Why Crowd-Funding For A Child’s Gift Can Make Sense
Every year as birthdays or the holidays approach, parents, extended family, and caregivers spend a lot of time and energy thinking about what they can get their children for gifts. Children 10 and older often have stronger preferences for what they might like. Parents often find that “tweens” and teens in particular will really only use and appreciate items that come with price tags that exceed what individual gift givers typically spend. So how do you teach your kids the value of a dollar and some gift etiquette, while making their wishes come true? Well for starters you can ask them to complete our Gift Survey(s) when considering a wish-list item or purchase.
At Gifting Sense our mission is to turn shopping for holiday and birthday gifts into a tool for parents to teach their children to think before they buy.
Kids take two minutes to answer 10-12 questions when completing a Gift Survey, which helps them figure out things like the all-in cost of an item, including sales tax, shipping and duties, and it’s cost-per-use or wear. What our Gift Surveys really do is help kids understand and answer the questions that parents normally want answered before agreeing to spend money. For example, “What is the total cost of attending a concert, including the safe transportation, snack, and souvenir costs, versus just the ticket price?”
Gift Surveys automatically generate a pdf summary of all the math and thinking that has gone into asking for a “thoughtfully preferred” birthday or holiday gift. It can be emailed or printed out and used by children to present their wishes to their parents or guardians in a gracious and organized way. It could even be used to invite close friends and family to come together and collectively fund the purchase of one larger more meaningful gift – because some things are just too expensive for one person to buy. Parents are often asked “What would Susan like for her Birthday this year?” Gift Surveys help them give a rock solid answer!
For out-of-town family members, the ability to put money towards a thoughtfully preferred gift that they know their niece, nephew or grandchild will really use and appreciate is both elegant and efficient. Who wouldn’t rather put $30.00 towards a new pair of basketball shoes that their niece or granddaughter has asked for, versus buy her a $30.00 sweater she may not ever wear? It’s a win win.
We have all purchased gifts that we question the value or necessity of. We created Gifting Sense to help parents teach their kids to think before they buy, while reducing gift waste (a.k.a money and time waste). Gift Surveys help children quickly research if a gift makes sense. The pdf summary they generate can be used to politely ask for the “thoughtfully preferred” gift of their choice. Kids are able to fully comprehend the value of their requests. Family members know they have spent their gift dollars as wisely as possible. The planet is spared the waste of unwanted gifts piling up. At the risk of repeating ourselves, this is why we like to say our process is actually a trifold “win-win-win”!
If any of this sounds interesting – ask your kids to take 2 minutes and “DIMS SCORE® Calculator” with one of our Gift Surveys the next time they are working on a wish-list. Only you need to know that asking them to think about how much they will really use and appreciate a possible present is their real gift – one of the best parents can give their kids – if you ask us.
