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December 2011 Moms
guccikat
member
1st Birthday budgets
guccikat
member
I know! It's only september, but let's admit it.. Some of us are thinking birthday party! Well I was going to custom order a cake for DD and got a quote back.. For a 10 serving cake it would be 180.. Hmm.. I don't want to spend that much for a cake.
So how much are you going to spend on LO birthdays?
For us:
Cake 100 max!!
Brunch with family 300
Gift 1500 we are buying her a .50 carat diamond every year until she gets married and then we can make it into a bracelet.. This I consider more as an investment. We will still get her toys aside from this.
It will be more of a family and close friend event this year.
So how much are you going to spend on LO birthdays?
For us:
Cake 100 max!!
Brunch with family 300
Gift 1500 we are buying her a .50 carat diamond every year until she gets married and then we can make it into a bracelet.. This I consider more as an investment. We will still get her toys aside from this.
It will be more of a family and close friend event this year.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: 1st Birthday budgets
I'm DIYing as much as possible, including cake. I'm considering taking a short cake decorating class before the party.
As far as the gifts, I don't know - probably not much. Even if I had the money, I wouldn't spend that much on one gift. But, I plan on having more kids.
ETA - If you're spending that much on the cake, what's a little extra on the cake? Cake is more worth it IMO.
DS #2 - 4/2/14
LCT - 5.15.14 ~ 9lbs, 22.5 inches
LCT - 5.15.14 ~ 9lbs, 22.5 inches
I will take care of baking, my husband will likely be the appetizer/cheese board guy. No specific budget.
Toy presents: 50-100
Parent to child gift: I would like to have a piece of jewelry made for her. Something that takes an element of our wedding bands and makes it include her. It might be a spendy gift but I don't think spendy gifts need to be mocked. I guess it all depends on *why* it's being brought up...
Cake40 and it will serve 2030 people.
Balloons20
Food100 we are having it where DH works so we get a discount.
Presents100150 between the two. We prefer to get one or two good gifts rather than a bunch of little crap.
Um... maybe 40 bucks to get a cake from the store and we'll make the food and just have a few friends and family.
Are you being for real or are you just trying to flaunt your wealth? I think that money could be better spent, like a previous poster said, on stocks. A nest egg has a lot more value then a bracelet that is so expensive she'd be scared to wear it out.
$100,150 on gifts?! Dang girl!
That's not bad for two kids!
I think I spent about 75 on Sloanes birthday gifts and 50 on her Christmas gifts. I got them on sale since Zellers is closing down.
Breastfeeding and pregnant!
This woman is very wise.
We'll probably spend around $100-150 for the party. That includes food and any decorations. We're only having around 15 people so we won't need tons. My mom makes amazing cakes so she'll be baking it. I have no idea what we'll be getting her as gifts. Probably a couple toys and some practical things she'll need as she enters toddler-hood.
I agree with previous posters. If you have that kind of money, you should put it in a savings account. I wish I could set aside money like that for my daughter every year. I think she would much rather have a full ride to college than a diamond bracelet that she wouldn't wear very often.
But alas. Your kid, your money, your choice.
Fastest year of my life.
Hmmm, I used to work in jewelry. $1500 doesn't buy a great .5 carat diamond. I'd suggest investing at least $2k a year to get a decent diamond she won't be embarrassed to wear.
BFP #2: 8.31.16 Dx w/ GD @ 28w DD Born @ 36w: 4.21.17
Duncan Hines box cake. Target garland of triangles. @$25 of toys. Pointy hat with an annoyingly tight elastic under the chin. A handful of family members. Am I missing something?
http://oi62.tinypic.com/2w73hq9.jpg
a pony. duh!
LCT - 5.15.14 ~ 9lbs, 22.5 inches
A cake is only for photos, you eat it and it literally will go straight down the toilet.. I don't want to spend extra money on it because its not worth it..
I want to gift DD something meaningful when she gets married, and the plan is to buy one every year and then gift them to her at once.. And 1500 may seem like a big amount at once.. But some people spend more than that on alcohol or Starbucks and they think it's worth it..
It's not a matter of wealth, but how we choose to spend our money.. You don't need to be Beyonce to be able to do this. In fact, it could be done with a birthstone instead.. But something that I can collect every year and then make something meaningful.. Toys and cakes IMO don't hold a lot of meaning.
