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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to get rid of some of the Christening presents?

31 replies

2anddone · 16/02/2012 12:18

Hi I have 2dc aged 6 and 3 and we are currently moving house. AIBU to donate some of the gifts they got for their Christenings to charity or sell them on the car boot? Obviously gifts from grandparents and godparents I would keep but we had so many people at their Christenings (large family on both sides) that surely there are only so many first tooth/curl pots one person needs, most have sat in draws since their christening as no space to display them. So please great forum of mumsnet curb my guilt or make me feel really bad and tell me AIBU?

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 16/02/2012 12:21

do you mean drawERS.... Grin

To be fair, they are not YOUR gifts to get rid of.. they belong to your children, so why not just box up and put in the loft for the time being.

mrsjay · 16/02/2012 12:23

Oh i dunno if its a slap in the face to the givers or not , you are right though there is only so many curl boxes or first tooth boxes you need , im not helping much am i Grin I think maybe ebaying or selling them and donate the money to a childrens charity would relive guilt and de clutter for the move is a good thing , yanbu sentimental things can be clutter my dh is a keeper and we have so much junk its unreal , i would get rid ,

randommoment · 16/02/2012 12:25

I'm afraid squeakytoy's right, I'd put them in a cardboard box with 'attic, to be opened in 2025' written on it.

starfishmummy · 16/02/2012 12:25

I'm old, and in "my day" only godparents gave christening presents anyway; so get rid of the rest!

randommoment · 16/02/2012 12:27

Sorry, 'cos I know you want to declutter, but they aren't your things to sell/give away IYSWIM. Good luck offloading all the other 'stuff' before your move though.

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid · 16/02/2012 12:30

I would get rid and would do so with a huge smile on my face. I am however the least sentimental person on the planet.

Spend the money you make on a fun day out for them. Twenty year olds really don't need first tooth pots.

mrsjay · 16/02/2012 12:34

I was going to say it does depend how sentimental you are Im the 2nd least sentimental person on the planet Grin I did keep some things from babyhood but not everything ,

nagynolonger · 16/02/2012 12:50

I have a similar problem. I have 6 DC so have had several such gifts in the attic for many years. I tried to get my adult DC to take their money boxes, picture frames and bunnykins dishes when they finally moved out. None of them want any of it......but they are now collecting similar from their own DC Christenings.

JasperJohns · 16/02/2012 12:51

I am slightly ashamed to admit that I recently binned several silver spoon sets when having a clear out.

They were all tarnished and I just thought, what's the point!

Original poster
2anddone · 16/02/2012 12:54

Thats my point Jasper most of the silver items have tarnished, if I got any money for them I would have used that money to go towards things for the children for their new bedrooms aty the new place, maybe I should ask them if they want them?

OP posts:
Thumbwitch · 16/02/2012 12:55

Hmm. DH wanted to do similar with DS's christening presents when we moved overseas. I wouldn't let him. I told him they were not his gifts to dispose of, they belong to DS. He can dispose of them as and when he likes when he's older. But DH has no right to (and neither do I)

So by that logic YABU. Mind you, if you had doubles of anything I might be tempted to offload one of them.

squeakytoy · 16/02/2012 12:55

silver can be polished :)

if it is solid silver it is worth money... and even silver plate can be polished up and sold..

Thumbwitch · 16/02/2012 12:55

You do know you can clean silver, right? Even silver plate?

GetOrfMoiiLand · 16/02/2012 12:57

I would throw them away.

Actually, I wouldn't. I would feel guilty and give them to dd, who is a hoarder, so she will keep them (and clutter up my house) forever and ever.

SimoneD · 16/02/2012 12:57

I'm all for decluttering. What are your DCs going to want with duplicated first curl pots in years to come? Keep the nice stuff and put the rest on ebay - you can buy the DCs something nice with the proceeds.

nagynolonger · 16/02/2012 13:01

The thing unless they are given antique silver or similar it is just expensive tat. Mine used the money boxes when they were small and the potery is collectable if they are into that sort of thing. Most of it is waste of money. We also have many childrens bibles and prayer books which I can't throw out. I will give those to the DC whether they want them or not as most are signed by the giver.

RuleBritannia · 16/02/2012 13:01

It doesn't matter what the goifts are or what condition they are in. They do not belong to you so you have no 'right' to dispose of them. As other posts have said, put each child's gifts into an individual, labelled box with a list of who gave what and when.

They do not belong to you.

RuleBritannia · 16/02/2012 13:02

*gifts. typing too quickly to get my point across.

GetOrfMoiiLand · 16/02/2012 13:02

They are hardly likely to know or care at the age of 6 and 3 that their christnening tat was thrown away.

If they were older I would give them the choice, but as they are young I would just sling it, personally.

But then I keep nothing.

fatlazymummy · 16/02/2012 14:16

Do not sling anything silver. You can get a good price for it nowadays. I think the 6 year old is old enough to decide if they want to keep the gifts, but I would keep the ones belonging to the 3 year old for now, just in case.

justabigdisco · 16/02/2012 14:19

Don't have them christened if you don't want tat Grin

fatlazymummy · 16/02/2012 14:25

I don't know justabigdisco, I've been to quite a few Christenings and never bought any tat. I usually just buy them a Mothercare voucher or something, so that the parents can actually choose something useful for the child. I really don't get the point of this kind of trinket. I would rather I spent my money on something that is actually useful and not just a dust collector.

IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll · 16/02/2012 14:27

You owe it to your dc to keep them safe for them.

Donating stuff to charity is one thing, although still not the right thing to do IMO, but selling it and putting the money towards decorating costs is rude and disrespectful to the people that spent time and money choosing Christening gifts.

justabigdisco · 16/02/2012 14:31

Agreed fatlazy, was just being facetious. Although if I was getting my baby christened (not that I would) I would specify 'no gifts' as we already had loads bought when she was born!

iloveroses · 16/02/2012 14:35

Sell them, use the money for something useful.