But seriously, what do I do with this? He doesn’t need, nor do I want in the house $265 worth of new Gameboy games. They’re all giftcards to various stores (Borders, Best Buy and E Something Games), so even my usual cash rule of “save 10%, donate 10% and have fun with the rest” doesn’t really work here. Do I make him sell me 20% of the cards so he can follow the regularly scheduled rules?
I did suggest to him that he save a couple of the cards for gift buying opportunities this year - dad’s birthday, mother’s day, etc. He thought that was a good idea. Not that he’ll regift the card, but use the card to buy gifts with.
I guess this all happened 'cause he’s at this really awkward gift buying stage - too old for Legos, not into books. So everyone got him a gift card!
And his birthday’s in three weeks. Wanna bet what he’s going to get more of? :smack:
Make sure you know if any of them have expiration dates. Other than that, he can just hang on to them until something comes along that he Just Has To Have.
$265 ain’t what it used to be. He could carry all his purchased loot under one arm in some of those stores.
The Borders card sounds good, and no reason he shouldn’t stock up on some books (and maybe a DVD or CD).
And Best Buy has a lot of non-electrical/non-game stuff…
Sounds to me like some very nice people were very generous. Cut the kid some slack and let him go nuts in those places…you might be surprised to see he brings home some good/educational/practical items.
A suggestion, and bear in mind I know almost nothing about your family, him, etc.
He might enjoy going, with a friend, to some store and getting something more designed for two (or just multiple) people than one. Or you could have him get something you and he could use/play with/etc, or something he and another adult in his life could have fun with, etc. (That would be me not remembering your gender, relationship status or sexual preference:))
Better I guess than to receive money…if the child lives in a houserhold where they make you “save” most of every cash money gift in a “college fund”. My mom does that and my sister now has a grand total of $90 in a college fund! :rolleyes: My Mom doesn’t understand the time value of money.
Wow! Nice haul there WhyKid! I am not a parent, have never been a parent, never will be a parent and don’t wanna be a parent. That’s why the little kid side of me is talking and saying, let the kid go shopping and go nuts.
I would, in fact, make him sell you the 20 percent. Heck, provided your needs are met, I might buy all but one store’s worth, and convert it to ‘credit for that store’, so he could get something big, like an X-Box, Game Boy DS, or whatever. I’m assuming, of course, you have a personal budget for books and whatnot.
Yeah, I’ve decided to remove the small tree I felt growing up my posterior and just let him have some fun. I wasn’t really upset at all, just a bit exasperated.
He’s decided to save a few of them for the year (they all have at least a year on them), sell his current Gameboy EP and buy the newest whizbang whatever handheld from Nintendo, along with enough new games to make his friends ill with jealousy. And any Eion Collier (sp?) books he can find.
I *am *going to buy $50 (probably the Borders :p) from him so we can maintain the save and donate philosophy. That part’s really important to me, as I never learned to save as a kid, and I’m trying desperately to be better in that regard. WhyDad thinks I’m being silly, but it’s bugging me enough that I know it’s important, if that makes any sense.
I’m a huge fan of gift cards, myself. Kids are hard to shop for - who knows what-all they’re into these days? (Hmm. We do not seem to have a doddering old fuddy-duddy among our smilie options.) Boys, in my oh-so-humble opinion, are harder than girls, and the WhyKid sounds like he is just about EXACTLY at the worst possible age for guess-gifts. One could go so easily wrong with books or clothing, and there’s that added concern about electronic games that can’t be returned if opened (somewhere around here there’s a thread about that specifically, in fact.)
While I like the idea of saving and donating a portion of cash gifts and completely understand why that is important to you, I think you’re making your own life more difficult by buying one of his cards to enforce that concept. A suggestion: ask him to use 20% of his gift card purchases for something charitable; he could buy something for Toys For Tots, for example. Then next time he gets cash, let hm put 20% in savings and skip the charity requirement.
I disagree wholeheartedly, especially when it comes to gifts for kids. All it says is, "I know that you’re into [books, music, movies] but I don’t know what you have, or what you want, or how you want it, so here’s a gift card to a [book, music, movie] store, so you can get something you’ll definitely enjoy.
Me too. When I can, I combine my gift card presents with an offer to take the recipient shopping with it, too. We have a number of teenage girls in the family and they all got Borders gift cards from me. Yesterday I gathered them all together and we went to Borders, spent about two hours gleefully perusing books, then went to lunch. Lovely way to spend an afternoon!
I usually frown on giving gift cards, but the Target cards available this year that take $5.00 off of the purchase price and donate it to St. Jude’s (along with $5.00 in matching funds from Target Inc!) were irresistable. A few $20.00 cards for all of my relatives who have lost someone to cancer went a long way: a nice sweater and a gift card; a book about indie rock bands and a gift card; a cute earring/necklace set and a gift card. It’s a nice touch is all.