We already have money ready for her education so this is really coming from my spending money..
Bahaha! Finally some 3am entertainment! Thanks ladies
Wow we are getting off easy!
We will be back in Florida so the party will be smaller compared to if we had it up with family. I'm going to estimate 10-15 max, and thats with family coming in. Our baby invites we are getting a deal on. My SIL is making them for free(she has a custom invite business) we are just buying the paper, which we got enough for 40 invites for about 12 bucks. My IL's are big about buying the first birthday cake, a lady at our church has her own cake shop she is making a cake for 60 bucks. We are having the party at our new house (kill two birds with one stone. For J's gift we are going to sponsor a child in his name. We want to do this every year to teach him about giving and being a blessing to someone else. He doesn't need toys,books or clothes so we are just going to tell people if they want to get a gift then bring a boy or girl gift to donate to a child in need. I'm going to assume between the food and paper products I'll spend around 100 bucks. So maybe 200 bucks all together for everything for his birthday. Not to bad.
I'm pretty sure we're buying him his own fighter jet this year. Maybe a yacht for his 2nd birthday, I haven't decided yet.
We'll probably go mid-range on the jet, so maybe $35mil?
Since we're breaking out the big guns there, we'll probably skimp on the cake, so we're in the same boat!
We are having an entire petting zoo. Actually, we might buy him the Houston Zoo so he can go anytime he wants. Only the best for my LO.
Seriously OP, that is ridiculous.
What the crap!?!?! That was supposed to say $100-150. I hate my stupid phone. (Since when could we comment here from phones?? I decided to give it a try and was shocked it actually worked!).
OP - I don't want to flame you but have you and your DH really thought about this gift idea? Where are you going to put the diamonds? Are you going to get insurance on the diamonds so that you are covered in case something happens? What if your daughter doesn't get married? What if she doesn't like diamonds? I like diamonds, but a $30K plus diamond bracelet is something I'd never wear. What if you have other children? What are you going to do for them? What if something happens and you can't afford $1500 each year for a diamond?
Have you looked into the fact that if you put $1500 into an interest earning account each year that your investment could double by the time she gets married? So a $35K bracelet could be $70K cash? If you gave me that option when I got married, I would have taken the cash. You could buy her a freakin' nice bracelet when she got married AND give her a nice down payment for her home or cash for her life with her husband.
My husband and I both have well paying jobs and rather than buy crazy gifts for them right now, we are putting at least 30% of our paychecks into future growth savings accounts for us and the kids.
Our party will be just family with a nice home cooked dinner, cake from Costco/Target, few small gifts and nothing extravagant. He's 1! Now for his 16th birthday, I think we'll rent out a concert venue and have the latest and greatest Pop Star to play for his entire school and get him a loaded Bentley, but not at 1
OP - if you have the money, then I guess that is a nice idea. I hope your daughter likes diamonds. I also hope the next 25+ years you are fortunate enough to afford a nice gift like that for your DD (and any other future kids?)
I think it was tacky to throw the $$ out there, like you want us to know how much money you have and are spending. But hey, as Luann says, 'money can't buy you class'.
Our party is going to be small - family and close friends, so we'll probably spend $400-500 total:
75-100 - cupcakes & large smash cupcake
100 - other food (we're having an 'open house', so no real meal, just lots of apps)
50 - decorations and invitations (if that!)
150 - gift - only because I want to get him a little stuffed rocker, then some wooden blocks or train set, and hopefully I can find a rocker under $100.
Then she will be a VERY lucky lady!
OP- I am going to echo some of the other ladies here and say that the idea of the bracelet sounds very nice, but I do not think it was totally necessary to let us all know the price. Even people who could afford that type of gift, would not be announcing it's cost like that. -but to each their own. I am sure that your daughter would love such a beautiful gift one day.
As for our budget, we are keeping things very small because no one is planning on flying out to Scotland for DD's birthday (not that I expected anyone too!) Therefore, it will just be me, our dog, and hopefully DH -He might be headed offshore to oversee a project
. If that is the case, DD's birthday celebration would take place when he gets back. I will be keeping it simple and only buying a cake from a bakery and maybe some party hats-purely for pictures.
