To Open Gifts or Not at Bday Parties

Hi, A.!

My son is almost 6. I've done both...open gifts at parties and also wait 'till get home. I've settled into a routine of opening them at parties that are primarily family and close friends b/c they tend to enjoy seeing his reaction. Now that he is in school since last year, when it's a party that is primarily just his school buddies, I tend to wait 'till he gets home to open gifts since that tends to be boring for his friends to sit and watch.

S.
from PT :-)

For kids parties, yes. That's half the reason kids go to parties! The other is cake and ice cream.

A.

One thing I have done and found very successful is that before my daughter unwraps a gift she gives the gift giver their thank you/goody bag. This means the kids pay attention while waiting for their gift to be unwrapped. It also gives them something to do after their gift has been unwrapped.

I have also found it useful to do gifts prior to cake. Having something to look forward to helps with the attention span at this age.

Hope this helps.

M.
www.themomteam.com/britmum

Hi A.,

I think opening the gifts at the party is a must! But then I am a big kid and would want to do this myself. LOL Most kids can't wait for that time of the party. Guest like to see the birthday boy/girls reaction to what they received. If the child receives lots of gifts you will have to keep the gift opening organized and moving. Slot in some time for the gifts you will be glad you did. Remember it is special moments for your child, and I bet you will receive great facial expressive pictures. Enjoy!

I don't open gifts in front of people. I find it uncomfortable because you can't script what the birthday child or guests will say. Sometimes, it can lead to embarrassing reactions that you don't want to deal with at that moment. And it's boring for everyone but the birthday child.

Hi A.!
I have a 2 and 5 year old and aside from the big 1st birthday party, we have had our parties at party facilities. You are limited for time and instead of cutting over 1/2 hour out of the kids' playtime, we opt to not open presents. This definately upsets some parents, but I think the children would much rather play than watch SOMEONE ELSE open a present. Quite honestly, I think that sometimes the adults want the other adults to see what present they brought!

When we get home we gather around with the family and open the presents. We take a picture of him/her opening each gift and send the picture with the Thank you note - then they can still see the excitement when they open their gift.

I hope that helps! Have a great party!

i never open gifts at our parties - i always wait until we get home to do it - too time consuming!! they'd rather be playing games or having fun not watching presents being opened!

I struggled with this choice too for my daughters 4th birthday party. It was her first "little kid party" and we had about 20 friends from playgroup and school. I decided that we would not open presents at the party because I thought it would be too rushed an we wouldn't have time to process everything (acknowledge the gift giver, match the cards, etc.)

So right after her party I let her open one gift to play with while we all cleaned up. She played with that gift the rest of the day! Later that evening we slowly opened the rest. We chose 2 or 3 gifts to take out of the box and play with. The rest of the presents are on our dining room table (two weeks later!) and every once in a while we get one out of the box. She appreciates and enjoys every gift she has gotten so far. I am so happy we did it this way. I think they can get so overwhelmed by toys at this age and opening the gifts this way has really been great for us.

I have a 4 and 6 year old and one of their favorite parts of partes is to watch their friends open gifts. I think it is nice for the giver to see the reciever "receive" the gift. Ine thing I try to do when my children open the gifts at their parties is to put them up a little higher than the guests, llike in a chair or table that way everyone can see and its harder for some of the more impatient, inpolite kids to try and open the gifts for the birthday boy or girl!

OPEN THE GIFTS...I know that unless your very wealthy with so many gift and guests that it would take hours, your friends and family want to see the gifts they gave, recieved!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2 THE BIRTHDAY GRIL!!

It seems that the more bday parties we go to, the less we see kids opening gifts in front of their guests. It does take up a lot of time and most parties are scheduled somewhere besides their own home where you pay for a 2-3 hour party package.

We usually open our gifts after all the guests except for family have left. Then we can leisurely open the gifts and take pictures, ooh and ahh, etc.

Well, right, it can go both ways. Although at 5 years old, children like to see their friends open "their" gifts. It's fun for them all. Yes, it takes time, but they are only kids once, and only have a birthday once a year. It's a personal choice though. As part of the party, you would have to "schedule" gift opening into the party, to make sure there is enough time to do it. I've done both... opening in front of guests, and sometimes not. No one minded to a great deal... but I know they did like it when we did make gift opening as part of the party. Even the moms said so. And most of all, the kids had so much fun opening the gifts "with" my daughter. It really depends. You'll get lots of ideas here. Good luck.
~Susan
www.cafepress.com/littlegoogoo

I think you need to open gifts at parties. People take time and effort to pick out the perfect gift, and hey want to see the look on the child's face when they open it. We go to a lot of parties of people who do not open them, and it just doesn't seem right.

I always wait to open all gifts when everyone is gone because if someone gets a gift and they cannot afford much or they thought that is what the child would like. The expression on the child's face is not always "YEAH, That is what I always wanted" :) it sometimes is "Thank you" :( and they toss it to the side. It does hurt a family or friends feelings. So we wait until everyone leaves or just when immediate family is left, we open everything and write down a list of their names, whom it was from, plus the gift. They follow with sending "thank you" cards written from the child. No matter the age of the child. If they are really young I send a foot or hand print, when they get older, just writing "thank you" and over 8 years old they write the entire letter. It is good practice of saying thank you.

My son's first birthday party is next week and I have been wondering the same thing. I heard another idea is to open the gifts as the guests arrive. That way the guest can see the reaction immediately and no one has to sit thru the whole process. Especially if you have a lot of attendees.

It's up to you. When we have a party at home, we open the gifts after cake so the people who are ready to go can go & the people that want to watch can stay & watch. When we do a party out at Chuck E Cheese or somewhere, we wait to open presents when we get home, but we also invite a close friend or family member to come home with us so the kids can open gifts & play with them together, and the fun of sharing the new toy excitement can still be had.

Ah, to open or not to open.... the age old question..... :)
Gifts from the other children who have been invited to the party should be opened at the party. It's reinforcing for the invitees to see the birthday child open their gift and it's good practice for the birthday child.

In our family we have oodles of aunties and grandmas who are always around, and we open those gifts after the party, when the birthday child isn't distracted and can really sit down and see what the family gave them. That way the overzealous Auntie/Grandma who bought five gifts isn't competing with anyone outside the family.... and in our family, we know who the overzealous ones are so we don't worry about it too much! :)

Hope this helps!

I have a 3.5 yr old and a 6 yr old and am strongly opposed to opening gifts at parties. It takes forever and little kids are bored at best, or worse, they have a hard time seeing another child get a ton of gifts and they get resentful and whiny. Of course if the party guests are adult relatives of a little child, I think opening is fine.