Family Matters
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
We need help!
My husband and I have a niece who has a birthday coming up soon... We know what she likes and wants, but with the baby coming we can't afford the stuff her mom asked if we could get. We know she likes the boy band "Big Time Rush" (look them up if you don't know) and we are wondering if you guys knew a good place to get something Big Time Rush that is under $15 that'd be great! Thank you sooo much from DH & I! 
Re: We need help!
Why don't you just ger her a gift card somewhere that sells this stuff so she can buy what she wants with it?
Also, it's pretty rude of any parent to ask someone to #1 buy a gift for their child and #2 then, be specific about what to buy. If she was providing some ideas that's one thing, but telling you outright is just rude and presumptous.
I agree $150 seems like a lot of money! I got to Home Goods and get a little stuffed animal for $12. Granted, she's 2 but...
Just get what you can afford.
Honestly- I wouldn't be bending over backwards to find something like this "cheap". If you buy this now, then you're only setting up the expectation that you'll buy big, expensive gifts from here on out. They aren't going to know you found a bargain. If they think something costs X and you buy it, they'll think you spent X.
Is this an expectation you really want to create?
Buy something reasonable that you can afford so that her mom realizes she can't ask ____ of you.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
$150 is practically my entire gift budget for a year! I think your neice should get something she would like, if that happens to be a $10 poster of that boy band, well there ya go. I don't think children really have the concept of something being expensive or cheap, if they like it they will use it.
I have twin teenage cousins, who have been blessed with very well-off parents, they are always getting incredibly expensive gifts and thats what they have started expecting. We get lists for birthdays and christmas every year with items I would never buy or even afford for myself. They now get a lovely card with 20 dollars each as gifts. They can work toward the expensive items or their parents can buy them.
Set yourself a reasonable budget on presents for others and stick to it, eventually people will realize either you accept a gift graciously and for what it is, a kind gesture. Or just stop asking you to purchase gifts at all.
I hope you and your H are made of money!!! My sisters are very generous, but they would not spend $150 on a birthday gift!
If she likes big time rush, then I would get her a poster, a CD, or even a subscriptio to teen beat or tiger beat magazine.
FWIW, I was going to buy my DD tickets to see New Direction, and the seats were between $250-$2000! So no New Direction for DD!
My cousin pulled a similar thing on my mom a while ago, actually it was worse. She bought her son a present on my mom's behalf and then told her "I already bought his gift from you. This is what I spent ___ " and expected the money.
That was the last she saw of us.
Do you what you can afford and stop this absurd behaviour before a precedent is set.
There's nothing wrong with the mother sending around to relatives a list of things that your niece wants for her birthday, but is everything on that list really over 150? That seems pretty unfair. In my family, when one of my younger cousins has a birthday (they are between the ages of 7 and 2, so they are like nieces and nephews to me and DH) my aunts will usually send out a variety of gift suggestions at different prices. Some of my older aunts and uncles might spend a lot more on a gift because they want to and can afford to, but for people like me who are on a tighter budget (like you, we have a baby coming as well) there's usually a few cheaper options (for the last birthday, I bought my six-year-old cousin a 12 dollar rubik's cube, which was on her list).
Like PP's have already said, I don't think you even need to spend 150, unless this is some HUGE birthday--but even then, 50 dollars seems to be enough. Google Big Time Rush and buy something with their picture on it for 25 bucks, or get a gift card to one of your niece's favorite stores. Again, unless this is some major birthday celebration (Sweet Sixteen? Quinceanera?) I don't think you need to go over 25.
Get what you can afford. It's ok to spend a lot on someone you love, if you have the money and it's what you want to do, but it's ok NOT to spend a lot of money for birthdays, too!
I'm not sure how old your niece is, but I'm sure she'll be happy with a number of different things. My DD really wants a jacket from her dance school. They are about $35 and if she got that, she would be over the moon. So you don't need to spend big bucks to have a happy birthday girl.