In Reply to: excellent posted by kelly on Thursday, 30. November 2000 at 14:11 Bali Time:
Hi Kelly,
My 10-yr old girl saved up to A$100.00 of her tuckshop and "bribe" money over the year and when converted to rupiah that certainly went a long way for her. She paid for her hairbraiding - 70,000Rp for long hair, a really good job which lasted a whole week (that's about A$15.00 and well worth it!), and shopped for T-shirts and bikini top/skirt sets from Tootsies (12,000-15,000Rp per shirt, 20,000Rp per set, she was thrilled!). There are some nice sequined tops too for 20,000Rp. Don't stress your kids with the bargaining exercise, take them to Tootsies in the Sanur Sindhu Market, the prices there are as good as what you'll get on the streets with much less hassle. My daughter loved the little painted wooden cats in Ubud and bought heaps of them for presents to her girlfriends (3,000Rp a piece and they're adorable!) and those ubiquitous pencils with wooden figures on top for the boys in her class (1,000Rp each). The whole thing was a great math exercise for her and she loved counting her rupiahs each night to see how far it would take her. Of course, I treated her in Matahari Denpasar, the kids clothes there are awesome and not that expensive (I'd say 40-50% less than Target). None of the surfie stuff - lots of lovely party dresses for A$20 (120,000Rp), beautifully made, lots of bows and laces, and strong colours not boring pastels. Denim skirts and blouses were around 50,000Rp, still not bad. She also got some pretty and unusual hair accessories from 2,500 - 5,000Rp a piece. I think her best treat though was a watch from Matahari for 40,000Rp - though I was cynical of its quality, I didn't say stop her from getting it (she paid for it), needless to say, the watch is still working!
Hope this helps.