Wow people are insane.

I have enough to do. When a host asks for no gifts I'm happy to have one less thing to do.


You have enough to do? Pity party. Then stop sending your kids to every party they are invited to. Stop inviting 15+ kids to your kids parties. The irony of parents bitching about being too busy. YOU make your schedule busy. You overschedule your kids. You over invite and want countless mom friends and friends for your kids. You want to impress with having Pinterest parties or planned venue packages that indulge every child but your own? Teach all the kids about what is important? Friendship or how cool the party is going to be? If you had a handful of simple birthday parties for only your child’s closest friends each year, you would have much more time to go get a gift for those few events. And it would be meaningful.

The problem is the parents. The fact that you all sit here thinking it is great to ask for no gifts is missing the whole point of why it is just too much to buy presents for parties these days.

Anonymous wrote:Wow people are insane.

I have enough to do. When a host asks for no gifts I'm happy to have one less thing to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We don't have big parties. As a matter of fact, my kids can't invite more than how many can fit in my minivan. I say no gifts because my UMC kids don't need more gifts. I want them to anticipate the joy of celebrating with friends, not obsessing about what gifts they will be getting. So far it has worked. My younger son is a December birthday and this year we requested a gift donation for us to bring to toys for tots. My son absolutely loved donating "his presents". This to me is more in line with teaching my kids to havr a generous spirit.

Or, you know, your kids could anticipate both a fun party and fun presents from their friends. You're not giving your kids much credit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We don't have big parties. As a matter of fact, my kids can't invite more than how many can fit in my minivan. I say no gifts because my UMC kids don't need more gifts. I want them to anticipate the joy of celebrating with friends, not obsessing about what gifts they will be getting. So far it has worked. My younger son is a December birthday and this year we requested a gift donation for us to bring to toys for tots. My son absolutely loved donating "his presents". This to me is more in line with teaching my kids to havr a generous spirit.

Or, you know, your kids could anticipate both a fun party and fun presents from their friends. You're not giving your kids much credit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this generation. Why do parents supply their kids with so much shit, want to invite a ton of kids to a $500 venue, and then make the awkward no gift plea.

How about you stop buying so much shit for your kids. Have a small simple party with 8 or less close friends, and let those kids get their friend a small gift to all open together.

We have lost basic manners, gift giving, thinking of and enjoyment of others, etc...

In this day of huge parties every week with kids most kids barely know or care about, parents get the present or regift another. No one is personal. No one opens their presents in front of guests anymore. The ettiquette is now on parents to supply a major party and now because of that, we over invite and now say no to 20+ crappy gifts the birthday kid won’t like because no one cares to get them things they like. It’s just another thing we have removed from our kids and taken on ourself.

One of the reasons we do “no gift parties” is because my child has several friends where purchasing a gift would be a fincancial hardship for their family. We think it would be nice to spare them any awkwardness or discomfort in showing up empty handed or stretching their money to buy a gift my child doesn’t need. But keep criticizing our manners pp, the view must be nice from that high horse.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this generation. Why do parents supply their kids with so much shit, want to invite a ton of kids to a $500 venue, and then make the awkward no gift plea.

How about you stop buying so much shit for your kids. Have a small simple party with 8 or less close friends, and let those kids get their friend a small gift to all open together.

We have lost basic manners, gift giving, thinking of and enjoyment of others, etc...

In this day of huge parties every week with kids most kids barely know or care about, parents get the present or regift another. No one is personal. No one opens their presents in front of guests anymore. The ettiquette is now on parents to supply a major party and now because of that, we over invite and now say no to 20+ crappy gifts the birthday kid won’t like because no one cares to get them things they like. It’s just another thing we have removed from our kids and taken on ourself.

Anonymous wrote:
We don't have big parties. As a matter of fact, my kids can't invite more than how many can fit in my minivan. I say no gifts because my UMC kids don't need more gifts. I want them to anticipate the joy of celebrating with friends, not obsessing about what gifts they will be getting. So far it has worked. My younger son is a December birthday and this year we requested a gift donation for us to bring to toys for tots. My son absolutely loved donating "his presents". This to me is more in line with teaching my kids to havr a generous spirit.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this generation. Why do parents supply their kids with so much shit, want to invite a ton of kids to a $500 venue, and then make the awkward no gift plea.

How about you stop buying so much shit for your kids. Have a small simple party with 8 or less close friends, and let those kids get their friend a small gift to all open together.

We have lost basic manners, gift giving, thinking of and enjoyment of others, etc...

In this day of huge parties every week with kids most kids barely know or care about, parents get the present or regift another. No one is personal. No one opens their presents in front of guests anymore. The ettiquette is now on parents to supply a major party and now because of that, we over invite and now say no to 20+ crappy gifts the birthday kid won’t like because no one cares to get them things they like. It’s just another thing we have removed from our kids and taken on ourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this generation. Why do parents supply their kids with so much shit, want to invite a ton of kids to a $500 venue, and then make the awkward no gift plea.

How about you stop buying so much shit for your kids. Have a small simple party with 8 or less close friends, and let those kids get their friend a small gift to all open together.

We have lost basic manners, gift giving, thinking of and enjoyment of others, etc...

In this day of huge parties every week with kids most kids barely know or care about, parents get the present or regift another. No one is personal. No one opens their presents in front of guests anymore. The ettiquette is now on parents to supply a major party and now because of that, we over invite and now say no to 20+ crappy gifts the birthday kid won’t like because no one cares to get them things they like. It’s just another thing we have removed from our kids and taken on ourself.

I hate baby and wedding showers with the long tedious gift opening. I am so glad kids don’t open gifts at parties. There are a few really good reasons for this.
1. We live in an area with a lot of economic diversity. Some kids gave my 3yr old $20 gifts and some gave him $5 gifts or nothing. I wouldn’t want anyone to feel bad.
2. My kid is 3, but I imagine it’s the same for several more years. He is absolutely overwhelmed by many gifts and becomes a greedy monster if he gets inundated with gifts. We followed the custom of his preschool and invited the whole class and the convention of our neighborhood and invited neighbors kids. It took us a month to open gifts by opening 1 eachs 1-2 days. He plays with the gifts this way when he spends a bit of time with each gift. When he opens a bunch at once, he gets really into 1 thing and the rest are forgotten forever.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this generation. Why do parents supply their kids with so much shit, want to invite a ton of kids to a $500 venue, and then make the awkward no gift plea.

How about you stop buying so much shit for your kids. Have a small simple party with 8 or less close friends, and let those kids get their friend a small gift to all open together.

We have lost basic manners, gift giving, thinking of and enjoyment of others, etc...

In this day of huge parties every week with kids most kids barely know or care about, parents get the present or regift another. No one is personal. No one opens their presents in front of guests anymore. The ettiquette is now on parents to supply a major party and now because of that, we over invite and now say no to 20+ crappy gifts the birthday kid won’t like because no one cares to get them things they like. It’s just another thing we have removed from our kids and taken on ourself.

Anonymous wrote:I do no gift parties because we have plenty and, as a working mom, feel that tasks like getting a present disproportionately erode women's work weeks. My husband certainly never spends his lunch looking for a present. I just like do do things that help my fellow worn out mom...not having to get a present means a little more free time for the invitees moms!

I'm not offended if you show up with a gift, but I truly mean that it's ok not to bring one.