What Is The Appropriate Amount Of Money To Give As A Bar Mitzvah Gift?

Your comment on bar mitzvah gifts couldn't be more wrong.  Cash is the most appropriate gift to give, as it has been for generations.  And it is much easier for people who do not know the child well to give money instead of trying to figure out what a 13 year old will want.  Just how many video games can one kid have?!?  We have found that only kid friends who are invited to a bar mitzvah (without his parents) should give a gift that is similar to a birthday present.

Everyone I know uses his/her bar/bat mitzvah money to start a college fund, after they give a percentage to a charity.  This event is quite often a production similar to a wedding, and the gift should be similar to that as well.  The typical gift at my son's recent bar mitzvah was $50 to $100.  Multiples of 18 are symbolic, so $36, $54, $90 etc are common denominations and are considered lucky.  Grandparents, great aunts, etc. Tend to be even more generous.
However callous it may sound, it needs to be said:  If the affair was a big sit-down event and there was more than one of you, then a $36 gift is pretty darn cheap of you.

My husband and I have been invited to our next door neighbors 13 year old Bar Mitzvah in a few weeks and we were wondering what the dollar amount is acceptable.  The BarMitzvah is an all weekend affair costing about $50,000.00 or more.

Thanks,

Lois

You should only give a gift of money as a bar mitzvah if you are not too sure what else you can gift the person who is celebrating the bar mitzvah. The amount of money that is considered to be an appropriate gift for a bar mitzvah depends on how close you are to the family of the child who is celebrating the occasion. Most people, however, do not prefer to give cash as a gift a person who is celebrating a bar mitzvah and instead purchase a savings bond.

Usually a person prefers to give a gift which has either some spiritual significance or is of educational value to the bar mitzvah. Cash is gifted only if the family members of the bar mitzvah are very close friends or relatives of the person who is giving the gift. Preferred bar mitzvah gifts include books on Jewish history, pen or pencil sets and leather-bound journals.