20 presents is just too many!!

[HoopaLoo]

What do you guys do after a kids birthday party with all the presents??

my little one just had first first proper party with 20 guests and I silly I know but I didn’t really factor in that would be 20 presents to bring pack up and bring home! She’s just turned 3 so is very much in the “mine” stage and now knows that there are a tonne of presents she’s not played with yet.

do you go for it and have one big present opening session or drip feed new toys over the next few weeks. I feel like one big present session would get it over and done with and I would have some idea of who gave what to thank them when I see them but also it might be overwhelming for her. I guess she could open them all, choose her fave 5 to keep out then I’ll pop rest away to rotate in with our usual toy rotation.

any tips from seasoned party throwers??

I think you have to open them all to be able to thank people for them. But also most parents are sensible and buy a book, or stationary.

We always just went for it! It was great fun after a fun party.

After a few years parties get smaller anyway.

Open them all , send appropriate thank yous and then do whatever you want with them .

I'd drip feed every so often - useful for tricky trips out where she might need a distraction.

Presumably you thanked people already when they handed over the present at the party.

It’s her birthday, just give her her presents! That’s what birthdays are for. She’ll self regulate over the years and the amount of gifts will get smaller as she probably have smaller parties.

We kept some back. DD is a Christmas baby so everything coming at once was too too much.

Most of them will be tat, they usually are from birthday parties.

Depends on their age but it's quite normal for people to bring gig
fts and I don't usually find it that difficult to bring them home!

We have a toddler and usually spread out opening over a few days unless they want to open them - just do what works for you!

You could say on the invitation next time not to bring a gift if you prefer.

Just let her open them all in one go. Why would you make her wait to open her birthday presents?

From my DC party this year there were quite a lot of duplicates either things we already had or lots of variations of colouring book or sticker book and crayons sk we put some of these away to either re-gift or take out to use at a different time.

I would say if there's anything you don't think they'd want to keep then put away to regift or give to charity to whatever.

I’d let her open them all so you can thank people and also because there are usually duplicates!

Open them all now so that thank you letters can be sent but then the majority of the presents are put away and brought out when she gets bored with her current toys/books.

This is so true 😂

Open and make a note for thank you letters but stash most away to bring out when needed.

We open all the gifts when we get home from the party. Send thank you messages to the participants. Quickly remove any duplicates to regift later and then they play with their toys, have new stories over a few nights from books and put crafts away to do when we have craft times.

good luck it’s all fun and games at this age and as previous posters have said, parties do get smaller as they grow and presents are more specific to the child as their friends get to know them better.

I’d open them so we could thank the giver, then when the child had gone to bed squirrel some presents away to bring out over the next few months.

You could re gift some if they came from someone who doesn’t know the new recipient, give some to charities collecting Christmas gifts for deprived children or keep some back for Christmas and put the money saved into a savings account?

We open them all once we're home from the party, but find they don't remember it. So they play with the favourites and the others are put at the back of the press for a lazy day.

And we rock back and forth and remind ourselves that there's only a few years of big parties.

Thank you all for the tips!

we went for it and put on some films whilst opening all the presents. To be fair, the presents were great (some parents had asked and I had suggested craft or jigsaws as she loves them). Of course, her favourite toys were plastic tat (princess jewellery etc) 😂

and no duplicates!! 😎

Definitely out sourcing party planning to a soft play area or something next time but love that her first proper party was in the village hall with pretty much every other toddler she knows.

thanks again all!!