Relatives ordering baby birthday gifts straight to our house… normal or not?

[BlackCat14]

Not sure if I’m ungrateful here but wanted to see what others think.

Our baby is one in a few weeks. We’re having a little family party at home for him on the day. In the last week, three separate relatives have sent (large!) gifts directly to our house. I’m talking a swing, a water tray thing and a play kitchen. They are all huge and have come in loads of cardboard packaging. One of them turned up as a total surprise with a note on the inside as to who it was from, the other two, the relatives text on the day or on the day before with a screenshot saying like “we ordered this for Maxs birthday, it’s arriving at yours today.”
I just feel a bit…ffs… about it all. His birthday isn’t for a few weeks, it’s just another thing for us to have to do. Unwrap it all, take the huge pieces of cardboard to the tip, store it somewhere. All three of these people are coming to his party. I just would’ve thought it would’ve been more the norm for them to get the gift sent to their house, sort it out themselves and then bring it round on his birthday? Not just send it straight to us weeks before? This is our first baby and the first baby in the family for this generation so maybe I’m just clueless on how things work. I’m grateful for the gifts but just a bit irked that they’ve turned into jobs for us!

This is such a good point, thank you! Our house is pretty small and at the moment they are all just stacked in the hallway and can’t get the pram past, but you’re so right, I don’t need to save them for his birthday, he doesn’t have a clue. We’ll get them all out tonight and set up and he can enjoy them from tomorrow!

Bloody hell you’re a misery guts.

But it is a swing and a kitchen it would be a trek lugging it in! And the baby wont care. I get you want him to have a proper party with gifts but honestly it is sensible they sent them.

Will they take them? I think I always assumed they only take what’s in the bins, but if they’d take them, that would be brilliant!

Don’t you have recycling?

edited because I see you do, they’ll definitely take them, just break them down and put all the other boxes into just one

Thank you for this, you’ve made me see it in such a different way. He absolutely won’t care will he 🤣

Ours won't you need to break them down and put them in the cardboard recycling. See if they will fit in the bin.

But surely if they had them delivered to their houses, they would still gift them to you in their boxes? It’s not normal to unwrap/unbox and build the toys/gifts before giving to you. Also how ungrateful! I know it’s not the race to the bottom but a lot of people do not have family to care to buy your baby such lovely things!

I don’t think anyone does that. Usually people just wrap the box and give it to you in the packaging for you to assemble yourself.
Doesnt seem like a big deal to me at all.

It wouldn't be normal in my family to randomly send large toys / garden equipment without prior agreement.

Definitely the most logical thing to send directly to your home. I would just get the toys out now and build them . A baby will have no concept about birthdays and can play with them now. Stick a balloon on the gifts on the actual birthday for a sense of occasion.

Sounds totally sensible to me, Christmas and birthdays usually involve trip to the dump in our house.
Your DC sounds a much loved little one.

Aw thank you, you’re so right ☺️

Did you actually want these presents and do you have space for them OP?

I don’t think people should get big stuff for a 1yo without checking it’s wanted tbh. I personally wouldn’t want a play kitchen - my child is happy playing with real kitchen stuff!

Yes, it's completely normal? The gifts would likely still arrive in boxes anyway, maybe with just a sheet of wrapping paper on top.

That said, you check before buying a playhouse, a trampoline or any big gift. But normal to send them directly.

I send gifts directly to the recipient, because we don’t live nearby.

Is it stuff you didn’t want? My SIL sent out a gift list weeks before her DD’s 1st birthday (which I found quite grabby) but I suppose she got what she wanted.

We always did gift lists for ours, was days before the Internet and family just asked what they would like, as gifts,

We always send large packages that require assembly to the house so that they can be played with on their birthday. It’s a bit tricky to assemble large toys and then bring them in the car without damaging them and it also means that you don’t get duplicate ready assembled gifts.

I wouldnt bother saving them for their birthday. Id unpackage one and give it to him early. No point saving it as at 1, they wont have a clue and can be a bit overwhelming having so much at once.

Grandparents did this for my little one for her first birthday with a sandpit, brought it over a couple of weeks early and gave it to her. Same with other presents they kept at their house, set it up and said it was for her birthday.

Normal in our family too. I have been annoyed in one occasion because the thing needed several hours (!) of assembly and of course the assembling parent gets none of the credit, it all goes to the gifting person, but compared to all the other hours I already spend on my kids it's a drop in the ocean and it teaches the kids they are part of a wider community, so yeah, on balance I am happy it happens.

A swing and play kitchen need assembling whether they are delivered to you or not, and you would still have the inner boxes to breakdown and dispose of anyway?

It’s crossed my mind because I’m wondering where I’m supposed to store all these things for the next few weeks

I'm afraid you're storing them for a lot longer than that 😄

How on earth would they assemble a swing at their house and get it to yours??!! How exactly do you wrap an assembled swing?!!

Yabvu.

You thought people would be assembling a swing and carrying it round/tying it to the roof of the car? Really?