17/06/2025
Let’s face it, while gift-giving can be heart-warming and wholesome, kids' parties are often where it all unravels. As the grown-up of a small party guest, you're suddenly faced with the challenge of choosing a present for a child you’ve never met, in a panic-buy dash between work and dinner. Cue: overspending, second-guessing, and the inevitable question, “Do they even like dinosaurs?”
Not everyone can afford to buy a gift for every invite. And honestly, no child should miss out on jelly and bouncy castles because a grown-up’s bank balance says no.
Then there’s the environmental kicker, every gift, whether loved or left to gather dust, has a footprint: made, packaged, posted, and possibly forgotten.
I reckon it’s time we gave kids’ parties a much-needed glow-up. The pressure to gift has become a weird unspoken rule, and it’s time to break it, for our sanity, our wallets, and the planet.
This year, my daughter has asked for a party, her first for 4 years. I explained that we can but it will be a 'Pocket Money Party'. Instead of gifts, if people do still wish to give something they can add some money to a card or into a piggy bank we will have on the table. That way she can put the money toward an item she's had her eye on or an experience she would like to do, instead of receiving duplicates she already has or things she isn't really in to. We also will then steer her to buying any toys second-hand with the money.
What are your thoughts on this?
If you're up for it, feel free to check out .crap.parties Kids Party Pact for more helpful tips.
