So what's the etiquette on opening gifts at party?

dcunningham2 · March 2011

I haven't been to a kids' party in years. Is it expected that we open any presents she gets at the party?

TIA!

KellyAnne&CHris · March 2011

Good question, I really don't want to so I'm curious what the etiquette is.

turtlerun · March 2011

I think it depends on your group of people. Our friends do not open them at the party but my family expected it. So after our friends left we opened them with family members. It worked out great for us.

Amanda041104 · March 2011

I don't want to open them at the party either. As a kid I remember we always did open them but I recently went to a first birthday party where they didn't open the gifts. My friend said it was so nice to just relax and open presents with her DH and DD at their own pace rather than rushing through it. I have a lot of younger cousins who would want to "help" DS but I really would rather us enjoy it as a family later in the evening. I am not sure what to say to family members who ask why we aren't opening them especially if they are persistent about it!

JulySpark05 · March 2011

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone not opening the gifts at the party while everyone is still there. Interesting to see how people do things different.

Bashert628 · March 2011

I think opening gifts at the party is boring and bordering on tacky. We never did it growing up either.

g8trkim · March 2011

We definitely aren't. My friend had her son open presents and it was just too overwhelming for him. Plus, it wasn't fun for anyone else to stand there for 30 minutes and watch him reluctantly open gifts.

The exception would be if you were having a small family party. In that case it wouldn't be so stressful and wouldn't take nearly as long.

dcunningham2 · March 2011

I was considering not doing it. She's still a baby, and I'm sure she'll get bored with it eventually. Plus, the party is only 2 hours and gift-opening would take up a huge chunk of that. But at the same time, I don't want to offend people by not opening their gifts...

jilicious · March 2011

I don't know, we're requesting no gifts. But I will say that before we had our baby, we went to a 1st birthday party that was lame as HELL because all we did was stand around a cramped townhouse, standing room only, to drink virgin punch, eat crappy finger foods and watch the mom open the gifts while the baby just sat there, and it was fun for no one, really.

And to be honest, I will say that sitting there watching the mom rake in the goods that the baby didn't care about was soooo boring. That's why we decided to ask for no gifts. I don't know what the etiquette is but most people don't give a flip about that stuff. And it's not a shower, which is a gift giving party, it's a party party, where everyone wants to have fun.

katcarls · March 2011

I'm not sure what the proper etiquette is but I don't want to open them at the party either.

bakedlaurabean · March 2011

I'd rather not open them either since he is too young to care and I think it will be overwhelming. I'll see what my friends are doing at their kids' first birthdays since they are before my DS'.

jmlushbough · March 2011

I don't want to open gifts at the party, either, but we probably will because that's just how it's done around here. I'm just hoping we can get through it without any major meltdowns from the birthday boy. One year olds aren't really known for their long attention spans. I'm not sure how long the present-opening extravaganza will hold his interest.

I did consider possibly opening the gifts after the party and video taping (is that still the correct term even though we don't use tape?) it and then emailing the little videos to the gift givers. I think it's such a tricky thing because I don't want to offend anyone, and I don't want the Boy to be tortured at his own party!

BelleIsa · March 2011

All the birthday parties I've been to lately have had a present table, and they opened the presents after everyone left and sent out thank you cards for the gifts with a personal message...

Prob what we'll do too ...

shirls · March 2011

At all the 1st birthday parties I have been to recently, no one opened gifts at the party. We will not be opening gifts at DS's party b/c I think it's boring for the guests.

AyeDavanita · March 2011

We just had DS' birthday party this weekend. And we did open them.

I didn't really care to, but the expectation was there. We had a pretty good mix of family and friends, so it was divided throughout the house. Those who cared to watch came into the living room. Others were eating, playing pool, wii, etc.

It was pretty lax and worked out that no one was bored by it. And most of my friends, my well educated, 30+ yr old friends, played with all of the toys.

hikerbeth · March 2011

We didn't open gifts at DD's 1st and 2nd birthday parties. . . it was mostly adult friends and little kids.

DD opened a few gifts at her 3rd birthday party (some kids wanted to watch her open their gifts), but she was so overwhelmed that we waited 'til later to do most of them.

By her 4th birthday, most of the kids wanted to watch their gifts opened and we had whittled it down to a smaller guest list of "closest" friends so there wasn't a huge pile of presents.

onislandtime · March 2011

We just had lo's party on Saturday. I didn't want to open them at the party, but everyone wanted to see him open presents, so we wet ahead and did it. I think it just depends on the group.

Roxpup · March 2011

I'd rather not open the gifts at the party, but it's expected in my area... how do I NOT open them?

What else takes up time at a one year old's party? It's not like he can play games, know what I mean?
I don't mean to be rude about that, I've seriously been wondering what we DO at his party, do we have people come in, do presents immediately, then cake and ice cream? Or do we do cake and ice cream then presents? Do we allow time to eat the finger foods, do we do any other activities?!! This is anxiety provoking for me. I'm tempted to not have a stinkin party at all, but I really want to celebrate at the same time.

arishia · March 2011

Unless you're having a huge party where opening the gifts would take forever, I think it's kinda rude not to open them. I've never even been to a birthday party, at any age, that didn't involve opening the presents. I mean, you want to see what people think about your gift. You open it, say "aww, how cute," and move on.

Plus, we never mail thank yous for birthday presents, as the people see you open it and you can thank them then. Just makes sense to me, I guess.

ktsnshn · March 2011

We will be opening gifts because I think it will be expected. We've always done this on my side of the family and I have never found it to be too boring. I like to see my gift opened when I buy something for someone.

AdamsMom4 · March 2011

It's definitely expected around here. We'll have mostly family at the party (immediate and extended) and I plan to open gifts at the very end of the party after food and cake so that everyone can stay or leave as they please.

Bashert628 · March 2011

How is not opening gifts rude? I think the opposite. I wouldn't want to make anyone angry or upset if for example two people got the same gift or if someone didn't have a lot of money to spend on a gift while others spent a lot. And you can't tell me the amount you spend doesn't matter. If you're the person who is broke you're are almost definitely going to be embarassed or upset. If you say that people like seeing the reactions, I don't think that's entirely true. I hate watching people open gifts. And if it's to show gratitude for the gift, thats what thank you cards are for. I don't know...I've just never been to a birthday party where gifts were opened. And to the poster sending out a DVD of the gift opening, I'm sorry but I think that's weird no offense.

amykins1283 · March 2011

I'm not planning on having Liam open gifts at this party just because it would take flippin' forever! Even a few gifts would take some times for a one year old to open. Plus, the party is only 2 hours long and I want to spend it socializing and eating not opening presents.

secretmemories13 · March 2011

I really hate opening gifts in front of people. I mean REALLY hate it. It's really uncomfortable for me. That being said, to a lot of people it IS EXPECTED..... SO....

At every event that has been a gift opening thing, to circumvent it, we simply have said something like this:

" Everyone has been so generous, so in order to give every gift the attention and time it deserves in opening it, we feel it is best to open them at home. However, if anyone would like "insert name" to open your gift now, please let us know and we will."

This has worked out really well, because only 1 or 2 people usually want thier gift opened, which is just enough for both sides of the crowd, and avoids the embaressment to those who couldn't give as much as they wanted.

HTH

homebird · March 2011

It's interesting how everyone has a different "normal".

My family would think it was odd to NOT open the presents at the party. I've never been to a gift giving event (party of shower) where the person being honored didn't open their gifts in front of everyone.

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