Reply to Any way to do a "presents optional" birthday party invite?

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Reply to "Any way to do a "presents optional" birthday party invite?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I've pondered this every birthday party, OP. Best I could come up with was "no gift necessary" but somehow it still felt wrong/too presumptuous, and I never actually used it.

I understand official  etiquette is to not mention gifts at all because it's presumptuous. But then you will definitely get gifts from 100% of attendees. Frankly, I think even putting "no gifts necessary" probably would result in still getting gifts from 99% because who wants to be the one to say, Nah, a gift isn't necessary for you, birthday kid.

I used to worry about my kids being sad or missing out on the experience of opening gifts at their parties (I mean, [i]I[/i] got to as a kid, and LOVED it of course). So, we did one or two early parties where I didn't specify "no gifts" and frankly we are still recovering from the onslaught of toys/stuff that resulted. No Gift parties are so common in our circles that at this point, I don't think my kids even recognize presents from friends/classmates as a "thing" and I am now firmly in the no gift camp. Also, they get a good amount from us, grandparents, and other assorted relatives so they still get the present experience. [/quote]

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