

wendyj

I'd give some kind of giftcard to the parents - maybe $5-10 for each kid? Or whatever you're comfortable giving.

Telyco

Ehhh...if I had all those kids and had to deal with them picking out something for $5 at target I would pull my hair out Not to mention they all will want something for $20 which leaves the parents in a tight spot.

I would just give the family something in return. I bet the best thing would be one big g/c to target or Wegmans.

goosh24

Telyco:

Ehhh...if I had all those kids and had to deal with them picking out something for $5 at target I would pull my hair out Not to mention they all will want something for $20 which leaves the parents in a tight spot.

I would just give the family something in return. I bet the best thing would be one big g/c to target or Wegmans.

Good points, and like another PP said, the kids may not all be totally aware that their toys were given away (even if they won't miss them).

ArcticFox

I'm not sure about the candy.  Kids can be picky, parents might not want their kids having big candy bars, and there are a LOT of kids with allergies (like my DD has a peanut allergy, she pretty much can't have any candy bars.

Plus pp are right, the kids might not know that the stuff is gone, or they might be sad thinking about it being gone (like my kids miss their toys if I take them out of rotation for a while).

My friend has given me a lot of big stuff for my kids (like a dollhouse, books, leappad, etc) and I've given her like $20 to moes when she's given me bigger stuff.  Maybe give the parents the GC...and then they could share a trip to moe's etc w their kids.

jnk062602

I agree, I would do a larger single gift card per family of what you were planning on spending to a restaurant or target or somewhere.  I wouldn't do the halloween thing bc it will just go in the bag and unless the parents are right there they may not even realize.  Or even if they do, maybe they will just think you are super awesome halloween house to trick or treat at.

June4bride2be

Telyco:

Ehhh...if I had all those kids and had to deal with them picking out something for $5 at target I would pull my hair out Not to mention they all will want something for $20 which leaves the parents in a tight spot.

Good point!

I should have mentioned that I usually give full size candy bars for Halloween, or put together a baggie of goodies. The parents always know what we give as they bring the group to the door.

I think I will just do that, making their bags extra nice. I don't know if all the kids know about it, but a couple did show me how to work the trains. I also don't know how much was each neighbors, maybe only 1 train belonged to one.

Thanks for the input, I will skip the small gc!