‘I crowdfunded my kid's birthday gift’
Why 50/50 parties are the hot new trend
Your kids will get invited to several birthday parties every year, which means shelling out anywhere from $10-$50 each time.
Then there’s their own birthday party, not to mention parties for cousins and other relatives. It’s a lot of money, a lot of presents, and well… let’s be honest, a lot of crap that will clutter up your home and end up in charity shops or worse – landfill.
Dad and writer at babble.com, Buzz Bishop, has a great solution to the birthday gift conundrum – 50/50 parties.
The idea is, each child who comes to the party brings a small amount of cash – say five or 10 dollars, and the birthday boy or girl get to spend half that amount on a present they really want – say a LEGO kit or a game – and give the other half to charity.
“Think about it. A dozen kids at $5-$10 each is $60-$100,” Buzz writes. “That’s an awesome $30 LEGO kit for the birthday kid and a nice bit of cash going to people who could really use it.”
All you need to do is add a few lines on your child’s birthday present, saying something like:
Please note that gifts are not required. If you would like to give one, we are asking for a small cash gift of $5 instead.
James is proud to have a 50/50 party to raise money for his favourite charity. James will use half of the money collected to buy a small LEGO kit for himself and then donate the rest to a rescue centre/wildlife charity/the Smith Family.
“Genius, isn’t it?,” Buzz adds. “The kid gets ONE thing they really want, they get a crazy cake and ice-cream day with their friends, AND they get to learn charity by helping out the community.”
After all, as Buzz points out, the birthday shouldn’t be about the stuff, it’s about the celebration.
Nicola Conville has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 20 years across a wide range of print and online publications. Her areas of expertise are parenting, health and travel. She has two children; Lucy, age eight, and Nathan, age five.
