donations instead of pressies???

[bookworm21]

My dd will turn one next month and we are having a little party with family and a few friends with little ones. A few people have already asked about what present we think she may like but we can't really think of much as she has loads already and as we have a 4 year old the house is full of stuff! I was considering asking people if they'd like to donate money to Childline/Barnado's or similar instead of a pressie but am bit worried about people getting a bit 'funny' that I'm being preachy. It just seems like a good opportunity and at one she'll know nothing about it so she won't care (I wouldn't do it from two!) What do others think??

what about asking for clothes or books?

Maybe you could give them the choice to donate money or buy a small token gift. Or give money which you could put in her child trust fund.
I personally won't mind if you asked for donations to charities.
Grandparents might be different.

My experience is that people like to buy your child a present. Can you think of anything practical she might need for the people who absolutely want to buy things for her?

What about books? ALL 1 year olds absolutely lOVE books and you can't have too many.

DS2 got a waterproof all-in-one and new shoes for his birthday from us. He liked the wrapping paper.

I think it's a perfectly sensible idea, I tried a "no presents please" at dd1's 2nd birthday but everyone ignored it so I didn't bother again.

But someone just gave my 4yo an Oxfam goat or similar for her birthday and I thought that was lovely. I was pleased they felt they could do it. dd3 didn't mind.

Could they not buy clothes? Even if you have hand me downs from your eldest it is still nice.

I too struggle for DS2 but although he is almost 2 I still accept all presents with the love they intended.

And bath toys, they get manky after a while so it is always good to have new bath toys.

There are some relatives that give us cheques for both boys for their birthdays and we pay those into their savings accounts, but they are happy to do this whereas some of our relatives would much prefer to buy a present.

I have 3 boys so know all about multile presents! For DS3's birthday this year, both sets of grandparents gave me a cheque for him which was great and his god mothers asked me what they should buy so I was able to have a bit more control over it all. He got a few biggish presents but, they were ones we didn't have before and he loves playing with them.

You have to move the toys in a cycle so they don't get bored with the same ones and you don't get fed up with the clutter - we have loads in the loft

Could you perhaps ask guests to contribute towards, say, a garden toy eg slide, sandpit, ride on toys?
Or buy nice bedding/lightshades/cushions for when dd eventually moves into a bed, something that you might not use immediately but will need in due course?
Vouchers for a day out? Just a few ideas. We had this when I had DS2 only 18 months after DS1 although lots of my rellies gave money so now DS1 moans about DS2 bank account having more in it LOL!

Could you perhaps ask guests to contribute towards, say, a garden toy eg slide, sandpit, ride on toys?
Or buy nice bedding/lightshades/cushions for when dd eventually moves into a bed, something that you might not use immediately but will need in due course?
Vouchers for a day out? Just a few ideas. We had this when I had DS2 only 18 months after DS1 although lots of my rellies gave money so now DS1 moans about DS2 bank account having more in it LOL!