For me the month of September is the month of parental birthdays, in fact my mom’s birthday is in less than a week! I find that the hardest part about my parents birthday is finding the perfect birthday present! Of course when I was younger it wasn’t nearly as difficult; I would simply go shopping with my parents (which ever one wasn’t having the birthday in question) and pick out something I liked which they would pay for. As I reached the preteen years I decided I wanted to shop for my parents gifts on my own, that meant that I had to pay for it too. This being said it got much harder to find something nice within my price range. I’ve finally realized that the gift doesn’t have to be from a fancy store; my parents definitely appreciate it a lot when I give them a gift that means something to me and to them!

While I was headed to the store with my mom to pick up some pictures I needed for my dad’s present this year (a photo album), we both had a bit of a realization. My mom said that if she had to do it all over again she would give me a little bit more independence during gift shopping when I was younger. She likes the idea of giving a child five or ten dollars to pick out something in the dollar store, with a little bit of supervision, that they think might be nice for a birthday present. I thought this idea was a nice one too, even though it might not be a fancy piece of jewelry or tools from home depot, parents would be happy just to get a present that their children thought of all on their own!

If this technique doesn’t quite seem right for your child another thing that I always liked doing was giving my parents some of the school projects I did. Art projects work really well and you can even plan to make something that reminds you of your parents or your parents of you somehow! I’ve made my dad everything from wax paintings to wire sculptures in art class; I even made him a dream catcher at camp one year! Even if your children don’t make a lot of projects at school yet, a neat idea on the website is the cards because they are easy to make, you can personalize them with a cute message and the best part is that your kids can colour them! If your kids are scrambling to find a birthday present for their parent any of these techniques would be sure to put a smile on the receivers face!

Birthday and Other Themed Crafts on DLTK’s Crafts for Kids