Kari Skelton

  • Shop
    • My Style
    • Kids Style
    • Gift Ideas
  • At Home
    • Recipes
      • Snacks
      • Treats
      • Meals
      • Cocktails
    • Home Style
    • DIY Projects
    • Gardening + Outdoor Design
    • Seasonal Decor
    • Everything Christmas!
  • Motherhood
    • Parenting Chats
    • Self-Care
    • Time-Savers
  • Local Love
    • Local Love List
    • Shop Local
    • Eat Local
    • Play Local
  • Adventure
  • About
You are here: Home / Momlife / No More Birthday Presents?

No More Birthday Presents?

June 21, 2017 By Kari Leave a Comment

Birthday Presents-1Your little one’s first birthday is a big one. You pull out all the stops to create a memorable party, but what about the birthdays after the first? Surely we should celebrate our sons and daughters, but to what extent? We’re starting to plan Wyatt’s second birthday party and I’m feeling caught between wanting to shower him with gifts and treats, and wanting to keep it chill and small. I assume at this age, our kids don’t really know what’s going on anyway, and can’t fully appreciate the meaning behind gifts just yet.

Birthday Presents-2

I can’t believe how much ‘stuff’ we accumulate as a family. I went into parenthood trying to keep a minimalist perspective with toys and other ‘stuff’. Despite that, we’re bursting at the seams. The toy box(es) are overflowing, and I’m stashing books in all sorts of places in Wyatt’s room, because we just have so much. The last thing we need is more ‘stuff’.

Don’t get me wrong: I love gifts. I love giving them and I love receiving them. It makes me feel good, both the excitement around opening a present, and the anticipation of watching someone you care about open what you carefully selected for them. It’s an expression of love, of your feelings for that person. My issue is when gift giving becomes an obligation (such a feeling like you have to buy for someone just because they bought for you). I feel like the heart of gifting has been somewhat lost, and to be honest, I don’t want my kids growing up entitled and expectant. So, we’re considering ditching the present idea. I’ve chatted about this topic with my close friends, there was a great discussion about it on my Instagram too. I wanted to share a few ideas on how to work around this while still making our birthday boy feel special. These are a few of my ideas, along with a few shared by others via my social media.

If you’re foregoing gift giving:

  • Set up a photo booth for fun keepsakes. $1 per photo with the money going to charity.
  • A Toonie party. Each partygoer gives one Toonie to the birthday boy/girl and one Toonie to charity. Another idea is to encourage every kid to bring $2-5 for the birthday kid to save for something later. This way, we encourage our little ones to think about their piggy banks, and time at the party is spent playing and having fun, not opening presents.
  • Make birthday yearbooks instead of gifts, featuring photos of all of their special moments throughout the year.
  • Collect book donations for the less fortunate from people attending, then have your kid deliver them to the charity to truly experience the gift of giving.
  • Everyone brings a dish for a potluck instead of a gift.
  • Have each kid make the birthday kid a card instead of buying a gift.

If gifting is still your thing:

  • Make it an activity theme. For example, do a movie-themed gift with iTunes gift cards or DVDs, some popcorn and candy in a basket. Or do a ‘Summer Fun Bag’ with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, sand toys, etc. Make the gift more of an experience than a toy. My in-laws pay for Wyatt’s swimming lessons, and my parents bought us a wagon that came with ski attachments to use in the winter. This year, my parents are getting us an annual family pass to the Science Centre. I love this type of gift giving! We’re always sure to take a photo of us enjoying the gift, and send it to the gift giver.
  • Each partygoer brings a gift, then the group participates in a fun gift exchange. There are several games you can play. This way, the birthday girl or boy still gets to open something, and everyone feels special. (This is a great way to ditch goodie bags too!)
  • Consider asking your little one to share gift opening duties. It’s a neat idea to let each kid at the party open one gift, then let them all play with the toys together at the party.
  • Give books, puzzles or attractions passes to explore your city.
  • Make it a craft theme. Ask for crafts you can do with your kids.
  • There’s nothing wrong with doing or saying nothing, essentially encouraging partygoers to do what they want on the gift front. There’s also nothing wrong with letting your friends and family know gifts are not expected.

What ideas would you add to the list?

