Mom Sends Out Rules For Child's Birthday Gifts & They're... Something
No colors? Really? What did the colors do?
My kids are in double digits and, over the years we’ve been to a lot of kids birthday parties. In that time, I’ve prided myself on establishing go-to gifts for just about any age. Toddler to preschool? You’re getting Picasso tiles. Kindergarten? One of a handful of gender-neutral, tried and true play sets. I’ve got go-to gifts through high school (gift certificate to the local movie theater with a basket of candy). Of course, if someone makes specific requests I’m happy to honor those. I can’t imagine too many people who wouldn’t.
But TikTok user Shay (@shay27xo) has apparently bumped up against her limit with a very specific set of gift requests one parent shared after she’d RSVPed.
“I don’t know about you guys, but birthday parties are really getting out of control,” she begins. She shares that her daughter received a birthday invitation and they RSVPed in the affirmative. But a few days before the party, the mother of the birthday girl sent out a text to the party-goers sharing the “strict rhetoric” they want parents to follow when buying a gift.
“No colors ... it can’t make noise, and it has to be waste-free.” Also, it couldn’t have anything plastic.
We don’t know what colors did to make the list but... OK, I guess. But what does one mean by waste-free? Shay had to Google it. Essentially, that means there couldn’t be packaging that couldn’t be recycled which can be pretty tough to find, particularly depending on where you live and especially on just a few days notice.
But if you couldn’t abide by those rules, the hostess wrote, just make the birthday girl a hand-made card. But...
“Don’t buy a card because that will produce waste.”
“I’m like, OK, well, this is getting extreme,” Shay opines. “Have you guys ever experienced this? I need to know. Because at that point I was like, we don’t even want to go to this party. I don’t want to make a mistake and be that one that broke the rule.
“It was so much easier in the ’90s,” she concludes with a sigh.
The comments were filled with commiseration and some humorous “ideas” that fit the eco-friendly if drab criteria: sourdough starter, beige bath towel, a block of wood from Home Depot, a rock, a kitten.
But jokes aside, we absolutely get the hostess’ feelings here. Whom among us hasn’t groaned when someone (usually a grandparent or clueless uncle) gifts their child with a toy that you know immediately will be a thorn in your side for reasons of size, volume, or small parts? We’re also all for being environmentally friendly and intentional about the items that come into your home. We’ve all probably been in a position of looking around us and lamenting how we ever got so much stuff.
But perhaps in lieu of sending out a hyper-specific list of preferences which puts guests in the awkward position of guessing whether they’ve met your extremely principled standards (which you’re certainly entitled to when you’re the one buying presents), just send out a standard “No presents: just your presence!”
And put it on the invitation, none of this “days before the party” nonsense.