DH and I have talked about DD's gift, and I think we will be buying her a plush rocking toy like some of the other people from our board. Other than that, maybe some smaller gifts-but that is it.
ETA: I guess the whole point of your post was to see what our budgets would be?? So I am looking to spend anywhere from $250-$350.
$150 for the rocker
$50-$100 on other small toys/clothes
$25-$50 for the cake/party hats
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sibling love
I think she's seriously that materialistic...after all, she goes by Gucci Kat.
I spent about $40 on decorations (plates/napkins/balloons/balloon weights). We are doing an Ohio State theme since his birthday is 11/10 (he was born early). It won't be so much "Ohio State" though, just mostly the colors, red/grey/silver/black...
Our cake will be those colors, and a 2 tiered cake like this one, with a smash cake...and she only charges $52 (it will be vanilla cake with raspberry filling...she did our wedding cake and it was so yummy)
Food is going to be like a tailgaiting menu... buffalo chicken dip, potato skins, hotdogs, chips and salsa, etc.
Gifts, probably about $150-200 (I've bought him a few small things, but I want to get him a chair also...I'm just debating on whether to do it for birthday or Christmas).
We're only having family, so around 20-25 people, nothing huge. Just fun! I'm not into the huge elaborate parties/gifts...like other PP's said, I'd rather put that extra money into DS's savings account so he can use it for college/home/etc. If my mom had given me a $30,000 bracelet when I got married, my DH and I probably would have sold it to help pay for our house or pay off college loans...to me that would be a better use of the money...but to each their own
OMG I just read this and literally snorted water out my nose from giggling so hard!!
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sibling love
We also have a local grocery that does this. We got a cake & smash cake from them when DD1 turned 1. Think it cost $25, maybe less. I don't see the point in spending anymore than that. We'll either make something easy for food or order pizza. It will be a small party - maybe 15 people. I don't plan to decorate much, maybe some balloons. I will do gift bag/favors for the older kids (there will be 4 including DD1). So maybe $20 for that. I'm not sure about gifts. Maybe $100 or so. I don't really "budget" for these things. I just know what I think is reasonable and won't pay more than that.
I wasn't going to reply to this ridiculousness but since the board is still painfully slow I guess I'll chime in.
While I think the sentiment of gaining a special gift for your daughter over the years is genuine and thoughtful I have to echo previous posters. It seems like a huge waste of money. She's not going to enjoy getting a diamond every year...because really, what 1, 2, 3, 4...year old wants a rock for her birthday? You're banking on the "diamonds are a girls best friend" line. What if she doesn't even like diamonds. That money could be set back gaining interest for college, savings account, etc.
What really gets me is you're setting your child up for a lifestyle you believe she should lead. I think that's very hurtful and doing more damage than you know. If you're like this in her everyday life I can only imagine what sort of adult she will become. My guess would be she's not going to think much of the bracelet after years of being spoiled and your dream of it being a special moment when she wears it is only going to disappoint you. Or, if your focus is carrying out YOUR dream of making this (what you think is) special piece for her and neglecting normal things she'll need/want in life (toys, first car, college education, first home, etc) she'll end up pawning that ridiculous piece of jewelry just sitting in a drawer to begin her life as an adult.
What happens when she falls in love with a young, very blue collared boy? He can't afford 1/4 carat engagement ring---yet she's expected to wear a $24,000 bracelet down the isle? It seems pretty dumb.
All in all....I think this sounds like it's your dream to build this bracelet. In the end I don't think your daughter is going to get as much enjoyment out of it as you think. And let's face it....jewelry isn't a very solid investment all the time.
But again....your money, your problem.
And I have to agree that your post does sound like your bragging...because, come on, what area would quote you $18 for a piece of cake but only charge you $300 for a family brunch? ....it wasn't about the budget, was it?
This. I'd prefer to put money into stocks, mutual funds, or hell even just an savings account. They can waste their money on frivolous things later...why start for them. Just saying.
As for a budget for a 1st...let me repeat 1st birthday...no more than any other family gathering, some food, a regular $30 cake, and some balloons, we will likely give him a few little toys but he has enough already. Plus he is 1. Won't remember or care about this birthday for his entire life. Its all for the adults to celebrate.
This. Except for maybe the decorations.