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^they cannot all be close relations/friends, can they?
No family, all my daughter's friends which we are good friends with all of the parents...some very tight, some pretty tight...all a close group of people through school, sports, activites, etc.
we just had to turn down our dream wedding...cause it was someone else's. :P
friend got married in maui but we were looking at like 7k for all of us. after buying new house, backyard is the family vacation this year. 2 communions this weekend though.
But anyone who is throwing a communion party at a catering hall has to be Italian through and through.
$500 if you know whats good for you.
Reason number 71 that I left Long Island and I'm glad I did. The tyranny of enforced gift giving and religious events for 7 or 8 year olds that are treated as reasons to give money. Or better, to demand money.
Gift I would give? Just about anything under fifty dollars that could not be returned and was NOT money.
I'm going to a communion this weekend and plan on giving $100. I don't care how much the parents paid for the party, they're still getting $100. If they chose to have it in their backyard, or even better, to NOT have a party, I'd still give the kid $100. It's not up to me to reimburse the parents' expense at throwing their child a party extrordinaire.
Anyway, if this is a religious event, why do we wind up giving cash. Maybe people should just show up with a gift wrapped bible, rosary beads, or saint statuettes. LOL
I so agree! So many children never attend church and are suddenly thrust into religious events at key ages.
Then the parents throw a party and they expect the guests to foot the bill.
Not only is it "not a wedding", it's not a confirmation or a bar mitzvah. It's certainly not a graduation.
Hmm, my communion was at my grandparents' house in Garden City in 1998 or so. Typical gifts were $100 with a smattering of $50 gifts. The food was catered from Valley in Franklin Square. As a child, I liked that format as I love(d) my grandparents' home and I was free to run around with my cousins and get grass stains on my shirt. As a young adult now planning my graduation party, also at my grandparents', I prefer the freedom I have to set up the event. As far as venues go, I prefer a large, upscale home to an aspiration Long Island "catering hall" with built-in-1999 faux Rococo. More importantly, I have full control over the bar selection and food menu (in my case, I'd doing old world wines, Champagne cocktails, Pimms cocktails, German & Belgian import beer with an Asian fusian menu of sushi, thai, and chinese). Why be locked into the typical LI catering hall crap of lemon chicken/parm/baked ziti?
Oh, I almost forgot. A communion gift is NOT RECOMPENSE FOR THE PARENTS. The gift is for the kid. My sister and I got our gift money to dispose of as we pleased. The money, judiciously withdrawn from the bank, allowed for little indulgences for several years.
I let my children keep about 1/3 of theirs, the rest split between 529s and custodial savings accounts. You can't give an 8 year old $1-3k but even in this day and age, they feel pretty powerful in toys r' us with $300.
we have a very small family so when my youngest makes his net year, we are going to bring the closest family to dinner then having a bigger gathering back at the house.
I let my children keep about 1/3 of theirs, the rest split between 529s and custodial savings accounts. You can't give an 8 year old $1-3k but even in this day and age, they feel pretty powerful in toys r' us with $300.
we have a very small family so when my youngest makes his net year, we are going to bring the closest family to dinner then having a bigger gathering back at the house.
Right, that is what I meant. The money, in some manner, belongs to the kid. That is, it is not being used to settle the credit card bill at month's end.
My children each got about $100.00 total to spend on themselves and the remainder went into their college savings accounts.
Honestly none of them received much more than $1000.00, about the same as it cost to have the party(s).
As for their Christenings, the money we received went to pay for the Christening party. Again about $1000.00 received and it cost about that to have the party.
These were backyard parties with typical catered food, yes like chicken parm, baked ziti and a hero.
My children each got about $100.00 total to spend on themselves and the remainder went into their college savings accounts.
Honestly none of them received much more than $1000.00, about the same as it cost to have the party(s).
As for their Christenings, the money we received went to pay for the Christening party. Again about $1000.00 received and it cost about that to have the party. These were backyard parties with typical catered food, yes like chicken parm, baked ziti and a hero.
Does anyone else notice that this crazy gift giving is a disease only NY has. It's probably just a downstate problem most likely.
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