Here's another one: opening gifts, or no?

MomtobeNJ · May 2013

Will you open LO's gifts at their party?

I am thinking no. At 1 year old, she can't enjoy or appreciate most of the gifts and will be bored to tears. Plus, I would imagine a good chunk of the gifts will be money or gift cards.

I know several people who think it's rude NOT to open gifts at a party because people want to see your/LO's reaction when you first see them.

BeebopandBuddy · May 2013

We open gifts at parties. You're right, the kids don't care, but our friends and family like to see us open them and we are able to give a face-to-face thank you and reaction. Since we only see most of them every few months, it's really the onle face-to-face chance I get to really say thank you.

kayohh · May 2013

yea, ill open most and have him try and help =]

MarisaKathleen · May 2013

LoisLayn23:

I think it's regional.

We do it,our families like to see our reactions and like to know that we liked the gifts.

This. I've never been to a birthday party--kid or adult where the birthday person didn't open their gifts.

Gray99 · May 2013

I just went to a first bday party (for a co-workers son) and they didn't open gifts there. It was akward and I wanted to see the parents reaction to my carefully picked gift. Later at work I got a "thanks for the outfit"...that was it.

So I will be opening gifts at baby Gray's party.

MomtobeNJ · May 2013

All good points. And I don't want to seem ungrateful.

I have been to several kids parties where they don't open gifts - maybe it is regional. I didn't open the gifts at her Christening.

kjskjs · May 2013

Charlotte loves ripping paper so I'll start the gifts and I'm sure she'll tear the rest and play with the paper

Plus the party will be mostly family any way so we'll open with them there.

MomtobeNJ · May 2013

kjskjs:
Charlotte loves ripping paper so I'll start the gifts and I'm sure she'll tear the rest and play with the paper

Well, my C does love EATING paper...

hmp1 · May 2013

We didn't for James. I put a phrase about no gifts on the invite, because we were flying and so many people were invited I didn't want to deal with gifts. Most everyone brought a gift and I didn't want to make a big deal about opening them since we had asked for no gifts.

We opened them at my parents house later that night and James wanted nothing to do with it after a couple of presents. I'm glad we didn't make him do it at the party and won't with Leo either. If we have a small party, I will probably take the present and go sit next to the person who gifted it to open it but I won't make Leo sit in front of everyone and open all the presents at once.

hmp1 · May 2013

MomtobeNJ:
All good points. And I don't want to seem ungrateful.
I have been to several kids parties where they don't open gifts - maybe it is regional. I didn't open the gifts at her Christening.

It was really common in our TX group to not open gifts. The kids, even the older ones don't want to sit and watch. Duplicates are awkward, also when the kid announces "I already have this". But so far in TN, the gifts have been opened.

MomtobeNJ · May 2013

hmp&mrj:
We didn't for James. I put a phrase about no gifts on the invite, because we were flying and so many people were invited I didn't want to deal with gifts. Most everyone brought a gift and I didn't want to make a big deal about opening them since we had asked for no gifts.
We opened them at my parents house later that night and James wanted nothing to do with it after a couple of presents. I'm glad we didn't make him do it at the party and won't with Leo either. If we have a small party, I will probably take the present and go sit next to the person who gifted it to open it but I won't make Leo sit in front of everyone and open all the presents at once.

I like this idea!

juliane2004 · May 2013

Yup, we always open gifts.

bosha711 · May 2013

If we have a big party, then no we won't open gifts at the party.

We had about 55 people at DS's party & we didn't open gifts. We opened them at home the next day, which was his actual bday & it was really nice to go through everything leisurely.

MommaP12 · May 2013

delaine0821:
We open gifts at parties. You're right, the kids don't care, but our friends and family like to see us open them and we are able to give a face-to-face thank you and reaction. Since we only see most of them every few months, it's really the onle face-to-face chance I get to really say thank you.

This.

Stasi · May 2013

I'll do it so DH and I can have a moment to see what each person brought and thank them for it. I really don't care what Kate is up to when this happens, she can play with the other kids or sleep

tinyhumantoe · May 2013

Open. People don't expect a kid to be into it the entire time, but they do love to watch their gift be opened.

L8kissie · May 2013

We've never opened them during the party. I've seen too many upset older kids. Besides, I write good thank you notes. I also stretch out the opening over the following week or two or three. He opens a present or two a day. It's fun.

mimi_8607 · May 2013

Yes, we will open gifts. People spend their time, money, and energy picking out a gift. I think they would want to see you open it. I think its the right thing to do.

linzeek44 · May 2013

Assuming tons of people aren't flying in for this, the party will be small. We'll probably open gifts rolling throughout the party so that it's not "sit and watch gift time." If more people come, we'll reconsider.

melody921 · May 2013

We didn't for DS's first bday or for baptisms bc, like you said, they're too little to know what's even happening. But from 2 years on, DS has opened them while everyone was there.

steenbean18 · May 2013

I went to a 1yo bday party where they didn't open gifts. It was the first time I'd ever seen that and honestly I thought it was a little awkward. I spent a ton of time picking out the gift and I never heard a word about it. It made me kind of nervous that the tag fell off and they didn't know it was from me...

bosha711 · May 2013

mimi_8607:
Yes, we will open gifts. People spend their time, money, and energy picking out a gift. I think they would want to see you open it. I think its the right thing to do.

I can see the other side of this, though. If you're having a small family party that's one thing, but if you have a big party, do you really want to sit around & watch a 1 yr old open 25+ gifts? It would take the entire party time! For example, DS's 2nd bday party was at The Little Gym. The party was 2 hrs long - 75 min to play, 45 min to sing happy bday, eat pizza & cake. There's definitely no time to open gifts.

At DS's 1st bday party, he was running around playing with his cousins. There was no way he would even be able to sit still long enough to open any gifts.

We send personalized thank you notes, though, so it's not like we're not acknowledging the gift giver.

MomtobeNJ · May 2013

steenbean18:
I went to a 1yo bday party where they didn't open gifts. It was the first time I'd ever seen that and honestly I thought it was a little awkward. I spent a ton of time picking out the gift and I never heard a word about it. It made me kind of nervous that the tag fell off and they didn't know it was from me...

Well, that's just ridiculous. There is no excuse not to send a thank you note and personally thank the gift giver at the party. I would never let that happen.

hmp1 · May 2013

bosha711:
mimi_8607:

Yes, we will open gifts. People spend their time, money, and energy picking out a gift. I think they would want to see you open it. I think its the right thing to do.

I can see the other side of this, though. If you're having a small family party that's one thing, but if you have a big party, do you really want to sit around & watch a 1 yr old open 25+ gifts? It would take the entire party time! For example, DS's 2nd bday party was at The Little Gym. The party was 2 hrs long - 75 min to play, 45 min to sing happy bday, eat pizza & cake. There's definitely no time to open gifts.

At DS's 1st bday party, he was running around playing with his cousins. There was no way he would even be able to sit still long enough to open any gifts.

We send personalized thank you notes, though, so it's not like we're not acknowledging the gift giver.

I actually find the opening of the gifts the most stressful time of the party. We have been to a lot of 3 year old parties lately. The parents sit around and talk, not paying attention to the gifts being opened, and telling our kids to sit down/stop touching their neighbor/stop picking their nose/ stop trying to steal the presents... I so much prefer to just let the kids play and get a thank you note after the party.

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