We had DS open his gifts at his 1yr party because it was at our house. Well, this year, we're having it his party at Pump It Up Jr, and I don't plan to have him open his presents there. I know our family wants to see him open them, but we are under a time limit for play/food/cake, you know? The last several toddler parties we've attended at these type of play places, the kids have NOT opened their presents, and it made sense to me. For the family, I know why they want to do it, but it seems to be boring for the other kids and takes up quite a bit of time. Just curious what others are doing...
Don't open them at the party. If it's important to you for family members to see him open their presents, then have a separate get together with them in addition to the party. The other kids don't care and it avoids the problems of someone wanting to play with something that isn't theirs. It also avoids that pesky "I already have this" phrase!
Absolutely don't open them at the party. Kids that young may understand that the gifts are not theirs, but that really does not matter. There will be chaos. Save the gifts for home. Take pictures of the child opening each gift and then send those pix to whoever sent the gift. Hopefully, that satisfies the family!
I agree with everyone else. I've always opened our little girls at home and last year my mother in law wanted it different. HUGE MISTAKE!! It took half the party away from our little girl. Good Luck!
We have been through this same discussion at our house. We came up with something that worked well when we've been at big birthday places (like jump houses, bowling, etc). Because all of the kids get bored sitting and watching for so long, we take turns during the party getting one child and the birthday child together. The guest gives their gift to the birthday child, watches him open it, we thank them, take a picture and then return to the party. We keep doing this every 10 minutes or so until all of the presents have been opened. This helped our son not get too bored opening and he got to appreciate each gift and really know who it was from.
We started this at his 4 year old party. For younger children, this may not work as well.
Hope this helps!
For younger children it is better to open the presents at home. It cuts down on confusion and chaos.
