Did you (will you) open presents at first birthday party?

Re: Did you (will you) open presents at first birthday party?

• EastCoastBride member

  August 2013

  I voted "no", but I should have said "yes".  We tried.  But it's a cluster, TBH.  DS was more interested in the paper, and distracted, and not all of the gifts were opened.
  
  I haven't been to a kids party since where gifts are opened, and I like it that way.  Either the kid is too young to focus, or gets too into the first toy opened, or the other kids start to get involved.
  
  It's just easier to open them later.
  

  "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
  ~Benjamin Franklin

  
  DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10

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• Mustardseed2007 member

  August 2013

  I used to be firmly in the camp of opening the gifts at the party, and we did do it at DS's first BD. I do think people appreciate seeing you enjoy what you got them and I grew up that way.

  However, I also haven't been to a BD party this year where gifts were opened and when we did open them at DS's party, even though it was only family he got too many gifts and IMO it became awkward b/c it took so long.

  We're probably not going to do that again this year, and will just follow our friends' trend.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

   

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• SunAndRain member

  August 2013

  We had 50 guests so about 25 giftss there is no way I was going to expect everyone to sit through 25 gifts to open by a one-year-old.
  
  I will say that one parent told me later that her four-year-old daughter was very disappointed that she didn't get to see my daughter opened up her gifts. But the thing is you can't please everybody and majority of guests would not enjoy sitting around watching my child Open gifts when it was a pool party And the kids really wanted to go into the pool and the parents had to be there at the pool with them

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• belladonna11307 member

  August 2013

  I've seen this discussion come up before and I think it was surmised that this tends to be a local culture thing.  In my circle I never even heard of NOT opening presents at the party - that's just part of what happens.  Not everyone sits and watches, but you let everyone know you're doing it and they can either choose to watch or go somewhere else and continue their conversation.  For DD's first "she" opened her gifts, in that she sat on my lap and helped me pull the paper off.  She still got to open her own presents, but it went much faster.  Though we only had 20 people.  I think if I had 50 I'd wait until after the party or the end of the day when it's only a few stragglers.

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• 1bratmom member

  August 2013

  We always have but I went to a BD party this year. Where the didn't but we got a thank you note and a picture of the kid opening his present. It was nice, I thought. He seems genuinely excited in the picture. 

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• Elsa1984 member

  September 2013

  In my circle of friends/family, the more the years go on, the less present opening happens. If it is an adult only thing, they are opened.
  
  Personally, I get sick of watching other people's kids tear into the birthday kids gifts, start playing with everything, and you have no idea what gift went with what card.....all while the parents are watching their kids do it and not saying anything. We had 75 people at my daughters first birthday (we have a huge family), and the only person upset about gifts not being opened was my mom. After we got home, she took a nap, and got a little more relaxed...she opened gifts. If she got distracted, it was no big deal, we did some later. That gave me plenty of time to write down who got her what (for thank you cards), set duplicates aside to be returned, and it was actually relaxing.
  
  I will never forget my friends daughter first birthday. They opened gifts, there were some duplicates. Not a big deal. But then when she was in the dining room getting cake ready, a grown woman sat there and opened all of the packages so the kids at the party could play with them. She even opened the duplicates! Then she broke down the boxes to the point they couldn't be returned. That was after my friend spent a stressful time asking "who got her this _____?" After the other kids torn through the gifts during opening to "help" the 1 year old.
  
  I find gift opening at a kids party, more stressful than planning and having the actual party.

   

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