Anonymous wrote:We have done it with all three of my kids at their first bday. If there is an older sib there (or cousin) we have them "help" open the present with our child. Everyone loves it. But, we also let our kids open the packaging play with the gifts right then and there so the guests can play too. I have never had any issues with kids melting down. The older kids have fun because they essentially get to open the present. But, we also don't have huge attendance.

I agree with this suggestion. We had about 6 kids (friends and cousins) at my son's first birthday and each of them opened a gift for him. Then, if they wanted to play with it, they did. It kept the kids entertained and the adults were happy to see the gifts opened (but I have a lot of local family so they were really excited to see the gifts opened). This is really the only year you will be able to get away with this because next year, your child will want to open their own gifts so I say do it if you want.

In my circle of family and friends, we open presents while guests are present. People like to see what your kid received, and they like to see your reaction to their gift. Then they like to discuss it "do you have one of those? if you need a different one, here's the receipt. I thought about getting this, but decided on that, and my friend's grandson just loves his..."

But then, my son's first bday party wasn't huge. There was more than enough time to open presents. Anybody who wasn't interested in watching hung back and chatted. No big deal.

We have done it with all three of my kids at their first bday. If there is an older sib there (or cousin) we have them "help" open the present with our child. Everyone loves it. But, we also let our kids open the packaging play with the gifts right then and there so the guests can play too. I have never had any issues with kids melting down. The older kids have fun because they essentially get to open the present. But, we also don't have huge attendance.

OP here - Thanks all for supporting my initial intent. Almost all guests are toddlers and their parents, I can't imagine them wanting to sit through that. If it weren't for the other two parties where gifts were opened, the thought wouldn't have entered my mind.

Do NOT do this if you can avoid it. Your child will be overwhelmed, will want to stop and play with one or two, if you have any other children, they will want to play with the new toys and your child may fight over it...it rarely ever goes as well as in people's imagination. Just skip it and open the gifts later and send gushing thank you cards.

It depends. If it is a family party and your child is the only baby then yes. If you have decided to have a first birthday party and have invited little ones I would say no.

Do NOT do this if you have other toddlers attending, my SIL had my niece open gifts and 3-4 of the other kids had melt downs since they couldn't play with the toys (most in boxes) and they didn't want to sit an watch her play with the gift wrap paper

We did a friends party (small, with our new daycare friends) and didn't open them. A one year old isn't good at opening, and other one year olds aren't good at watching.

We also did a larger family party, and did open gifts because the family loves that stuff. Know your crowd.

No. Your kid can't possibly open all of the presents and wow over them in a reasonable amount of time. In fact he probably won't care about the presents.

DC's 1st birthday coming up, and not sure whether to open presents (if it were just up to me, I probably wouldn't). 2 out of 3 1st birthday parties I've been to opened presents, but I know that's a small sample to draw conclusions from. What do most people do? As guests, what would you prefer?