 

xx

 

Related

Filed Under: Momlife, Parenting

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Stay in touch!

Get notified of

new posts!

Welcome to kariskelton.com! I would love to hear from you. Click here to email me.

My Pinterest

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

kariskelton

Lifestylist + Blogger: KariSkelton.com
Mom to Wyatt, Moses🐾 + Monroe🐾
Babe on the way! (06/22)
❤ @ryanjespersen
motherhood | style | recipes 👇

Kari Skelton | Motherhood
when you feel like you've hit your max bump but th when you feel like you've hit your max bump but there's still nine weeks to go. 😳

It's truly amazing what our bodies can do. 💛

#31weeks #sunsoutbumpsout #beachball
Life update. ❤ I’ll be keeping this piece of Life update. ❤

I’ll be keeping this piece of art forever. Wyatt painted this for me back in January, when I was isolated with Covid. I taped it up on the wall beside the bed during my stay in our guest room. If you zoom in, you’ll see me in the front with the big baby belly. (Wyatt calls me ‘big belly’ these days!)

Rainbows represent promise, hope, and new beginnings. 

It's been a rough past few weeks for our family, hence my absence online. Thank you so much for your messages of love, concern, and support. They mean so much to us. I know I share a lot with you on here, but I’m not going to get into details this time. Just know we're doing alright. Junebug is great (and kicking and rolling around non-stop!), Wyatt is awesome per usual, and Ryan and I are rock solid.

I had to take a break from work. My main focus has always been (and will
always be) protecting the peace, health, and well-being of our family unit. 

Social media can be a beautiful place where connection and inspiration happens. Unfortunately, it can also foster hurtful and harmful attacks. I’ve learned so much over these past few weeks, and have deeply reflected on my presence and future plans online. I’ll share more soon, but for now, I just wanted to check in, say a sincere thanks, and let you know we’re all good. ❤️
The moment I found out. September 22, 2021. I’ll The moment I found out. September 22, 2021. I’ll be honest - the first trimester wasn’t great. There were moments of joy (like this one) but it was filled with anxiety, scary moments, and a few hurdles. 

🤰I’m playing catchup on some pregnancy blog posts but I wanted to make sure this was up, especially for those who have been following our journey. 

👉 Head on over to KariSkelton.com for ‘Pregnancy Q&A: The First Trimester’ where I get into all of it. Link is in my bio.

❔️Please ask any questions. That’s the whole reason why I share about this. I believe sharing our experiences and personal stories helps all of us feel less alone and often validates what we’re going through. 

(If you can believe it, I took a video of the exact moment I found out but it disappeared from my files. Poof! Gone.💨 Of all the videos to lose…. 🙈 But very happy to have this photo).

#pregnancystories #motherhoodrising #motherhoodunites #Canadianblogger #Canadianmom
Contest Closed. Congrats to our winner @michelle_q Contest Closed. Congrats to our winner @michelle_quay! Thanks to all of you for entering! ❤

➡️ Giveaway! To celebrate @fresonbros first birthday tomorrow (Saturday, March 5), we’re giving away a $250 Freson Bros. GC! 🥳

You’re invited to pop down to the party between 11-5 to celebrate with us! 🎉There’s birthday torte, a whole bunch of perks, specialty tastings, and additional in-store giveaways, including a beautiful Camp Chef XT Wood Pellet Grill! 🙆‍♀️

To enter our $250 GC Giveaway:

👉 Make sure you follow me @kariskelton and @fresonbros.

👉 Like this post.

👉 tag some friends who would love this!

✨️ Bonus entry: Head to KariSkelton.com and leave a comment on my ‘Freson Bros. Turns One’ blog post (make sure to add your IG handle in that comment so we know who you are). 

*This giveaway is open to Canadian residents only and is in no way endorsed or supported by Instagram. The winner must be able to pick up the $250 gift card prize at Freson Bros. Edmonton 5139 Mullen Rd. Contest closes Friday, March 4 at 11:59 pm MST. The winner will be announced on this post before 9 a.m MST Saturday, March 5. 

