Do you have your child open all their presents at their b-day party?

Question

He will be turning 4, and some of the parties we've been going to don't open them...so I was wondering what most people did or etiquette?

Answer 1

I had my son open all of his (with some help, he's only 2). It helped that my mom also had gifts for my nephew, and I brought out the goody bags at the same time so the other children would have something to open and play with.

Answer 2

This is more appropriatae for a 1 year old, but I wouldn't do it with a child over the age of 2.

For the following reasons:

-It makes your child seem as though he's a little emperor and everyone must now sit quietly and watch him indulge.

-There will be jealousy over the presents and others may want to play with new toys and get upset if they aren't allowed.

-It makes people uncomfortable if some have give a more costly or larger gift than others.

-It's very time consuming and takes time away from the party itself. If the party is 3 hours long, it will take a minimum of 1/2 hour or more to open gifts. That could have been time spent playing a game.

Open the presents after the guests have gone. In 1-2 days call and thank everyone personally for gifts /9try to get your 4 year old to get on the phone and say thanks). After spending time selecting gifts for children, I find it's bad manners when a child gets a b'day or Xmas gift and the parent/child never calls to say thank you.

Answer 3

Often, young children get overwhelmed by all the loot and can't appreciate it all.
What I did with my kids was have a quiet family celebration with cake and presents from family members on the child's birthday. Then, the next day or a few days later, we would host a kid's birthday party where the kid would open the gifts from friends.
This way, the birthday child would be able to better handle the multitude of presents over a two day period.

Answer 4

Etiquette says that if you have a gift-giving occasion, like a party, and people bring you a gift, you are obligated to open it and make a big deal out of how much you like it. Any kid who buys another one a gift (OK, we know it was the parents) deserves to see the recipient open it. Not doing it is rude.

If this were a July 4th party and one or two kids brought a gift, etiquette says don't open them because the ones who didn't bring a gift will feel bad. Since this isn't a defined gift-giving event--like a b'day or a shower--guests who bring gifts have to assume that they Won't see it opened.

Have your son practice opening gifts and saying good things even if he doesn't much like them.

Answer 5

If you feel that a present is more special than the others you can save til later. Let him open all of presents at the birthday party but wait til after the other children have left and then give the special present.

Answer 6

I have done both for my kids. The one where we bought them home was better for my son because he had the time to enjoy opening them without the rush to open the next one. But we took photo's and as it had been a pool party I put all the photo's to music with special effects and included these photos and gave them to the guests so they saw him with his present. But I usually let them open straight away as I know I like to see our gift opened by the b'day child. Everyone to their own though. When they are young though I have found the guests have been known to open or start playing with the gifts and they have been broken before the b'day child has played with them. So in these cases I would do it later or if at home let him open them then put them straight away (but even when I did this I found kids in my room opening the packaging!!)

Answer 7

I hate going to kids parties and they don't open the gifts, that's part of the fun but als bad ettiquite. If I came and brought a gift I would like to see it opened.

In addition when you're opening all those gifts be sure you write down in the card what the gift was so you can send a thank you note!

Answer 8

I think you could because some people like to see how the person receiving the gift acts. But also if you don't want someone to feel bad for maybe not giving a good gift. I think that either would be ok. If there's time at the party than do it If there's not than oh well. Hope This Helps!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 9

I learned from trial and error. At my daughters first birthday party we had her open all of her presents from us. It took so long to open everything that the kids and parents were getting stir crazy. For her 2nd birthday we let her open her presents from us at home the morning of her birthday. It ended up working out much better because at her birthday party she had less presents and more time to play and enjoy the other kids company. I would suggest letting your son open his presents from you at home before the party. Good luck!

Sorry I misinterpreted your question....yes he should open all the presents he gets from everyone at the party....Then he should go around and say thank you to everyone.

Answer 10

I think this depends on how many gifts he gets. At that age, the children may not have the attention span to watch him open more than two or three gifts. Also, there may be problems with jealousy. I think at age 4 it is best to open them privately--with mom and dad and grandma and grandpa or whatever, but not the whole neighborhood.