A small stuffed animal.

This just seems like the nanny version of sending treats to school or daycare for your kid’s birthday. It’s sweet and fun for the kids, and gifts are probably unnecessary.

Our nanny and their nanny friends poured so much love into my kids and each others kids. It really was a village, and they put a lot of love and care into those parties.

Maybe ask your nanny if you should send along a gift. She may know.

A kid that age would be thrilled with a helium balloon tied to a toy car or Bluey figurine.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - sometimes I know in advance and sometimes after the fact. Honestly it seems like just an excuse to give all the nannies lunch! I suspect these are really only happening for the little kids whose parents might not otherwise have a party for friends cause they are 2 and 3 years old (we only did family parties at that age). But yeah, I’ll just buy some inexpensive toys or books to have on hand that the nanny can take as a gift when they come up.

Sounds like a fun time for all. You are kind of bad mouthing the whole idea. Why?

I’d send a small gift. Sounds nice

We’ve never sent along a gift to these informal birthday parties. On the occasional holiday party like Halloween, we’ll send along pizza or donuts or cupcakes.

The people throwing parties like this don’t need more things so gifts are nice but not necessary. Slap a back of stickers in a card or put a card in a book and call it a day. They are fun parties though!

I sent some books as a gift when I knew in advance but otherwise I had no way of knowing with enough time to get a gift. It’s fine either way.

OP here - sometimes I know in advance and sometimes after the fact. Honestly it seems like just an excuse to give all the nannies lunch! I suspect these are really only happening for the little kids whose parents might not otherwise have a party for friends cause they are 2 and 3 years old (we only did family parties at that age). But yeah, I’ll just buy some inexpensive toys or books to have on hand that the nanny can take as a gift when they come up.

My kids attended a ton of these when they had a nanny. They were super informal and we often didn’t even find out until after the fact. We never sent a gift.

Don't overthink it. Send your kid with a gift like a couple of age appropriate books with an amazon receipt.

Is this a new thing or something the only uber affluent do now? (I ask because we had nannies and this was never a thing. But that was 10+ years ago.)

Unless my child is invited to another, real party hosted by the parents themselves, I would send a gift. Especially if the birthday kiddo is a 3-years-old? Isn't that what birthday parties are for, everyone saying happy birthday to you, cutting cake, receiving and opening gifts?

Our nanny has other nanny friends in the neighborhood. Sometimes one of these nannies invites our nanny and kids to their kid’s birthday party. I think these are parties the parents provide food and favors for just so the nannies can get together and celebrate the birthday kid because why else would you have a 3 year old’s birthday at 10 am on a Thursday?? Anyway, for those of you have encountered this, do you send gifts to these?