5.20.2009

I want this, and this, and this

I know, I know another kid's birthday party post but people believe me when I tell you that birthday parties are VERY important to 4 year olds. Your entire social status may be determined for the year based on whether or not you got invited to a birthday party.

A friend called me today and asked me a hypothetical question..Would I let Emily go into Toys R Us with a scanner and create a wish list? The answer? No, probably not.

Turns out that the reason she was asking was because her daughter got an invitation to a birthday party for a 5 year old little boy and included (for the parent's convenience of course) was information about the child's gift registry at Toys R US. No I am not kidding.

While I understand that gifts are kind of a given and most children's birthday parties I don't believe that they are to be expected. I love birthday parties and we make a big deal out of them at our house. What we don't make a big deal about is the presents. We have cake, play games, and celebrate this amazing child's life and we do so with our family and friends. We invite them to join in the festivities and send them hope with a token of our appreciation for coming...not for getting us the perfect gift.

We even have friends that ask for NO gifts and instead offer and opportunity for guests to donate to their favorite charity in the child's name. While I think that is noble and kudos to those parents I know that as a child I too enjoyed the gifts brought and although we have a plethora of toys already we donate the toys to charity after they have gotten their use from them on the back end of the deal.

Registries have always been a funny thing with me. Bret and I had a hard time agreeing on anything when we registered for our wedding and we got almost nothing off of it which was fine. It was nice to be able to pick out our own dishes, bedding, and bathroom set but a lot of the gifts we didn't register were just (if not more) as useful than we would have ever guessed.

Same goes it for when we registered for a baby. We did not have the first clue to what to register for and instead relied upon a book for advice. The hand made gifts and clothes picked out by the guests were not always my styled but appreciated because they were given in love.

As the gift giver (cause you know we are now married and have two kids so we won't be getting stuff anytime soon) I feel torn between simply choosing something in our price range off the registry or being creative (and sale thrifty) and buying something of my own choosing.

I live in the outlet capital of the world and let me tell you the finds I get sometimes are unprecedented. So if you were getting married would you want to take the chance on my taste (and get perhaps an awesome piece from the Pottery Barn outlet) or what you chose for yourself from Target? I think it is a toss up. I do, however know that when it comes to getting a kid's birthday present "you get what you get and you don't get upset". HA! I love that saying from preschool. So do you shop off a registry or do you buy something you pick out?

3 comments:

pj said...

I would draw the kid a picture! That is crazy that the kid registered, I am flabergasted!!!! I would just get something else. WOW

Angel said...

A gift registry for a child's birthday that is about the craziest thing I have ever heard. If a child had a registry when they are young they would then expect to have one every year, that is placing so much emphasis on the actual gifts rather then the friends and the party itself. Worst idea ever! I am glad you are not doing that.

Musings of the Mrs. said...

Honestly, I keep a wishlist at Amazon at all times for my friends and family. And they (especially my husband and his family) really love it. I'm not sure about for a child's birthday, but I guess if they really needed something (especially if they were recently laid off or something) I'd probably be ok.