Guide to Frugal Gifting for Kids

This post is part of the Frugal Parenting series with MrsJanuary.com, FrugalEdmontonMama.com and SimplyFrugal.ca.

This guest post was written by Lori of FrugalEdmontonMama.com

With birthday party season right around the corner, gifting can break the budget. It’s one of those things that I don’t really think about when planning our $100/week for entertainment and miscellaneous costs, and an oversight that most parents make.

Planning ahead for birthday gifts can save the budget, but also saves time. Planning ahead can reduce those trips to Toys R Us to pick up a suitable gift minutes before the party, where you are likely to overpay not only for the gift – but for cards and gift wrap too.

Here are some of the ways that money can be saved on children’s gifts:

Shop Sales, Shop Early

Look for sales that advertise 40% or more off of the regular price of gifts. Shopping these sales is a great way to get brand name toys, high quality wooden toys and themed toys, for less. Large retail stores, like Toys R Us, have certain brands on sale every week. Consider the popular toys for your child’s age group or future toys that can be stashed away and pick them up to get the most bang for your buck.

Buy Quality Toys

Buying high quality toys, from well known brands, that are going to last is going to save on the cost of replacing these items in the future. High quality toys don’t have to come with high price tags; shopping sales and comparing prices reduces the cost, and the chance you are going to be running off to replace the toys.

Think Outside of the Toy Store

Toys R Us may be the first place that you think of when it comes to shopping for toys, but there are many online boutiques offering low prices and even deals including free shipping. Signing up for communication from these Canadian online toy shops can give you deals like 40% off of the entire store, reduced shipping and even free local pick-up if you live within driving area of the store.

Use Coupons

We’ve been seeing more and more coupons for toys over the course of the last year. From coupons released through Websaver for Fisher Price toys, or the same coupons found in the pages of Today’s Parent magazine, it makes it that much easier to save while shopping for toys. Combine coupons for Chapters and shop in the sale section to save and keep your eyes open for coupons for leading toy stores to save even more.

Buying toys doesn’t have to break the bank. Using these tips, you can stop the  pre-birthday mad dash to the toy store and save money on holidays for your own children, too.

Lori is an Edmonton mama that can help you to change the way that you shop through coupons and deal-hunting. Money saving and coupon using made simple is the name of her game. Lori blogs at FrugalEdmontonMama.com daily.