How to Politely Ask for No Gifts for an Occasion

I write "Please no gifts" on the invitation. Just be prepared for some people to still come bearing gifts. Some people just have the gift of giving and do it because it brings joy to them.

"your presence is the only present requested!"

I find that if it's an event where gifts are usually brought (birthday party, shower, wedding, anniversary party, etc.), most people bring gifts anyway. Perhaps give the option of donating to a favorite charity/charities: "In lieu of gifts, a donation can be made to such-and-such charity," or "Please bring a gift that can be donated to such-and-such."

Assuming that the occasion is such that many people will automatically plan to bring one, I think the wording would be "your presence is gift enough"... ?

I've been to b-day parties where no gifts were requested. Everyone brought gifts. I think the reason why was because they didn't want to be the only one not bringing a gift. If this is a child's birthday and you don't want all of the toys maybe you can make a note that instead of gifts, bring a copy of your favorite childhood book. That way they can still bring something, but is is practical, inexpensive and won't clutter your house.

i posted below and realized that wasntyour question: im sure J. a simple in lieu of gifts bring a canned good to donate or childrens book would make people feel like they arent comingempty handed but still not bringing a gift to clutter your home

ive seen some people post that this ends up being bad bc some refuse and bring gifts anyway and then others feel bad.

What sort of occasion is this? For some events, you can just add a "No gifts please - your presence is the best present we can have!" line to the invitation.

However, there are some events, such as a child's party or a wedding, for which people are so accustomed to bring gifts that they feel awkward and uncomfortable not doing it!

Then it could be a good idea to suggest an alternative action instead of asking the invitee to bring nothing. "The birthday boy requests that, instead of bringing a gift for him, you bring a new book for the children's hospital library. We would like to give a whole shelf of books!" "The bride and groom request that, in lieu of a wedding present, guests bring a small donation to help build a well for an African village through Partners International."

I have a friend that her 1 y/o daughter who is SPOILED by the parents/ grandparents so much that there really isn’t a need for people to bring gifts so for her birthday party they donated to the Fisher house www.fisherhouse.org instead. They included a link on the invite to how to donate in the childs name. This avoided the gifts and was for a great cause.

Hi V.,

"Please, no gifts" or any of the below suggestions are fine. Usually, the note goes below the RSVP in small print so it does not take away from the invitation.

God bless,
M.

I just wanted to add my 2 cents that we have done this for my boys' birthdays the last 2 years and most of the time we don't have any problems. We have simply said, "No gifts, please. If you wish, you may bring a canned good to donate to our local Harvesters" or something like that. We are also doing the same for our wedding coming up and instead have asked people to bring their favorite bottle of wine to share. As someone else mentioned, sometimes people feel like they have to bring SOMETHING!! :)

No gifts, please or Your presence is your present.