GainesvilleMoms.com

A few years ago, I noticed a new trend. We would bring gifts to birthday parties and at the end of the party, someone would be packing up the still-wrapped presents in the back of their car. I always wondered why because it started happening around the same time. Was this a new trend? And why?

The thing is, my dd usually spends a lot of time tracking down and wrapping the perfect gift. I think her favorite part of the party (besides the cake) is watching her friends unwrap the gift she had taken so much time to pick out.

So it's always a little disappointing when the gifts end up in the back of the car before being unwrapped. Now, I totally understand what one mom of a 4-year-old recently posted about choosing not to unwrap gifts...because of the chaos it creates with a huge group of 4 year olds.

So, can anyone else give me insight into this trend? Especially with older children? Why do you think parents do this?

i see both sides, at the last party we attended, i literally spent the entire gift opening time pushing back the guests so the birthday girl could actually open the gifts.

but i agree that my kids want to see the reaction of the birthday baby opening the gift. if you don't open them, to me, it takes out the personal time during the party. i say if you don't open them at the party, request guests not bring gifts at all. or bring a newly wrapped toy for a donation to a charity or somethign like that.

That was me with the large group of 4 year olds...my daughter is 7 now and depending on the size of the party we will open gifts either before or after....I'm not sure why other parents do it but I do it that way because it gets so crazy....I mean I'm not sure what the parents of the kids were thinking but these kids were actually pushing and shoving and tearing presents out of the birthday girl's hands....I was pretty shocked. I have seen it now at almost every party I go to where there are more than just a few kids...it's like the parents didn't even notice! We couldn't even send out thank you's because we had no idea what was from who!

We have always opened presents at the party with my kids, but we have never had any bad experiences with it either. Part of the fun is opening presents. We leave it for last right after cake. While the kids are eating cake, we allow our "birthday kid" to start opening. The kids are busy eating cake and it gives the birthday kid the time and room they need to open their gifts.

Although I have never had children act that way at any of my children's parties, I have been at parties where I thought the children would be trampled in the name of present opening. So I think it is up to the parents to try to control it and I think that having cake and ice-cream during the present opening is a great idea! We may just have to do that this year. Great tip.

hey what about in the spirit of not having a gift opening time, your daughter could open each gift as the guest arrives with it. that would give them a little one on one time and there would be no big to do about present time...

great idea, softballmom, or you could do it as each guest leaves.

I agree. All of these are great ideas. I think we'll play it by ear, you know, depending on how many kids are there and how rowdy they become. You know I'll keep you updated!