BDay party w/out gifts - can it be done?

[mcmorfit]

DD will be turning 2 soon along with one of her playmates. We are planning on throwing a white elephant party for the adults and then having playbags for the kids and cake.

The playmates mum and I would prefer not to have gifts for the birthday girls. I was thinking of adding "no gifts please" to the invite, but it just seems weird. any advice?

Thank you.

[luvbeinmama]

Advice? Go for it! This is probably the last year you will be able to get away with it without dc getting upset at not getting presents from friends. As long as the kids get something at the party, they will be happy. They would probably be happy with just the party if you weren't doing a white elephant for the adults.

At 2 yo, I had my DS open presents at his playgroup party and it was a DISASTER! (I highly recommend opening any gifts you receive in spite of the request AFTER the guests are all gone, and do it after from here on out).

Oh, the other piece of advice I have is this: cupcakes. Cupcakes with not too much frosting on them. Served outside with wipes handed to the parents for cleaning up after the major mess.

HTH!

[mcmorfit]

Great. Thank you. I especially like the cupcakes with wipes!

[raynjen]

I agree that if people will listen it is a good idea, but it has been my experience that people WON'T listen. What ends up happening then is that the people who respect your wishes end up feeling like heels because they didn't bring a gift.

Now, another option is to say that ALL toys brought will be donated to the local children's shelter that way your DS won't be overwhelmed with stuff and people can bring or not and not feel bad.

What a friend of mine did (and this worked well at a three year old party) is NOT open the gifts while everyone was there. That way she didn't have to struggle to make her son open everything at once. The only comment I have on this strategy is TELL everyone you will be doing this - she had a lot of folks stay longer than she planned because they were waiting around for the gifts to be opened!

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to a wonderful preschooler,
who just turned three, Noelle!

[momceecers]

I have done this a couple times with great success. It should be pretty easy since the children are only 2 and will be so thrilled with the party that they won't even care. I always just say "no gifts please" on the invite and it seems fine. We have always had a couple people who will call or bring a gift anyway, but as long as you are prepared for it all you have to do is graciously say thank you and then tuck it away and go on with the party. In my experience alot of people think its kind of weird, but if you explain your reasoning they will respect it (usually).

For me I just wanted it to be a celebration and for my kids to not be so materialistic, plus we already have plenty of toys. Hope it works out.

Cindy

[Hallie_D]

We did it for Elijah's second and third birthdays--and he shared his party both years with his best friend, Henry, who is two days older. The first year we asked people to bring a new or gently used, unwrapped children's book which we then donated to the pediatric ward of hospital where Henry's mother works. That helped guests not feel "weird" about not bringing gifts. This year we just said, "no gifts please" on the invitation. One or two people brought gifts anyway--like you did we just tucked them away and opened them at home. Neither of the boys were looking for gifts. They got them at home, from family members, and didn't seem to think that they were supposed to get gifts at their party.

We really like the low-key party idea. They have so many toys already, and what they really find fun is to play with their friends. We just had ours in a local park--playground equipment, balls, sand toys...what more could a pack of 3 year olds want? :-) Maybe just a piece of cake!