Gift cards--how much is too much?

This is why I hate gift cards! Sometimes I can find a great deal on something really awesome and spend way less. If you want to buy a present just do that. Kids get sooo much now it seems a bit ridiculous to me. I'd do what you are comfortable with, not what other moms do.

Brooke Romney is an unbalanced mom of three young boys who constantly has too much to do, and too little time. She writes the Mom Beat column for The Gilbert Republic.

I agree that I prefer not to give gift cards...but if I did buy one, I would do $25. We certainly get a lot of $25 ones from friends for my kid's birthdays. That said, I am referring to gifts from/between classmates at school/pre-school - NOT family.

The one thing I am really careful about is one gift from each kid. With 2 kids myself, usually only 1 of them is invited to the party. But if a family is kind enough to invite both of my kids to the party - then we give 2 gifts; one from each of my kids. Many places where you can have a party cap the number of kids you can invite - so if someone is using up 2 invites just on our 1 family, I treat it as 2 invites....2 gifts.

Happy2BMommy, is a stay-at-home mom who just turned 40 (argh!) with a 6 yr. old daughter and a 4 yr. old son, and is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Scottsdale.

My daughter who is 8 was just invited to a birthday party. The rsvp was by email. I also asked for suggestions on what this child likes. The reply I received was that this child likes to shop so a gift card to a book store or Target would be great. I would have gotten a gift probably around $15 but felt a gift card needed to be at least $20.

I personally like my children to receive gifts that they can open and be excited about. They have gotten some amazing things that I would never have thought of and it has expanded their horizons.

KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.

I think $25 is too much unless you are close to the family. Kids have so much these days. For kids under 6, I generally give $10-15 cards. Between 7-10, $15-20 seems good. And 11 and older, $20 is enough.

my son loves getting a gift card - depending on the age (he is 6), i think $15-$20 is fine.

Susie is a discussion leader in the east valley for arizonamoms.com. She has two sons, ages 6 and 2.

My dissenting opinion ... My parents (and now, my Mom, Brother, Sister, yada) are in the habit of dispensing money and gift cards like my birthday and Christmas are paydays. To me, being a bi-yearly cash machine says that you aren't interested in me. At the very least, if you know that I need clothes, get me a gift card for a department store. I do buy gift cards for the kids, but they're specific to each child. The college kids get a card for the campus bookstore, one for pizza, and one for gas.

However, I have always remembered the special gifts that I have received -- especially after I became a young adult. The 14-caret cross on the 14-caret chain. The handmade quilt. The hand-knit sweater in my favorite colors. And bunches and bunches of very cheap T-shirts and ball caps that make me laugh.

We can teach kids to be thoughful gift-givers. First, one needs to think about what the birthday boy/girl likes to do. Then, one gets a gift that helps him/her enjoy that activity even more. A stamped softball, baseball, glove, bat, hat, etc. will probably be kept well into adulthood, while a $25 gift card for McDonald's will just vex the Mom or Dad who has to let the kid use it, and pony up for the siblings who don't have one.

Gifts are not taxes. Gifts are taking some of what you have (time, savings, allowance, etc.) to get something for somebody who means something to you in honor of a special occasion in his/her life. The price tag means nothing. Personally, if I had a neighbor kid in the 8-10 age range, I'd just buy him/her a big honkin' bag of water balloons, and spend another $2.50 baking a batch of cupcakes. Under $5.00, and the kid has the time of his/her life.

It is, in fact, the thought that counts.