In the past people used to allow their children to open gifts only after guests had left. I believe that is the best approach as it doesn’t cause embarrassment to any guest if their gift doesn’t compare well with other gifts the child has received, or some unpleasant comment a child would make about the gift in front of guests. But that era is now gone and people don’t care about such nuances.
I encountered an embarrassing situation sometime back when a child seemed to like only one or two gifts out of several the child had received. The prime reason was that the child not only already had most of the toys, but had a bigger and a better version of it. Someone suggested to me that when facing such a child, gifting KitKat chocolates is a safe bet.
How would you choose a gift when facing a similar situation?
This is why I don't attend birthday's. Knowing kids these days, they would probably be expecting a PS5 or something down the lines, while I rummage through the discount bins to find something that even mildly interesting.
No way am I buying some random kid a PS5, just because its their birthday. To bring the point home, if I ever end up having kids, birthdays are going to be private affairs, limited to just family.
Aaj kal people don't celebrate birthdays, they make statements.
i feel really bad for this thing i have seen other infact recently my girl she kept asking me the gift that girl was opening mamma mujeh chahye, i was keeping saying this is not yours, and also i saw the reaction of girl in the thing she wanted and the thing she felt useless its better to stay away from birthdays, i never noticed this thing until you said it thank you for this, i am anti birthday celebration woman just because i don’t want my kids to expect every year they will get so many kids from people and i am happy they are my kids i love to celebrate it all alone with my family! not making my kids greedy about gifts and seeing things worthless as they already have or they don’t want them as a gift! thats my opinion
Of course it makes no sense to buy such expensive gifts for children with whom we are not attached. My interest in birthdays is the chance to hangout with friends who I barely see. But the drama over gifts spoiled my mood. In the past I used to get stressed over giving Eidi to kids on Eid. I didn’t wanted to be giving more than what elders were giving so I just switched to giving chocolates and it has worked brilliantly so far. I think I’ll start doing the same for birthdays.
That is actually an amazing point raised by you. I’m talking about how kids among guests can go through a roller-coaster of emotions when gifts are opened in front of them. At times I feel like there was lot of wisdom in the way things were done in the past.
If you do decide to attend a birthday party, then I think that gift-cards are safer because it gives the recipient the freedom to buy something of their choice as opposed to receiving something that they might already have or do not want. There may be a debate as to how much money to put on the gift card. I would say anywhere from $25 to $50 and this can depend on how close you are to the hosts as well.
If you are hosting the birthday party, it's better to open the gifts after the guests have left. It will save you the embarrassment of your birthday-boy/girl saying something that they shouldn't.
In situations where gifts are anticipated, it's good to teach your kid how to respond when they get a gift and preferably before the event takes place. This also means that you have to teach your kid all the non-examples of responses which are unacceptable such as ..."I don't like this. I already have this. This is not the one I wanted. I don't want this. I already have a much bigger one."
Which jaahil parents make their kids open presents while guests are still there? So weird. If I asked to do that, my mom's glare would turn me into dust.