If you’ve ever been halfway out the door for a kids’ birthday party and realized you forgot to buy a gift, one mom has got you covered with an incredible tip she calls one of her “most genius parenting hacks.” KC Davis, a licensed therapist and author, recently shared her method for eliminating that day-of birthday party panic, and you’re going to want to take notes on this birthday present hack.
“At the beginning of the school year, I go to Wirecutter.com and I search ‘best gifts for’ and I fill in the blank with however old my kid is. And then I find the best $15 gender-neutral toy on that list and I buy 10 of them,” she says, pointing to an open cabinet in her kitchen stocked with multiples of the same item.
Davis also buys a bunch of gift bags “so that all throughout the year, when we’re running off to a birthday party, I just pop one of these and we’re ready to go,” clarifying that the tip works best for those elementary-school years when it seems like there’s a never-ending stream of kids’ birthday parties on the calendar.
“Now, is realizing on a random Saturday ‘Oh sh*t, there’s a birthday party today’ and getting halfway out the door before you realize you don’t have a present a niche problem of mine? Possibly.” she jokes. “But it’s not any longer.”
As for why 10 gifts is the magic number she’s settled on, Davis notes that there are 10 months in the school year, and her family’s current rule is that each kid is allowed to attend one party per month in order to prioritize their family’s time spent together.
Naturally, fellow parents in the comments section of Davis’ post loved the idea, sharing their own helpful tips for eliminating party day panic. “I have a bin of gifts,” shared one person. “When I find great deals on wonderful things, I buy them and put them in my bin. Then I can select for each person as their bdays happen!”
Other moms shared that they’d stock up on $15 gift cards to their local ice cream shop, bookstore, and/or movie theater, along with a slew of birthday cards, so they’d never be frazzled trying to find a present. This would definitely work as your kids move away from wanting toys as gifts on their special day.
Davis’ hack even scored the approval of a toy store employee. “I work in a toy store and we see SO MANY morning-of-the-party panicked shopping trips/meltdowns,” they wrote, adding, “this is genius.”
If you’re curious, the “toy of the year” in her household for this current school year is The Fuzzies. Truly genius, indeed.
