Yesterday, Eleanor went to her first birthday party. Her playgroup friend Eve turned three. It was a great time. Elly knew everyone at the party, as all the kids had, at one point or another, been in the play group. There was cake and ice cream, bubbles, music and dancing. But Eve didn’t open her presents. This didn’t bother me much, but Bambi was a bit disappointed. It got us to talking about how things used to be about present opening at gift giving social occasions.
One never used to bring a present to a wedding; one would always send it ahead of the joyous occasion.
When I was a kid, half the fun at a birthday party was watching the present opening.
One MUST wait till Christmas Morning to open gifts.
None of this seems to apply any more.
So, what do you think? Should a kid open her birthday presents at her party? When is it OK to not open the gifts? I worry that my kid, at age three, would be ungracious about gifts she either didn’t like or didn’t understand. I think it’s just fine that really small kids don’t open their presents in front of guests. Thoughts?
I oddly don’t have any opinion at all about Weddings or Birthdays. Those are mutable. People can adust as much as they want. but for me, Christmas morning is not up for disucssion. The presents will still be there and everyone MUST WAIT till Christmas morning.
The only slight concession to our eagerness my parents ever made in this regard is that we were allowed to open our stocking before waking up the parents. That usually garnered them at least 30 more minutes of sleep.
Hmmm…. I definitely remember present opening at every birthday party I was at. BUT, I also remember at least a couple where the gift receiver hurt the feelings of the gift giver. So I can see how a super tactful parent might want to avoid that, especially when the kids are very young and proper manners haven’t been completely ingrained.
Besides, three-year olds are pretty squirmy and present opening can take a while. Perhaps the mother was trying to short-circuit any antsiness-related melt-downs. I do think older kids should open presents at birthdays so both sides can learn proper gift giving and receiving etiquette.
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A fine point! I think that most of these kids would dive in, saying “Mine! Mine!” and then a fight or at least tears would break out! 3-year olds don’t get her’s and mine right. Ever.