No gifts requested at 1 year olds' party?

Eastie156 · August 2013

We've been invited to a couple birthday parties and both invitations specifically say "no presents, please". What do we bring/buy? I was thinking maybe buying a book at a local library in honor of the birthday boy/girl and donating to the library. Does this sound like a good idea?

AKB090609 · August 2013

That sounds really nice, or you could donate to a children's hospital or shelter.

VineyardMel · August 2013

I got a B&N gift card for a similar party I just attended.

mrsbhk22 · August 2013

I love the book idea or charity donation.

hmp1 · August 2013

I love that idea.

ellebee2 · August 2013

I love the idea of spending the money you would have spent on a gift and donating it to something local/kid related (whether that is a library, childrens' hospital, etc).

cmumama · August 2013

I love the library idea!

damabo80 · August 2013

Bring a nice card and make a donation to your charity of choice.

No gifts really truly means no gifts. It's not code for anything.

amandad715 · August 2013

Cute idea! We told people "no gifts" since we have a great toy collection and W has plenty of hand me downs. FYI-We generally know some people are getting W gifts because *they* want to. Mostly family. We're ok with that because we can only ask people to honor our request but not police it.

If someone told us that they bought a book for a library or something in our name, I would be so grateful.

opaque1997 · August 2013

LOVE the idea of the libarary - we are one of the familes asking for no gifts and I've had to be kind of "mean" about it - we have sooooooo much STUFF and honestly the people that are insisting on getting gifts (not family we expect that and are ok with it) but friends we know will be STUFF not awesome gifts / books - I can now say - hey we'd love a donation in her name

We have told people if they bring a gift the gift will be put in a back room out of sight and will not be opened during the party (we have told people that we would be happy to get together another time with gifts) - we do not want gifts to be part of the party for a lot of reasons including but not limited to some grabby selfish bratty children that will be in attendance and the fact that LO doesn't have any idea whats going on.

FYI - I am with several others - when I say no gifts - I really do mean no gifts - please do not show up with a gift card - a book I do think is slightly ok - but my other reason for not wanting gifts? I do not want to write thank you notes. This is selfish of me - but sooooo true

Hyaline · August 2013

Maybe this is just me, but you don't bring anything. They requested "no gifts" and it's your privilege as their guest to abide by their request. I understand wanting to do "something" but if they don't want you thinking about what to bring, don't think about it. They've decided that the celebration they want involves no exchange of any gifts, so respect that IMO.

Also, other guests will likely follow their request and no bring anything, and could feel awkward when they realized some people gave a donation or whatnot--not that you'd announce it, but still.

If you really want to do something, send a card with a note that you made the donation, don't bring it to the party.

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No gifts requested at 1 year olds' party?

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