No Gifts For Kids' Birthday Parties?
The past two out of three invitations I have received for birthday parties has contained either the phrases "No gifts, please" or "In lieu of a gift, please make a donation to either the charity that is important to us or any charity you desire".
I've really found these requests to be refreshing. Does this mean that I think that no child should receive any birthday presents from his or her birthday guests? Absolutely not, but I think this option does work for some kids for a number of reasons.
It appears that some of the grand-parenting age have fared better in this recession/depression, having already or nearly paid off their mortgages, sent their kids through college and invested more conservatively, and are over-buying for their grandkids. Recently one of my friends told me that her in-laws bought their grandchildren eight Hanukkah presents EACH for their four grandchildren. Add to that the gifts she and her husband got the kids and that's a lot of toys.
Another one of my friends told me that her mother buys her grandchildren ten toys and ten presents for each grandchild for every birthday and every Christmas. That's only one grandparent! That's a lot of stuff! Many of my friends have admitted to me that they have still not opened presents for their kids from the holidays of 2009 (myself included) and one told me that another of her children's birthdays is coming around again and they have NEVER opened some gifts from the last birthday.
And one trend I have noticed pretty consistently, at least here in New Jersey, be it for time constraints or whatever, is that the birthday child does not even open presents in front of the kids any more and if they're young enough, they don't even understand the whole presents thing anyway.
If you've already got enough "stuff" for the kids, be grateful. The "no gifts" theme is also a great way to cut down on over consumerism, give your children a lesson about the environment and teach your children the true meanings of our holidays and celebrations and that more doesn't always mean better.
How many toys can they play with anyway?
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