over the past 3 months my kids, esp dd1 have had an extraordinary amount of pressies. dd1's b'day is sept, we then had dd2 in oct and dd1 got loads of pressies for that then we had christmas of course. it strikes me that a lot of these gifts are just unnecessary, although i do of course totally appreciate the kind sentiments behind them.
at xmas, dd1 just couldn't cope with the sheer number of all the pressies at all and we had to stagger opening them over 4 days (which she was more than happy with)! she has since played with 3 or 4 main toys; i can see that we can re-introduce a few more throughout the year but there will be a fair few that i cannot see her using either because she already has something similar or they don't suit her personality, if that makes sense. these gifts will probably end up being given to whichever charity puts a bag through the door when we next have a clearout. i hate to think of people wasting their money on presents that might be bought because they feel they have to 'because it's christmas' or they feel obliged because their child was invited to dd's party, etc.
dh and i were talking about this today and we wondered what people would think of us if, when dd's b'day comes around again and she has a party, we ask on the invite that they don't bring presents but maybe if they want to give something they make a small donation to the local children's hospice (which has had to shut some beds up recently through lack of funds)? I can't see either dd missing out as we will buy them pressies, as will their grandparents and other close rellies but we even had pressies from mil's next door neighbour this year who has seen them both twice FGS!! my colleagues at work buy them loads as well.
as i said before, i don't want to seem ungrateful as i really do appreciate the sentiment, but the whole business seems to have gotten out of hand. do you think people will think we're wierd /sanctimonious / smug, etc ?