Opening Birthday Gifts - 3rd Birthday

BrandyBG

We are planning on having my son's 3rd birthday (first ever party) at a local indoor gym/play place.  We have a 2 hour time limit.

We are inviting 20 children - his whole daycare class and his 2 local cousins.

We are considering requesting no gifts or in lieu of gifts please make a donation to the cause of your choice, but after reading some of the posts on this board it seems like that might be a mistake.  We know family will want to do gifts, but we don't want daycare friends to feel obligated.  Honestly, he will just be thrilled to play with them outside of school.

Anyhow, because we'll be on a time limit, we would rather bring the gifts home and open them at home and perhaps include a snapshot of the gift being opened in the Thank You card (the photo might be overkill).

We are just rather excited for this party since he has actually requested one and for certain friends to come to it.  I do not want to cause any drama and tend to over think it.

As a side note - are small lego kits (the ones in bags) too 'old' for a 3 year olds party?  My husband really really wants to get them.

Many thanks in advance.

Arnegard

I think the little lego kits may have too small of pieces for 3 yo's, IMO.

I do not know a single parent who abides by the no gift rule.  If it is a kid's party, they deserve a gift, IMO.  We have been to parties like that at the local gymnastics gym and it is so hard to get kids to get off the floor to do cake & presents.

So...  I don't necessarily think it is odd to do them later, but most people hope to see them open the gifts but with 20 kids he would get easily overwhelmed/bored with gift opening and though may later love something, he may not have the reaction desired while opening them, KWIM?

EastCoastBride

I have yet to go to a party at a gym/party place where gifts were opened.  Specifically because of the time limit.  But beyond that- even at a private home, with young kids, I feel gift openings tend to be shit shows and I don't expect the gifts to be opened much less really WANT to see them opened! 

 

blu-eyedwife

I have yet to go to a kids party period where gifts were open.  I just got back from a 2 year old's party, at their home, and no gifts were open.

Frankly, I was just as happy since my son doesn't really have the patience to sit and watch someone open gifts.  He hardly had the patience to open his own gifts on Wednesday.

As for the legos, when we get any gifts that we don't think are appropriate for his age, we usually pull them from the bag before giving it to him (like a bag of candy for a 1 year old - really?).  With legos, if we thought our son couldn't handle them, I'd pull them and hold them for him till he was ready.

Irishsapphire

I went to a 3 year old's birthday party this past Saturday.  They were a a little rushed to open all of the presents at the end of the party.  I think they were saying that they would open their gifts and close family gifts later on.  It is fun to see your gift being open if you have time during the party.  It just makes the birthday boy or girl feel special.  My son really likes to open gifts now that he is 3 years old.  He just has fun with it.  

BrandyBG

Thank you all for the responses confirming our thoughts. We are just a little over worried about hurting feelings.