🚨*PLEASE watch out for impersonation accounts that unfortunately sometimes pop up during giveaways. I will only reach out to you via DM from my account (@kariskelton) to confirm your win and then we’ll coordinate details via email only.
Load More… Follow on Instagram

kariskelton

Lifestylist + Blogger: KariSkelton.com
Mom to Wyatt, Moses🐾 + Monroe🐾
Babe on the way! (06/22)
❤ @ryanjespersen
motherhood | style | recipes 👇

Kari Skelton | Motherhood
when you feel like you've hit your max bump but th when you feel like you've hit your max bump but there's still nine weeks to go. 😳

It's truly amazing what our bodies can do. 💛

#31weeks #sunsoutbumpsout #beachball
Life update. ❤ I’ll be keeping this piece of Life update. ❤

I’ll be keeping this piece of art forever. Wyatt painted this for me back in January, when I was isolated with Covid. I taped it up on the wall beside the bed during my stay in our guest room. If you zoom in, you’ll see me in the front with the big baby belly. (Wyatt calls me ‘big belly’ these days!)

Rainbows represent promise, hope, and new beginnings. 

It's been a rough past few weeks for our family, hence my absence online. Thank you so much for your messages of love, concern, and support. They mean so much to us. I know I share a lot with you on here, but I’m not going to get into details this time. Just know we're doing alright. Junebug is great (and kicking and rolling around non-stop!), Wyatt is awesome per usual, and Ryan and I are rock solid.

I had to take a break from work. My main focus has always been (and will
always be) protecting the peace, health, and well-being of our family unit. 

Social media can be a beautiful place where connection and inspiration happens. Unfortunately, it can also foster hurtful and harmful attacks. I’ve learned so much over these past few weeks, and have deeply reflected on my presence and future plans online. I’ll share more soon, but for now, I just wanted to check in, say a sincere thanks, and let you know we’re all good. ❤️
The moment I found out. September 22, 2021. I’ll The moment I found out. September 22, 2021. I’ll be honest - the first trimester wasn’t great. There were moments of joy (like this one) but it was filled with anxiety, scary moments, and a few hurdles. 

🤰I’m playing catchup on some pregnancy blog posts but I wanted to make sure this was up, especially for those who have been following our journey. 

👉 Head on over to KariSkelton.com for ‘Pregnancy Q&A: The First Trimester’ where I get into all of it. Link is in my bio.

❔️Please ask any questions. That’s the whole reason why I share about this. I believe sharing our experiences and personal stories helps all of us feel less alone and often validates what we’re going through. 

(If you can believe it, I took a video of the exact moment I found out but it disappeared from my files. Poof! Gone.💨 Of all the videos to lose…. 🙈 But very happy to have this photo).

#pregnancystories #motherhoodrising #motherhoodunites #Canadianblogger #Canadianmom
Contest Closed. Congrats to our winner @michelle_q Contest Closed. Congrats to our winner @michelle_quay! Thanks to all of you for entering! ❤

➡️ Giveaway! To celebrate @fresonbros first birthday tomorrow (Saturday, March 5), we’re giving away a $250 Freson Bros. GC! 🥳

You’re invited to pop down to the party between 11-5 to celebrate with us! 🎉There’s birthday torte, a whole bunch of perks, specialty tastings, and additional in-store giveaways, including a beautiful Camp Chef XT Wood Pellet Grill! 🙆‍♀️

To enter our $250 GC Giveaway:

👉 Make sure you follow me @kariskelton and @fresonbros.

👉 Like this post.

👉 tag some friends who would love this!

✨️ Bonus entry: Head to KariSkelton.com and leave a comment on my ‘Freson Bros. Turns One’ blog post (make sure to add your IG handle in that comment so we know who you are). 

*This giveaway is open to Canadian residents only and is in no way endorsed or supported by Instagram. The winner must be able to pick up the $250 gift card prize at Freson Bros. Edmonton 5139 Mullen Rd. Contest closes Friday, March 4 at 11:59 pm MST. The winner will be announced on this post before 9 a.m MST Saturday, March 5. 

🚨*PLEASE watch out for impersonation accounts that unfortunately sometimes pop up during giveaways. I will only reach out to you via DM from my account (@kariskelton) to confirm your win and then we’ll coordinate details via email only.
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · Designed by: Mike Johnston (Mr. KitchenMagpie)