Communion & Confirmation presents

miss no stars

We have two at once here soon, both little cousins of mine (although with the age gap and it being a small family it's almost like having a niece and nephew, hence getting them something). Boy (8) making communion and girl (12) making confirmation.

What is a typical amount to stick in a card? I was hoping to spend about €50 on each of them, maybe €20-€25 on a small gift and the remainder in cash in a card. What's the done thing? Also, what do 8 year old boys like

Sleepy

With an 8 year old boy you'll never go too far wrong with lego.

Moonbeam

I would get the little girl a piece of jewellery,nothing too expensive.
I remember all the presents from both but not so much the cash:)

RubyGirl

Def jewellery for the 8 year old. Piercing ear's used to be a big thing when making your communion, check if not already done are they getting them done and maybe new studs would be nice.

Confirmation is not as easy, prob game for wii etc or voucher for such.

miss no stars

Thanks for the advice guys, I went trawling for suitable lego and jewellery but couldn't find anything I liked that was also within the right price range (why is lego so expensive??? What happened to the big buckets of generic lego pieces???)

Gave in and called their mother in the end who advised that they're currently burried under toys and that books would be greatly appreciated. Was able to get both of them a good few books each and kids books are so cheap that I can still stick money in a card for them.

Pretty glad that I was able to get them something as well as cash, as you said Moonbeam, it's the presents you remember and while they probably won't keep the books as momentos of their days, I always liked it at that age when someone handed me a present as most people had taken to just handing over money so getting to unwrap something was a bit of a treat. Also got them each a couple of little angel pin and wallet prayer card thingies. Not religious myself but hey, there is supposed to be SOME religious aspect to it right? :P

On a slightly seperate but related note, I despair at some of the cr@p that gets sold by a certain large booksellers.... What is with all the vampire stuff? Literally there was nothing other than vampires/idolising boys in the 12+ age group. I remember being that age, which was not THAT long ago, and it was a great age for books, loads of great novels that provided a bit of escapism from the everyday rather than reinforcing what the media was bombarding us with every day. Thankfully, another chain of book shops (less magazine oriented) had a lovely childrens' section that was less concerned with turning Irish pre-teens into clones of their American counterparts and stocked lots of great books for kids by Irish authors.