Dollars and Sense is about finding new ways to inject dollars, cents and sensibility into your everyday spending.
By Lisa Schmeiser

Last year, for my daughter’s 9th birthday, we wanted to invite a lot of kids (because the party was held at a swimming pool that allowed for many guests) but didn’t want all the accompanying presents and gift wrapping. So my daughter agreed to a movie swap. Each guest was asked to bring an unwrapped, used DVD. We put them all into a big bag and let each child blind pick one out of the bag at the end of the party. They were all thrilled with their “new” movies, especially my daughter. The movies also doubled as the goody bag.

The important part is that the child needs to be fully on board with this plan. Remind them of how they rarely enjoy the mountain of gifts they receive and all the thank you notes they have to write. And that they will get gifts from their family.

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