s/o 1st birthday invites...

[TrudyCampbell]

How do I tastefully word "no gifts"? 

[erniebufflo]

Jan 28, 2013 16:26:32 GMT -5 TrudyCampbell said:

How do I tastefully word "no gifts"? 

Good question, I need to know too.

[mrsjaymay]

I used the wording "your presence is the best present of all" or something similar on the sprinkle invitation for my SIL. Everyone brought presents anyway though, so I guess that's not very effective!

[dixeedeluxe]

Yeah, I think just flat out saying it is OK. People who want to bring gifts will anyway. Which is also fine.

[TrudyCampbell]

Jan 28, 2013 16:32:39 GMT -5 dixeedeluxe said:

Yeah, I think just flat out saying it is OK. People who want to bring gifts will anyway. Which is also fine.

Yea we figure immediate family etc will obv bring a gift but we don't have the room in our apt to have tons and tons of crap from every single person so we are trying to minimize the gifts. 

[charlielove]

The gift of your presence is all we request/need.

[TrudyCampbell]

How about- "Violet is registered at Janie & Jack"

[bebeetmoi]

Jan 28, 2013 16:30:09 GMT -5 @pcloadletter said:

"Your presence is present enough" or "Your presence is all we ask for"

I think "your presence is present enough" is perfect- to the point without sounding unappreciative. 

[biblionerd]

I think a straightforward "gifts are not necessary" is fine. I don't like being told NOT to bring a gift because I think it creates an awkward situation like I said in the other post, but I think letting people know they are not expected is fine. I just don't like the "please don't bring gifts" because I think it makes it awkward for those who listen to it since people WILL bring them.

[muppetinma]

An acquaintance of mine was facing the same problem - not having enough room for a ton of crappy presents. How did she remedy that? She registered for her kid's first birthday and assigned gifts to everybody in attendance.

Yeah. I don't see her much anymore.

[erniebufflo]

There will be no registry. In my fam, having wish lists on Amazon or Pinterest is normal, and I add stuff to our lists throughout the year, but I would only tell my fam and maybe if someone asks. My mom starts badgering me about wish lists for Christmas around July.

[Deleted]

So I know y'all will hate this, but Juliana's BFF has two younger brothers and he is a boy too so they need nothing in the way of gifts really, they all just share toys. Same with us, R will just get J's stuff and new stuff from us. Anyway, friend put "Gifts are not necessary, but we will be donating coloring books and crayons to the children at CASA (local children's org)" on the 1st Birthday invite. The whole party was crayon/color themed so it worked well and I thought it was a great gesture. I took the $$ I was going to spend on the child and bought several coloring books and sets of crayons. We plan to do something similar for R's birthday.

[erniebufflo]

Jan 28, 2013 17:30:30 GMT -5 dragonflybelle said:

So I know y'all will hate this, but Juliana's BFF has two younger brothers and he is a boy too so they need nothing in the way of gifts really, they all just share toys. Same with us, R will just get J's stuff and new stuff from us. Anyway, friend put "Gifts are not necessary, but we will be donating coloring books and crayons to the children at CASA (local children's org)" on the 1st Birthday invite. The whole party was crayon/color themed so it worked well and I thought it was a great gesture. I took the $$ I was going to spend on the child and bought several coloring books and sets of crayons. We plan to do something similar for R's birthday.

I think this is a cool idea. I've also heard of folks having people bring things for an animal shelter or food for a food bank.

[ruby412]

I got an invite once for a 30th birthday that said "Your presence is the only present requested." But I feel like for a 1st birthday party maybe you could come up with a cute rhyme?

Also, legitimately do you really not want any presents? I feel like I would never come to a 1st b-day party empty handed! Could you suggest a donation to a charity in her name? Is any specific cause important to you?

You could say...

I promise this party won't be lame!
Instead of gifts, please make a donation to ** in Violet's name.

(high5)
(High 5s myself for my mad poetry skillz.)

[rxbeth]

loling at ruby412's mad rhyming skillz

I kind of like the idea of donation to a children's charity, animal shelter, etc and having her do something like that every year so that she gets into the spirit of giving for her birthday.

[mikehoncho]

Ok I just posted this in the other thread but I'm going to c&p it here

we went to a first birthday party that said no gifts and when we got there the birthday girl was sitting in the middle of the room with a stack of presents next to her. Thank you sweet baby Jesus that I brought a gift anyway cause holy crap how awkward would that have been. I mean who does that?! Anyway, if there's no gifts make sure people know haha I would have felt like such a dick

Anyway, for the love of god don't do this. Our other friend didnt bring a gift and felt so rude and terrible.


Eta: meaning: they took a chunk of time out of the party for her to open the gifts in front of everyone.

[erniebufflo]

Jan 28, 2013 18:04:07 GMT -5 ruby412 said:

I got an invite once for a 30th birthday that said "Your presence is the only present requested." But I feel like for a 1st birthday party maybe you could come up with a cute rhyme?

Also, legitimately do you really not want any presents? I feel like I would never come to a 1st b-day party empty handed! Could you suggest a donation to a charity in her name? Is any specific cause important to you?

You could say...

I promise this party won't be lame!
Instead of gifts, please make a donation to ** in Violet's name.

(high5)
(High 5s myself for my mad poetry skillz.)

You're an awesome poet. And yeah, I really don't want presents. They've got plenty of toys to play with, and it's actually hard to come up with other stuff they might need at this point. They certainly won't notice that they're not getting anything, and I'm sure the grandparents will still get them stuff, and probably the aunts as well.

[vidalia]

We recently got an invite for a 1st birthday from a friend and at the bottom of the invitation the wording was, "Please no gifts, we just want to celebrate with you!"

[TrudyCampbell]

Jan 28, 2013 18:13:03 GMT -5 mikehoncho said:

Ok I just posted this in the other thread but I'm going to c&p it here

we went to a first birthday party that said no gifts and when we got there the birthday girl was sitting in the middle of the room with a stack of presents next to her. Thank you sweet baby Jesus that I brought a gift anyway cause holy crap how awkward would that have been. I mean who does that?! Anyway, if there's no gifts make sure people know haha I would have felt like such a dick

Anyway, for the love of god don't do this. Our other friend didnt bring a gift and felt so rude and terrible.


Eta: meaning: they took a chunk of time out of the party for her to open the gifts in front of everyone.

They opened the gifts at a no gifts party!?!? So inappropriate. 

[mikehoncho]

Yes!!!! Wtffff

[creamsiclechica]

I love the charity idea! That's a good one! Ruby, you've got skillz for days!

[browneyedhunni85]

Jan 28, 2013 17:30:30 GMT -5 dragonflybelle said:

So I know y'all will hate this, but Juliana's BFF has two younger brothers and he is a boy too so they need nothing in the way of gifts really, they all just share toys. Same with us, R will just get J's stuff and new stuff from us. Anyway, friend put "Gifts are not necessary, but we will be donating coloring books and crayons to the children at CASA (local children's org)" on the 1st Birthday invite. The whole party was crayon/color themed so it worked well and I thought it was a great gesture. I took the $$ I was going to spend on the child and bought several coloring books and sets of crayons. We plan to do something similar for R's birthday.

This is a great idea!