A No-Gift Party for Young Child

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Started 1 year ago by JayEff
Latest reply from SCMomma
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JayEff
Member

My wife and I just hosted a birthday party for my 4-year-old daughter. Great party. The kids and adults had lots of fun.

Guess what, NO CLUTTER!!

We put on the invitations, "No gifts, please, but Sara would love a card, especially a handmade one." My daughter received many wonderful handmade cards and no gifts.

We requested no gifts for several reasons:
(1) To increase the turn-out. The economy is bad, and some people are not able to buy a gift. We wanted people, not gifts, at the party.
(2) To avoid the appearance of a gift grab. We invited people my daughter liked but had not seen in a while. We did not want their parents to think we were inviting their children just to receive a gift. We wanted their children to share part of the day with my daughter.
(3) To avoid clutter.

(As an aside, we want my daughter to have gifts, just not from her friends/classmates at her party. In fact, my daughter received nice gifts from her grandparents, one of her uncles, and us, but the gifts were not at the party.)

Posted 1 year ago #
SunshineR
Member

That's interesting, JayEff. I read your post through and changed my mind as I read it. Now I can see why you chose to say, "no gifts." There are handmade cards for memories, and close family gave gifts at a separate time.

Happy birthday to your DD.

Posted 1 year ago #
nws2002
Member

I read a story in the local newspaper about an 8 year old girl who had a "no presents party". Instead the invitations asked for shampoo, deodorant, and other toiletries for a local women's shelter. According to the article the girl came up with the idea on her own. Seems like a great way to teach your children about helping others.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i think it is wonderful in every way.
great idea, jayeff!

Posted 1 year ago #
Parsifal
Member

I never had a party like this as a child, but I think it is a great idea. In fact, although it wasn't a conscious decision, over the past 20 years I have accumulated a 2-inch thick folder full of many of the birthday, holiday and postcard I have received. I still flip through them from time to time and reminisce, although I couldn't name more than a handful of gifts I have gotten over the decades. Cards and memories will stick with your daughter a lot longer than presents that just become clutter!

Posted 1 year ago #
Claycat
Member

Bravo! This is an absolutely wonderful idea JayEff! Also, the one nws2002 mentioned!

Posted 1 year ago #
Jude2004
Member

When my daughter was 11, we had a fossil hunt for a birthday party. The "party favors" were the fossils everyone found. All of her friends (she's now 29) still remember it as one of the best parties they ever attended.

Posted 1 year ago #
ninakk
Member

I really like this thread. I love weddings because of delicious food, good company, nice music and because it's a great day; birthdays because it's a happy day which can be celebrated on a smaller scale just like the wedding I described. But the thought of all the stuff just makes me choke and it's wonderful to hear of stories where parents don't do like everyone else due to peer pressure. Ohdeedoh at AT features kids' birthday parties and some of them are really obnoxious whereas others are absolutely adorable; an experience was created on a restricted budget yet the kids were sunshine in the photos. Think train party where cardboard boxes were set up in the garden with small chairs in each box for each kid. Only the imagination becomes a limit then. Jude's fossil party is exactly what I'm talking about too. Can't wait to have kids myself!

Posted 1 year ago #
Lise
Member

Cool!
I also heard of a birthday party (I don't have kids of my own yet) where all the kids were asked to bring one new or gently-used book as a gift. The birthday child brought a copy of her favourite book as well, and together they all played a game for a book exchange. Each child, including the birthday girl, ended up with a new book, and "extra" gift clutter was kept to a minimum. Adding that parents can send a gently-used book instead of a new one also helped minimize the potential costs for families. I thought it was a great idea and thought I'd pass it along!

Posted 1 year ago #
SCMomma
Member

Hello, longtime lurker...this is a topic that really hits home. I'm a mom to three kids. My children have received so many gifts at parties over the years, they didn't even realize what they had received. We lived in South Jersey until recently and a local mom created a company called http://www.kidscangivetoo.com in response to this issue in her own family. It is a really great idea. My kids had parties and had enjoyed picking a charity to donate too. We even received a thank you letter from the charity.
The idea is that you register for an account and in lieu of gifts, monetary donations are made to the child. At the end of the birthday, the child donates a percentage to the charity of their choice and receives the balance in a VISA gift card to purchase a more meaningful gift for themselves.
I just thought I'd pass it along as well.

Posted 1 year ago #

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