Guest-blogger AmyJo just wrote in her birthday party tip after reading the birthday party post from last week. What a great idea!

I just read the birthday party wish list post and I wanted to share something sort of related… or not. Our twin boys just turned six and we had yet to do a  kid party. One of the reasons was simply that they  just didn’t need any more stuff and I found the excess of gifts at some kids parties a bit much.

I’ve heard of giving to charities and requesting no  gifts, doing a food drive, etc, but that’s hard when  they KNOW kids get presents at parties…

Finally this past weekend, we did a kid party and wrote on the invites “Our home is overflowing with love, toys and simple joys. Please bring a recycled
gift from your child’s stash or a very modest gift.”

The craziest part is that it worked. Parents told me they appreciated not have to buy two gifts (or any gifts!) for the party, and many took time to select
 just the right books or stuffed animals from their own collection. Some brought a mix of a small new item with some used, etc. My kids loved it all and really didn’t know any difference. As long as there was wrapping paper to rip, they were delighted!

- AmyJo

Thanks AmyJo - such a win-win-win solution!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 8:56 am and is filed under Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.