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First birthday party, no gifts?



 
 
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  #11  
Old September 30th 06, 12:55 AM posted to misc.kids
Ericka Kammerer
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Posts: 2,293
Default First birthday party, no gifts?

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward wrote:
We've just been invited to a first birthday party in Somerville, MA,
and the parents said no gifts.

I feel silly going to a child's birthday party and not bringing a gift.
I wouldn't want them coming to my daughter's party and not bringing a
gift, even if I know it's likely to be something I don't want or need.
It's not about me, it's about the child.

What is the practice where you live?


Mixed. Believe me, the gifts get *very* excessive
after a while--even the kids stop getting all that excited
about them. In general, saying "no gifts" isn't very polite.
Making that choice is supposed to be left to the giver.
However, if someone says no gifts, then you don't bring
one to the party. If you really want to give a gift,
bring one at another time, though the 'no gifts' thing
is probably a clue that they're awash in stuff, so you
might take that into account when selecting something.

Best wishes,
Ericka
  #12  
Old September 30th 06, 01:33 AM posted to misc.kids
Jeff
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Posts: 780
Default First birthday party, no gifts?


"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote in message
oups.com...
We've just been invited to a first birthday party in Somerville, MA,
and the parents said no gifts.

I feel silly going to a child's birthday party and not bringing a gift.
I wouldn't want them coming to my daughter's party and not bringing a
gift, even if I know it's likely to be something I don't want or need.
It's not about me, it's about the child.

What is the practice where you live?


The practice is to honor the party-giver's wishes.

IMHO, the 1st birthday party is really for the parents to celebrate the
first year with the child, not for the child him/herself.

As another poster said, the child will be clueless about gifts and won't
care.

Jeff


  #13  
Old September 30th 06, 06:20 AM posted to misc.kids
-L.
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Posts: 192
Default First birthday party, no gifts?


Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward wrote:

What is the practice where you live?


Personally I don't care about what the "practice" is where I live. We
did not attend parties until the kids started turning 2, nor did we
invite anyone to J's 1st party. I sort of feel that the "number of
friends per year of age" is appropriate (though J had 3 kids in
attendance at his 2nd party) and I am consistently flabberghasted by
people who invite 40-50 people to their kid's first birthday party. It
just seems tacky to me.

As for gifts, I respect the hosts' wishes but I would bring a hostess
gift, as I always do. Most of the time this is a bottle of local wine
or a bouquet of fresh flowers.

-L.

  #14  
Old September 30th 06, 03:50 PM posted to misc.kids
xkatx
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Posts: 690
Default First birthday party, no gifts?


"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote in message
oups.com...
We've just been invited to a first birthday party in Somerville, MA,
and the parents said no gifts.

I feel silly going to a child's birthday party and not bringing a gift.
I wouldn't want them coming to my daughter's party and not bringing a
gift, even if I know it's likely to be something I don't want or need.
It's not about me, it's about the child.

What is the practice where you live?


Well, we just went through this with 3 different friends' babies and ours.
(all turned 1 between July 7 and September 12)
At a year, they have no idea what's going on. They really don't care about
presents, toys, cards, cake and people, really. First birthday is
*definitiely* (IMO) for the parents.
If the parents of the birthday baby say no gifts, then I would say respect
that. Chances are, they're not saying that to be mean or nasty to guests or
the child - they probably already have tons of toys, clothes and you name
it, and more stuff is just an added headache for them.
If you really feel the urge to bring something, bring a card, maybe. It's a
lot easier for the parents to read a card and put it in a baby box,
scrapbook or even the garbage.
One friends who's baby just turned 1 in September had everyone over for just
cake and coffee and said no presents, if you must bring something, bring a
gift card, then they could go out and get the baby something as he needs
it - be it clothes, shoes, a toy, whatever, but at this point, they just
didn't have the room for a ton of random toys and clothes - which he
currently has A LOT of!

I, personally, would go with the parents' wishes. If it was the child's
4th or 5th birthday, I'd feel strange if the parents said no gifts, but at a
year? No, I'd go with what the parents want.


  #15  
Old September 30th 06, 04:20 PM posted to misc.kids
Banty
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Posts: 2,278
Default First birthday party, no gifts?

In article 1vvTg.4913$N4.2201@clgrps12, xkatx says...


"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote in message
roups.com...
We've just been invited to a first birthday party in Somerville, MA,
and the parents said no gifts.

I feel silly going to a child's birthday party and not bringing a gift.
I wouldn't want them coming to my daughter's party and not bringing a
gift, even if I know it's likely to be something I don't want or need.
It's not about me, it's about the child.

What is the practice where you live?


Well, we just went through this with 3 different friends' babies and ours.
(all turned 1 between July 7 and September 12)
At a year, they have no idea what's going on. They really don't care about
presents, toys, cards, cake and people, really. First birthday is
*definitiely* (IMO) for the parents.
If the parents of the birthday baby say no gifts, then I would say respect
that. Chances are, they're not saying that to be mean or nasty to guests or
the child - they probably already have tons of toys, clothes and you name
it, and more stuff is just an added headache for them.
If you really feel the urge to bring something, bring a card, maybe. It's a
lot easier for the parents to read a card and put it in a baby box,
scrapbook or even the garbage.
One friends who's baby just turned 1 in September had everyone over for just
cake and coffee and said no presents, if you must bring something, bring a
gift card, then they could go out and get the baby something as he needs
it - be it clothes, shoes, a toy, whatever, but at this point, they just
didn't have the room for a ton of random toys and clothes - which he
currently has A LOT of!

I, personally, would go with the parents' wishes. If it was the child's
4th or 5th birthday, I'd feel strange if the parents said no gifts, but at a
year? No, I'd go with what the parents want.



Yeah, first birthday parties are really an adults' gathering. It's de riguer in
my area - I dont' remember *anything* like this growing up, though!

Since it is really an adults' party, people can get around this whole
no-presents-to-kid-birthday-party hassle by calling the party something *else*.
Just invite folks over for a party, and the close friends and family know the
baby is about to turn one.

Banty

  #16  
Old September 30th 06, 09:30 PM posted to misc.kids
toto
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 784
Default First birthday party, no gifts?

On 30 Sep 2006 08:20:18 -0700, Banty wrote:

Yeah, first birthday parties are really an adults' gathering. It's de riguer in
my area - I dont' remember *anything* like this growing up, though!


I agree that they are really for the adults, not for the children.

We did have a first birthday party for my kids. But, we only had 4
families (the kids were all the same age as this was my LaMaze class
buddies). We just let the kids play in our backyard. We did have
cake and blow out the candles. I think everyone had a good time.

I'm not a big party person so I would never have invited 40 or 50
people anyway.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits
  #17  
Old April 16th 09, 11:18 AM
greatkidgifts greatkidgifts is offline
Junior Member
 
First recorded activity by ParentingBanter: Apr 2009
Location: kansas
Posts: 1
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward View Post
We've just been invited to a first birthday party in Somerville, MA,
and the parents said no gifts.

I feel silly going to a child's birthday party and not bringing a gift.
I wouldn't want them coming to my daughter's party and not bringing a
gift, even if I know it's likely to be something I don't want or need.
It's not about me, it's about the child.

What is the practice where you live?
no gift? we don't attend to parties without gift for the celebrant, its a common practice....and i will feel ashame not to giv even if they insist not to give a gift...
 




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