Now's the time of year when all my friend's kids start having birthdays! I need some cheap, but fun ideas for gifts.

First we have a boy - turning 5. Soon we'll have boys turning 4 & 2. Then come my nieces 6, 4 & 3, oh an then my 7 year old nephew...

Anyone have any tried and true gifts they like to stock up on? Or do you shop one at a time as they come??

Thanks!

*You could always make your own scented playdough, and give it along with cookie cutters and little rolling pins. Usually you can pick up a mega pack of cutters and split it up.

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"Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body." ~Anonymous

I was goint to suggest the same thing. Only here is the deal you wrap the mound of playdough in alluminum foil in the shape of a giant kiss and then for the flag have it say happy b-day _____

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006

ooo, that's really cute!

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"Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body." ~Anonymous

Definately create a 'gift closet' of items that you find at garage sales and clearances. My girlfriend snatched up a bunch of games by Cranium at an after Christmas clearance sale Barnes & Noble for approx $5 a box - great deal!

Other ideas:

1) For the age range you mentioned, make tooth-fairy pillowcases or pillows. These are easy to find for girls but boys would surely appreciate something more suitable for them.

2) Give your gifts in a cloth drawstring bag, homemade of course. And make this apart of the gift. Kids LOVE these bags, especially boys. One year I gave all my gifts in drawstring bags and long after they forgot what was inside, the kids were telling me they wanted me to make them more bags.

3) A certificate for a playdate. This would be something special, of course, that follows the child's interests. Maybe if your family is going to a local baseball game the playdate could be for the friend to go with you or you could invite the kid over to go camping in your backyard. One friend gave DD a playdate to go fishing. She loved it! There are often free 'how-to' kid clinics at Lowes and Home Depot on Saturday mornings. You could invite the friend to go with you to one of those.

4) Look in non-toy store locations for your gifts. For instance, I tend to avoid the toy section of any store and instead go to the sporting goods section. Look also in the hardware section (what boy doesn't love having their own tool box?), home crafts, gardening or even the book section will have something really cool. Also look for toys in second-tier stores like Ross, TJMaxx, or Marshalls. Sometimes I find the neatest things there that I can't find anywhere else - at really good prices, too.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

Maybe some fun outdoor play items like sidewalk chalk, bubbles, squirt guns. You can usually find these kinds of things at the dollar stores. Maybe an arts and crafts box with crayons, colored paper, etc.

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Just to let you know that this is the time of year that Target starts clearancing out a lot of their toy department to make way for the new stuff coming out for Christmas time. My local one just starting marking their stuff down this past week and more is to come- this is usually when I get most of my Christmas and Birthday shopping done.

I agree about the gift chest - I have a drawer in my dining room that has all kinds of things in it. I know there comes a point that you as a parent just get sick of getting the junky toys. I have really enjoyed it when my kids have gotten practical gifts - such as beach towels. We use them as bath towels also. We always give my step niece and nephew gift certificates to Mcdonalds and Chick-Fil-A.

Oh such good ideas ladies!! We HAVE to get stuff when we see them on clearance and put them away. For instance, at the bath and body semi-anual sale, I got about 5 gift sets (I put together myself) and put them away for Christmas or birthdays that come up. It seems that whenever a birthday or holiday is upon us, we cant find something cheap and nice. Thats when its time to dig into the "present stash" or make an adorable hersey kiss out of playdough!

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I like personalized books for children too. I did not know what they exactly were, and when our neighbors suggested them for our six-year old, I was skeptical. I found out what they were in wikipedia, and I was somewhat sold on the idea. It wasn't very expensive, so I tried it out. I ordered a book from Unique-Child-Gift-Ideas.com. And it turned out fine. If you to know more about this, ask me. There are some other websites I can show you too, but this is good enough.