Yes take your gift and card.
It is good luck to give in multiples of 18...When contemporary of the child goes to the party alone $18 is OK....when the parents go too it should be more...as mich as you are comfortable with. $50 is never wrong....nor is $500!
Linda C

Casual friends, going as a family, I'd give anywhere from $100-200 depending on how casual. The going rate here (LI, NY) for kids alone is $50, and we usually did $150-$200 as a family. More if very close, but you said casual.

Anyone you can call beforehand to see what they are giving? that's what we were doing, so we all generally gave similar gifts in similar situations :)

Like Linda said, bring the card with you!

Have a great time!

Thanks, I knew I could count on the CF. I had planned on the $100-200 range and taking it with me tonight, but then I decided to research a little on the web and saw some things about not taking the gifts to the celebrations, so I was worried. I'll stick with my original plan now since you guys think it's ok.

Just to make this "food related", the luncheon today was interesting. The boy (and his brother)is diabetic and must also eat gluten-free foods. The family also eats all organic foods, so it took some creative catering to pull that off. The food was delicious, though. We were also given "gluten-free, organic, free trade sweets" to toss in his path during the service.

Thanks again for your help.

What Linda and Carol said. Of course I invariably forget to bring the card and end up mailing it. I usually write a check.

That would be a HUGE gift here, something like from a close aunt. In your position, I would do the $36 range as Linda suggests (no rule you HAVE to stick to 18s, but it's a fun tradition. It's not exactly for good luck; it's that the number 18 in Hebrew numerology spells "life").

My favorite gift for a bar mitzvah is an electric razor! Something a man needs that a boy doesn't (and the farther they are from actually needing it, the more thrilled they are). For girls, I like a copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves -- something every woman needs.

Oh, the razor would have been fun -- wish I had thought of that. I did the check in a multiple of 18. Tonight's party was lots of fun and very nice. It was at a local country club. There was an interactive comedy improv group for entertainment, followed by dinner, then dancing to a very good band with music mostly from the '60's and '70s. They had a DJ that did current music during the band's breaks. It was also fun for my kids to see several kids from their pre-school class that we had not seen in years. They were all 5 year olds the last time they were all together and now they are teens. They looked so grown-up.

One other thing from this morning's service that I forgot to mention. The Synagogue recently underwent a major construction project and as most projects like that go, it did not finish on time. It was supposed to be done quite a while ago, but finally last week they were told they had to find another location for the Bar Mitzvah, so it was held at a church down the street.