HOw do I manage all the presents my 6 year old will be getting for birthday

bestpud

aliasojo wrote: »

'We used to avoid the parties where 30 or 40 kids had been invited to run aorund in a big gym hall with a bouncy castle at one end, then eat a home-made buffet, this was the cheapest birthday party you could get for that many kids, and I always felt it was a present to pounds spent ratio. If it was the same thing but at home with fewer kids, then we'd always go and take a nice present with us.;)'

I fed the lot of them with cheapie stuff from Farmfoods and they all seemed to have a good time.

:think: I wonder if any of the parents had the same thoughts as you though.........:undecided There was I thinking I'd done well and maybe some peeps were thinking I was being a lazy cheapskate. :rotfl:

I tend to think 'brave parent' personally!

I did it once with 16 nursery aged children - never again! :eek:

I certainly don't think it is 'cheap and lazy' and I would never buy a present according to the type of party!

That said, I am always wary of this type of party because the children often leave hyped up, very hot and irritable having argued with someone, and there always seem to be a few injured in some way as well!

DD invariably bounces out, ricocheting off the walls :rolleyes:, and then collapses into hysterical sobs a little later, before eventually flaking out! I'm sure it is a mix of running wild for an hour and eating masses of sugary food.

Some parents will keep it under control, but most just sit back while the kids run riot and I am always more concerned when there is a bouncy castle or slide, for obvious reasons.

Primrose

I think that encouraging a six year old to expect lots of presents is to start imbuing him with a sense of materialism at a very unhealthy young age, and if a six year old is brought up thinking that a birthday party for 30 - 40 children is normal, what kind of expectations will he be having for all his subsequent birthdays as he grows older? At what stage do you give him the pony, the motor bike, the car? Perhaps he is your only child and undoubtedly very special to you, but I have seen many only children brought up to become spoilt brats, because parents have never asked themselves honestly what kind of expectations they are encouraging their child to demand. I find it difficult to believe that a six year old would understand or appreciate all the expense and effort that has gone in to arranging such a function and whilst you say you don't want to offend other parents, I wonder how many of them are going to feel, if they are unemployed or on a low income, wondering whether they in turn will be expected to return the favour for 30 or 40 children when it is their child's turn to have a birthday party. I don't want to offend you, but this kind of event seems a very subtle form of emotional blackmail to me, making a lot of other parents feel very uncomfortable about your obviously financial superior finanancial position. .Why not just have a simple picnic with games and a few of his closest friends in a local park or in your garden?

HappySad

mrcow wrote: »

And it was me who queried which culture finds it "offensive" to buy clothes for a child that will fit them?

I'm still intrigued. I was wondering if perhaps the OP's family belonged to a clown troup so they all have to wear out-sized clothes?

You miss the point. It's not about giving a present that fits them now. Its about giving a present of something that they already have enough of. When you have little you don't value someone giving you another of the same of what you already have. Say e.g. You are on a very very low income & your close friends know you already have plenty of a particular item. It would not be considerate to buy then yet another one that they can make no use of... as they already have it. E.g. its like knowing a couple has a toaster business & then get them a toaster as a present. They could use it but they will not as they already have plenty. So getting clothes several times bigger means that you are thinking about the person's need to get the most of their things.

Its hard to explain & I have just giving these clothes away to charity not used As I already have enough for my son's current age & someone else can make better use of it.

If you think of it from a greener perspective you may be able to understand.

I state again my son is not interested in presents. He never talks about that side of it. Just having a fun day for his birthday.

I have kept in touch with his prenatal, postnatal, playgroup, nursery friends so this birthday is an opportunity to have a fun day in/out together. Having an opening present time/times is not what the people I know do; so I know that this process would not be expected or wanted. |What about the children who don't bring present?

@ Christmas 1/4 or is it 1/3 Christmas presents are not wanted. That's how ebay is flooded with stuff people feel they need to give others to celebrate the stuff giving side of Christmas.

blackcoffee

an assosicates daughter of ours (i dont realy class her as a friend) has 3 birthday parties some years, if some of her friends cant come to the designated party date, her mum hosts another, as she doesnt want her child to miss out !! she loves her daughter being the centreof attention!

My daughter had a joint party for her 5th with her best friend, they were only allowed to invite thier class from school. associate was mortified with me , she said how an you have a joint party, the other child may get more presents !!!! who counts ???


for my daughters 6th she had 3 friendsover for tea and fun games.

cutlures, backgrounds whatever, i have no desire to have 40 children at my daughters party, that way i avoid 40 tatty gifts.

Becles

aliasojo wrote: »

:think: I wonder if any of the parents had the same thoughts as you though.........:undecided There was I thinking I'd done well and maybe some peeps were thinking I was being a lazy cheapskate. :rotfl:

Similar story here. Was a single parent and my sons had been invited to countless expensive soft play, swimming, football etc., parties where it costs a fortune per head. There was no way I could invite the whole class to one of those places!

Hired a local community room for £10 for the afternoon. Spent two days homebaking a buffet full of goodies, then spent two hours on the day playing tradtional party games like musical chairs, pass the parcel etc., with about 30 hyperactive children.

It was bloomin hard work and I was knackered by the end of it, so certainly not an option for the lazy. The bairns all loved it though and the smiles on their faces and empty plates at the end made it all worth while.

ailuro2

aliasojo wrote: »

As it was in the gym, there was plenty of room so we just invited his whole class.

I fed the lot of them with cheapie stuff from Farmfoods and they all seemed to have a good time.

:think: I wonder if any of the parents had the same thoughts as you though.........:undecided There was I thinking I'd done well and maybe some peeps were thinking I was being a lazy cheapskate. :rotfl:

NAh, you did it for the right reasons....I'm talking about folk arriving in the Merc 4x4 instead of taking the CLK200 that day, as they need the room for their little princesses mountain of presents.:rolleyes: You know the kind I mean.

I was shocked at the amount of expensive presents DD got when she has a party for 12 friends when she was only 5 yo, after that we scaled it down to a car-load of pals as previously described. Where do people keep all these gifts? Our house just wouldn't be big enough to store all the presents!

aliasojo

ailuro2 wrote: »

NAh, you did it for the right reasons....I'm talking about folk arriving in the Merc 4x4 instead of taking the CLK200 that day, as they need the room for their little princesses mountain of presents.:rolleyes: You know the kind I mean.

I was shocked at the amount of expensive presents DD got when she has a party for 12 friends when she was only 5 yo.........................

Cheers ailuro, my post was made in a light hearted way btw.

As for your girl's expensive presents......you must mix in a better social circle than me. We get £1.99 pretend Barbies from Tesco. :rotfl: (For which we are truly grateful .)

ailuro2

I don't even mix with th em, but big stationery sets from the Disney store are not what I expected for a 5 year old, and certainly not what I'd been giving as presents either! Disney stuff is restricted to Christmas, and only then if it's been on special offer!:p

And dear birthday cards aswell!

We had a fiver pressie and a card out of the box in the kitchen, no age or badge on the card.:o OF course that was before Poundland did their 5 for a pound with ages on them.;)

pipkin71

HappySad wrote: »

I state again my son is not interested in presents..

Happysad, one thing I don't understand, but if your son is not interested in presents, the why would you say:

"I would like my son to get presents as he loves opening them".

"If someone wants to buy my son a present I would like him to have something if it went towards a large present".

in your opening post?

aliasojo

pipkin....I think there is a world of difference between what the son would like and what the parent would like.

Personally I think this is one of those situations where the parent should keep their nose well and truly out.