Appropriate Bat Mitzvah Gift Recommendations

My child was invited to a Bat Mitzvah in the community. The party is that of a very wealthy family and is going to be grand. Question is...What is an appropriate gift to give? It would just be from my child, as the family was not invited. Does a more lavish affair demand a more lavish gift? What can I get away with? We are a large family with a very strict budget.

The children are not particularly close, but this is the first affair of many to come and I am just not sure what the "going" gift is these days.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

a silver necklace? not expensive at all.
or, a card with cash. we gave 50 for a cousin.

Silver Member Joined: Jun 11 2009 Posts: 530

I do not know were you live but I know that around here people have givn simple silver or "pearl" braclets or necklaces earings wether silver or gold simple cheaper ones you will have those people who spend $10-25 on a piece of jewlery you can give a gift certificate to a judaica store a book or cd sometimes even a nice classic board game is cute I do not feel that if the affair is more lavish the gift has to be I feel you give what you can and it should not be based on what the kids parents do because than the children from simple backgrounds would only get garbage.

the girl will get loads of silver bracelets. nothing wrong with providing another Smile

you could also get a pretty watch or something. something personalized is nice. I got my cousin a very pretty name bracelet for her bat mitzvah.

oh, and if you want to be interesting, you can get her an mp3 player. you can get one for $15-$25 if you know where to look.

It really depends on the community. What might be considered generous in one community might be stingy in another, and what would be average in one would be over-the-top in another. Eg, we were invited to two bar mitzvahs, in two very different communities (neither our own) in one weekend recently, and gave both boys the same gift. One family called to tell us that we were over-generous; I think we were a little on the low side for the other community.

Why not call the parents of another girl who is invited to see if they would like to purchase a joint gift. That will at least give you an idea of what they expect to spend / what they intend to purchase.