Small flat - birthday presents

[jttf]

Is there a way to ask people coming to a kids party not to bring toys as presents without sounding like an awful human being.

We have a small flat and a large family and each Xmas the kids get inundated with presents.

we simply don’t have the space for any more! Plus, the kids don’t play with everything they already have.

obviously we can’t reject presents once given. However, if we say something before that assumes that the other person is brining a gift which is also rude. Also, putting a limit on what to bring sounds incredibly ungrateful and robs the giver the joy of choosing what they’d most like to give.

I just can’t think of a solution!

Could you tell them something along the lines of "if you would like to give the children something for Christmas, we'd prefer experiences over things; living in a small flat we do struggle with storage space for toys and welcome the chance to get them out of the flat. Some of our favourite local attractions are XYZ which all offer gift vouchers towards the cost of a visit"

Well I’d say you don’t have space and ask for a donation of £1 or £2 or a gift token to a specific shop. Perhaps it could go towards a particular toy or other item that might need saving for and be special.

We have been approached by some generous people for ideas for a present for X.

Whilst this is a lovely generous offer we do only have a small space that is easily filled, please don't be offended but x does not need any new toys (s/he hasn't played with their Xmas toys yet).

In this country we should adopt the thing many Asian people do, you put, "no boxed presents please" on invitations, that means you actually want money.

One option we've seen is that one person (not the birthday child's parent) collects money which is put together to buy one thing the child would actually appreciate (rather than 20 low value gifts). However, as I'm sure you're aware, thinks are very tight for some people at the moment, who may be planning to regift things for birthday parties, so might not be able to give cash.