OT-NO Gift Birthday Party

[natnelliesmom]

I think that if you are requesting that no one brings gifts, that you should skip the goodie bags too! It's all the same reasoning.
I hate the goodie bags my kids bring home from parties.
We went to celebrate the occasion and we come home with little baggies of plastic junk and candy that I throw away as soon as my girls look the other way!
I also request no gifts for birthdays- my DDs birthdays are in Nov. and Dec. and with Christmas coming it's all just too much stuff.
I don't do treat bags for guests either. Sometimes I do a themed item- like when I gave out nice Schliech toy horses for our horse theme party. We usually do a craft at parties- so that serves as the goodie bag. Last birthday the girls decorated small wooden jewelry boxes and then I snuck in candy necklaces as each child left. It was fun and part of the party- not just a gift for the sake of it.
-Sarah

 

[bonita_babe232]

I can't say i would ever have a no present party just cause i don't know how my son would like that, and i know how excited he is to pick out presents that his friends would like for there b-days so i hope they would feel the same for him..... saying that he is only turning 5 and at that age i don't think he would really understand, as we are all raised to bring/ be given presents at birthday partys.... maybe once hes older..... But i will not be buying him a present this year i might buy him an outfit or alittle stuffy then i am going to buy him a g/c for his disneyland trip and i will do the same thing x-mas as he doesn't need anything (and it will save me money when we go).....

I agree with the treat bag stuff its just a bunch of stuff that no one needs... i like to give out a book and a box of smarties instead...

 

[*BTMRR*]

More and more birthday parties for young kids around here are "no gifts."
A lot of posters have suggested that you outline the reasons for your "no gifts" preference to encourage people to comply.... I wouldn't. You don't want to imply "No gifts; our kid already has enough piles of junky toys from last year's party" or anything to that effect! One invitation we received said basically just that. I found it very tacky. I would just stick with "No gifts please; just come and enjoy!" or a message about your book exchange or SPCA donation or whatever else you're thinking of doing.

 

[Tammysue5]

I think it is a decision that a parent must make on how their child will do with the no-present party... everyone should have a party once that has them getting gifts from the friends.... We decided at our house if you had more than 5-7 kids we would for-go the gifts. You can have a smaller party/sleepover and gifts are appropriate....

One year DS had a party (we rented the outside pool/water park fun center in our city) it was surprisingly inexpensive. (even w/the renting use of the 2 large slides) anyway I ask if there was a limit on the kids he could invite.... they said to limit it to 600! I assured them this would not be a problem.... he invited his whole class, the sunday school class, sports friends,e tc. all but 2 came.... we allowed siblings and parents to come as well. It was AWESOME! DS designed the invitations and put on that he needed no gifts just wanted to have fun with his family and friends for his birthday. However, if wanted they could bring a donation for the local food pantry. We took a 50 gallon tote thinking that would be enough for the donations.... we ended up with 2 large trucks full of everything from toothbrushes (one kids mom works for a dentist and brought 100 toothbrushes) to mops, buckets, canned goods and laundry detergent. DS is not someone who likes attention so we 'left the donations' anonomously.

EVERYONE had a great time... DS could not have cared less if he had gotten any gifts ,,, he had fun with all the kids there (he was 14 at the time) Families loved the Saturday night swimming/games.

Besides, if you have a large number of kids it takes forever to open gifts.

OT: Just this year,, our family decided instead of giving the adults gifts... we would take that money and we would ALL go out to eat... funny enough.... we tried this last year... I ask if instead of gifts lets all take our families out to supper. (Mom, dad, stepparents, sisters family, brothers family and ours) We had such a great time... went to Olive Garden. After that the kids ask if we could do that again... they REALLY enjoyed that. SO, we decided that we would go out to a nice meal every 3 months for the birthdays in that time frame.... and spend time together. We have been having a great time... we felt that these were times that kids would remember when they get older.

 

[tjmw2727]

IMHO it depends on the age of the kids - but in general I like the idea of a no gifts party. In the 4 - 7 yo range I would still do a goodie bag either way and if gifts are brought they can be put aside to keep or give away as you and the child see fit.

My youngest dd is a December birthday and had older siblings so she had every game, toy etc available as well as gifts from Hanukkah and Christmas. Starting with her 8th birthday we did a party for her birthday but the invitation was written by her and at her request - any gifts will be donated to toys for tots. I have the invitation somewhere - but she wrote it herself and it was great! We got soooo many great donations for TFT, and amazingly it was toys and games for all ages

Instead of goodie bags I have lots of crafts for the kids to make and take or just take,depending on the time spend on other things. I grab some gift bags from the dollar store and put each kid's name on it. As they leave all the crafts they have finished as well as the ones they haven't go in the gift bag. The holidays are easy because there are lots of great crafts from ornments to cookies to decorate and save or eat

TJ

 

[nikkers]

I absolutely love the book exchange idea. My son's birthday is right after Christmas, and he seems so overwhelmed with all of the gifts. Both him and my daughter love books! Thanks for the great idea.

Instead of goodie bags we have the local bakery make cookies for each of the children. We have had dinosaurs, dog bones, Nemo, and Elmo. For little prizes we have fruit snacks.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Do what you feel comfortable doing but I too am not a fan of the no gift party. If I want to give a gift that should be my choice. JMHO. I also would not be happy having to donate to the charity of YOUR choice since I don't like every charity. Charitable donations are a personal thing. I wouldn't want to feel pressured to donate to a certain charity. Good luck.