Gift Regesties for Birthday Parties?!

[sczos911]

Am I just old fashioned or is this common?

My youngest was invited to a party and the birthday girl is registered at Target & Toys R Us.

To me, this takes the fun out of my girls shopping for the individual (it teaches them a good lesson about thinking about someone else!). Sure - you make sure you get what you want, but I have to tell you - on those lists are some really high priced items and very little in our Birthday Budget area. We'll probably not go off the list anyways... :/

[mummytothree]

I think it's rude, it says to me that the most important thing is that you (the guest) bring a "good" gift to the party...not that you (the guest) come to my party to have fun and play, but then again I know that my thoughts on stuff is way different then what others think!!!

I've started adding this line to all my kid's invites "No gifts please your presence is gift enough", because 1.) I'm tired of all the toys....my kids DO NOT need any more toys and 2.) I'm not giving my kid a party for them to "harvest" presents! I'm giving them a party because I want to celebrate their special day, I want them to remember what that day actually meant!! Yes my kids get presents on their birthday: from me, from their grandparents and their aunts and uncle. That to me is enough......if someone brings a gift anyways we store it n the closet and then donate it at Christmas time to Toys For Tots.

[LenaGardner]

bleh! not cool!

[Megan Turnidge]

Whaaaaaa? That is ridiculous. I've never heard of registering for a birthday.

[suze]

i have NEVER heard of that... maybe i'm old fashion too.

[ayaandjudah]

I think it's rude.......

[MamaBee]

seriously? never heard of this either... I don't think that is cool, either... how much does people spend on gift for another kid... $10? Yeah... I would ignore that and get what I/the girls think would be a gift they would like...

[Lyd]

I agree. Not cool. I have yet to throw a "friends" party for any of my kids. But, if I ever do, I'm going to do like Elizabeth does and request that they DON'T bring presents. Too much stuff!

[Sarah8914]

Elizabeth, you're awesome!

I agree, that's totally rude. We just did my second daughter's first friend's party this week and I allowed presents because dd 1 had a friend party before, but we have SOOOOOOO many toys... I'm totally stealing Elizabeth's idea now! (though we don't plan to do parties every year anyway... but without presents, I could do it more!)

[carriesmom]

I'm with everyone else, never heard of it and it's rude. I understand they want to get what they want but the better way is to call the hostess and ask what they would want, then they could fill you in. And frankly if the hostess doesn't know the guests well enough for that to happen, maybe she shouldn't have invited them.

[Kenzi]

That's crazy! I remember when I was getting married and having my invitations done my mom would't let me put any info on where we were registered. She said it was not proper etiquette. Not that we are all prim and proper people though lol. I just remember getting other invitations with that sort of info and thought it was the norm, but apparently not. My mom said if people wanted to know they would ask. Even though people usually bring gifts to weddings/birthdays, it's not right to assume they must, and by putting registry info on the invite is like that i guess I think registries have their place i.e. for weddings and baby showers where you would want to get the person a gift they actually need to start the next new phase of their life, but birthday parties?!?! not so much

[eranslow]

I've heard of it but have never seen anyone do it! I can see it being used for family (especially if the family is out of state) but not for the kids friends. That's just weird and rude.

[taracotta7]

I have never heard of a kid registering at Target or toys r us! That seems a little crazy!

I will admit that there is a local learning store here in town. They have a registry and it happens to be Landon's favorite place to go for prizes or special rewards. He is one of those kids that loves science kits and learning games as prizes. Anyways, we have done that registry a couple of time there but didn't put it on the invites. It was there to basically help the grandparents decide. They asked us to do it. SO, I feel like that was totally different that what you are talking about.

[cardinalskate]

I agree...totally rude. Sheesh.

[farrijc]

I am obviously in the minority, but it doesn't bother me at all. I don't feel obligated to buy from the list, but I can understand the reasoning behind it. I have tried the route of putting no gifts on our invitations, but no one seems to listen. LOL Although, these are normally friends of the family, not kids we have invited from school where we don't know the parents.

[kendallt]

Wowwww...that is crazy! I must say registering for a birthday party is a new one for me.

[kscwgirl]

Um yeah that's insane. For the kids this year, they each get to ask 3 friends to go the movies, and we're going in january... abby's bday is in november and jj's is in february. No big party.

[Libby Pritchett]

hehe total highjack, but sara, I LOVE your siggy... idk how long you've had it, but I just noticed it. SO cute!

[nun69]

I have never heard of that...seems kinda crazy to me!!!!

[kscwgirl]

Originally Posted by Libby Pritchett

hehe total highjack, but sara, I LOVE your siggy... idk how long you've had it, but I just noticed it. SO cute!

LOL ty, just a couple of weeks or so.. I made it after Halloween. Thanks

[dana]

hmmm - i've never heard of that before - i'm not sure how i feel about it. for kids i know well, i love picking out gifts for them, but sometimes a registry would help me when it's someone from school that i don't know well!

we went to a party a few months ago where, instead of bringing gifts for the birthday girl, everyone brought one gift that was $20 or under and exchanged w/ someone else at the party - so everyone came home w/ one present. i liked that idea a lot!

[lauren grier]

this is funny-- because i took the neighbor girls (teens) shopping the other day for a friends birthday & they were all stressed out bc they were only allowed to get her gifts from a specified list.. I was like ermmmmmmmm screw that and helped them buy other crap. It's pretty ridiculous imo- ESP if the products requested are high priced (like this kids). Kid to Kid gifts should be whatever the kid wants to get. big priced stuff is for parents and family to decide if they want to get.

[Jenn Barrette]

Originally Posted by dana

we went to a party a few months ago where, instead of bringing gifts for the birthday girl, everyone brought one gift that was $20 or under and exchanged w/ someone else at the party - so everyone came home w/ one present. i liked that idea a lot!

That idea is super fun!

[color of my heart]

the only time i ever did a birthday registry was for my 25th. but that was also because i was moving up here, and needed specific apartment things INSTEAD of "birthday" gifts.

but for kids? ridiculous. let their friends pick something out. i never remember getting/giving a specific list to friends for a party.

[origami]

Originally Posted by mummytothree

if someone brings a gift anyways we store it n the closet and then donate it at Christmas time to Toys For Tots.

Great idea! Another idea I have seen is to ask that the guests bring items for the food pantry, but I love the Toys for Tots idea even better.

I do make Amazon lists of gift ideas for my kids, but I only share them with grandparents, who want these lists. I think it would be very rude to share a registry on a birthday invite.

[julifish]

I have my 13 yo starting an online registry for birthday and Christmas but only because she's super hard to buy for and my in-laws, brothers and sisters and my parents need pictures to understand what she wants. I insist she keep it reasonable. I would never give this out to another kid though.

We were invited to a birthday party back in May where the birthday girl was turning 9. Instead of gifts they asked for donations for the Humana Society - pet food, pet toys, puppy pads, gc to wal-mart/target for supplies, etc. They provided a short list of ideas. I thought this was an awesome idea. Kids have some much, why not let them give to others to honor a friend.