(An earlier version of this post originally appeared on Work It Mom / Milk and Cookies; I’m in the gradual and painstaking process of moving a number of them to this site.)

Last week ALL FIVE of my kids were invited to the birthday party of a girl we know who was turning nine. ALL FIVE! After fretting for awhile about whether the other mother REALLY MEANT IT and whether maybe I should decline on behalf of at least three or four of them, I decided to accept. I called to R.S.V.P., and as I hung up the phone I thought of PRESENTS.

I aim for around $10 for a child’s birthday party gift. Sometimes I can get a better and more-expensive present by finding something on a 50% off clearance and putting it aside for a later birthday. But in this case I needed gifts from FIVE children, and my gift cupboard had nothing in the right age group, and I don’t have any girls that age so I wasn’t sure what she might like. I turned to Twitter for help.

Marie Green suggested a diary. Perfect! I was 9 when I got my first diary! And it’s easy to put aside for later if she’s not ready for it yet.

Eco Snoopers Secret Diary With Lock. This is the one we got.

EeBoo Castle Lock & Key Diary.

 

ST suggested friendship bracelets. We got these:

Alex Best Friends Bands Friendship Bracelet Kit.

We also bought two sets of shaped rubber bands, which are very popular in the kids’ school. [Dated trend alert! These days I would have gotten refill packs for her Rainbow Loom.]

Silly Bandz 36-count Alphabet Shapes.

Forest Animal Rubber Band Bracelets.

 

I was aiming for an ASSORTMENT of gifts, and we knew the birthday girl loved cute stuff and animals, so this book seemed like it would be perfect:

So Cute You Could Die! I ordered it online, so I had my fingers crossed there wouldn’t be anything adult/inappropriate in it–and there wasn’t. It was perfect: page after page of photos of cute animals, especially cute BABY animals.

 

Pet Calendar. I was worried that this make-your-own-calendar kit [I’ve substituted the Pet Calendar because the My Calender we ordered is no longer available—but I don’t see anything that limits it to pet pictures; it looks like the same product with different marketing] was marked down to half-price because the year was more than half over, but no: you can choose the starting month. So if she wants to, the birthday girl can make the calendar go from the month after her birthday all the way to her next birthday month. Or if she puts it aside and doesn’t get to it until she’s 10, that’s okay too.