To not buy my baby a first birthday present?

[baxtersm]

Baby boy is coming one at the start of April and I'm really thinking of not buying him a present this year. He's my fourth baby and I've just realised over the years that the amount of plastic tat they get is ridiculous and unnecessary. And they don't play with half of it anyway, give him a remote control or a mobile phone and he's happy! My mum says I'm being a bit mean and that he needs a present but I don't want to buy just for the sake of it, he won't have a clue. Obviously when he's old enough to know it's his birthday it'll be different.

Wrap up a box in a box in a box in a box in a box. Stick some money in his savings account.

YNBU. That’s what I did and I only have one. She had her first ever slice of cake and that was absolutely made up with that.

Slow news day today

Give him a special day out instead and take lots of nice pictures? And make a cake for you all to celebrate with him? This way, there's no birthday toy but it's still a special day

😂 Agree, put the clothes in a cardboard box big enough for him to get in, wrap that and he'll be happy!! One of mine once insisted on sleeping in one until it collapsed after about 10 days play...... Mind you same child had pet sticks and pebbles too, cheap to keep😍

He won't know it's his birthday. But you could do something sentimental perhaps write him a meaningful letter about his first year, or a photoshoot?

It's always hard buying for subsequent children.

I bought my eldest when he turned1 the next size up car seat and we went swimming on the day to the local pool nothing fancy but it didn’t really need to be!

Yes I would wrap up some clothes and maybe a book. That and a cake will be plenty. He might enjoy a few balloons too. You can make a fuss of him without buying toys/tat.

I’d give him a book. You can never have too many books.

How when he’s older and asks what he got for his first birthday what are you doing to tell him?
you could get a personalised book (or any kind of book). Any toys that need replacing or new toys that have come out since your last child?

I'm going to follow the example of the man who bought a decent bottle of whisky every birthday.

The bottles cost £200 a pop, but the whole collection matures to a lot more over the years. Or he can drink it. Win win.

Well my daughter asked me the other day what she got for hers I told her honestly that I hadn't a clue! (We were discussing his birthday coming up other than that I doubt it's something she ever would have asked). She doesn't seem to have been traumatised by my answer!

Absolutely. They have so much, and they play with one thing and move to the next. They know no different when young. I would also say getting second hand toys...eg. Putting in stocking. They don't care!

I don’t think we’ve bought plastic for any of our Childrens first birthdays…

Books
Wooden toys
Clothes
Personalised dressing gown / bag for nursery
Bath toys
Something for his bedroom - toy chest maybe

There are plenty of things you can buy that aren’t plastic tat but if you don’t want to buy him anything then don’t. Would your older children not ask why he doesn’t have any gifts? I’m the second eldest of 4 and would’ve questioned this as a child.

Really mean.

It can be anything. A book, a puzzle, a rattle. Tiny, inexpensive, not tat.

You are right that a1 yo baby won't care or remember but they will light up opening a gift, having their family around them, getting that little bit of special attention. The older DC love it too.

It's all part of important moments. The specific gift doesn't really matter. Just that there is one.

Yanbu - if he’s the fourth he will have tons of toys

Could you ask each sibling to regift a baby toy they’ve grown out of and wrap them up for him?

I have 5 grown dc and none of them have ever asked me what they got for their first birthday, just as well because I wouldn't have a clue!

Give the baby something you would need to get anyway (so they have something to unwrap)? I had similar feelings so I bought stuff I probably would have ended up buying anyway - a couple of books, some new clothes in next size up etc.

We put money in baby's account for birthday and Xmas until she was 2

My 3rd is 1 in April - I’m making her a sensory board - £10 bit of MDF and things I’ve gathered from around the house/shed. Eg battery operated light, jangly curtain rings, CDs for the rainbow effect, some bamboo things which will make nice jangly hangy things, leftover casters from her under-cot drawer 😄 ermmm….. some reflective stickers, a ball drop (just a bit of tubing), a weird fabric loop cloth thing, and bought one of those springy door stops. And so on.

Basically my point is, yanbu 😄 we don’t need any more toys. My mum bought her a big toy we have no space for before I managed to suggest a garden toy or an annual pass or something.

The older 2 did get a giant version of their jellycats for their first birthdays, DS1 didn’t get into it until 4 years later and is now in love. DS2 still not into his. DD doesn’t even have a jellycat but I’m still tempted to get her a giant one 😄 ugh probably can’t justify it.

I also don’t recall what I bought DS for his first birthday but I do remember what we got him for the Christmas when he was 13 months old - one of those plastic rocking horses you see in soft play. He always gravitated to them when we went to soft play, and his face when he saw it on Christmas Day! He was glowing. He wasn’t really talking at all but he made this sort of trilling noise when he was happy and he spent all morning rocking and trilling. Just because he won’t remember it doesn’t mean he won’t get anything out of receiving presents, OP. Honestly, the memory of DS’s little face lighting up when he tore off the wrapping paper will stay with me forever.

I’m not suggesting you buy your DS a plastic rocking horse, btw. Just that he might appreciate a week chosen gift even if you already have loads of toys and he’s number four and won’t remember.