If your child has a birthday party, do you send thank yous to people who gave gifts?

I always thank people for coming and the gift when they are leaving. I don’t have the energy to remember who bought what and sending messages lol

No! We just thank them when they come and give him the gifts. I mean this is what everybody is doing, no? I think it’s too much to message everyone after to thank them again if you literally thanked them in person. What’s the point?

I verbally thank you for coming and graciously bringing a gift if you give me one. If this is my child’s first birthday..I do send out thank you card. But my kids first birthdays are basically 10 people or less. So it’s not a chore/ hassle. But after that no. Especially when they get older and have a bit more friends. You could also do goodie bags in the future with a thank you cards in each bag. But let’s be real, most kids will not notice it or they will toss it out as they prefer the candy or whatever items you have put in the Goodie bags over some piece of paper (kids point of view). This is why I don’t give thank you cards out. Kids don’t care nor do they read them. Most parents don’t get upset or think it’s rude. It’s a children’s birthday party. Not a baby shower or a wedding (in my opinion).

So interesting! I guess I’ve just been to smaller parties, and since the gifts are all wrapped would expect a note once they unwrapped them later. Clearly I haven’t had a birthday party for my daughter yet! Good to know the current trends.

Do people expect thank you notes? I've never been to a child's birthday party, both growing up and as an adult, and received or sent thank you notes. Now fancy parties, yes. But I've never been to a fancy party

My family is super into thank you notes, so I do send them. I don't think it's necessary but it is nice.

We thank everyone at the party. I mean you're naturally going to thank them in the moment when they bring the gift (I feel like it would be weird not to?) and it seems like a waste of time to do it all over again later. The only thank you note I've ever gotten in my life was for a wedding and I've never sent or known anyone to send a thank you note other than that

No, reason is because I’m far too lazy lol. And I also don’t expect them either, my kids school has an “invite the whole class or nobody” policy so we’re going to lots of parties. The people who’ve given really meaningful gifts always receive lots of thanks from me though :)

No, I make sure my kids say thank you when the gift is received and a “thank you for coming” but I don’t do thank you notes. My mom was and still is all about thank yous and it always drove me crazy lol. I don’t feel like I need to tell you in person then also write you a letter to thank you. If it was mailed to us I usually send a text to let them know we got it & thank you.

Oh I thought you meant cards. We definitely say thank you but I’m not a thank you card person. I still have my sons from his birth that never went out. He’s 2

I feel like thank you notes have kind of died out in my generation

No, we just say thank you for coming and for the gift and i give each child a loot bag with little things in it.

I send thank you’s to everyone who came even if they didn’t bring a gift. Usually just a photo of her from the party with a little message. I use evite so it automatically sets it up for you.

I would. My mom made me write thank you notes growing up, I think it’s a good habit. I haven’t hosted a kid bday yet, probably won’t until my daughter is old enough to remember it. I don’t expect thank you notes for kid bday gifts, and don’t think I’ve ever gotten one

I thank them verbally at the party. I haven’t been thanked by text or anything, but I don’t expect it. The thanks is the birthday cake and snacks lol. Being a mom is already busy enough. Planning parties is hard. I don’t want to text everyone or send out a card. Sometimes I’ll do goodie bags and out a thank you note in the goodie bag

We send thank you notes to everyone who gave a gift. We thank everyone for coming when they arrive but not everyone beings a gift, and that's okay, but I think a personal thank you to someone who not only took time out of their day to celebrate my kid but also spent money on a gift for my child... deserves that extra appreciation! Same for Christmas gifts. Or any gift really.

I would always send a text to say thank you and normally a picture of her opening the gift and when she plays with it/wears it later I’ll normally send another one to show her enjoying it. I don’t always get the same back but personally I would feel rude if I didn’t. I did try and send out cards the first time but that was a bit much to manage so moved to texts after that. I don’t feel annoyed if I don’t get a text after though as I do get people are busy etc but I can only think of one or two occasions where I haven’t recieved a message saying thank you for the gift so maybe I would feel differently if it was happening a lot xx

We thank everyone at the time when they give the gift. We've mostly had class parties, so that's about 25 kids plus siblings and any additional friends with kids we've invited. So like 30-35 kids total. It's carnage! There's no way we could remember what everyone got and do a personalised thank you. It's not expected either as most of the parents don't actually know our kid so the gifts are generic, too. After the first few years of school you start to have smaller parties with their friends and that's when I can see us maybe doing thank you cards. It feels like a nice to have rather than an essential thing though.

Just send a wee text to parent to say thanks x we also sit down and make a list of who gave what x

Giving them a party bag and saying thank you on the day is enough

You obviously say thank you when they give you the gift, but then I would thank them again when your child has opened them, to acknowledge that you know what they bought.

I've grown up in a very thank you card family and I think I have the answer. You send a card when you unwrap the presents later at home or if a present is sent to you. If you open gifts at the party then you say thank you in the moment.

@Annie opening presents at the party isn't a great idea, in my opinion. Especially if it's a large party. Young children don't have patience, they don't know all the social norms around present giving, they also find it hard to deal with disappointment and get overwhelmed. I'd never open presents in front of guests as it'd risk them being upset by the child being indifferent or not liking the gift. Plus, the embarrassment when there's inevitably the same gift twice.

I get my daughter to record a thank-you voice note that I send on WhatsApp. Saying thank you for a gift is just good manners and I would feel uncomfortable not modelling this practice for my child. Please and thank you, always

No , it’s not a wedding 🤷🏼‍♀️ I just say thank you at the birthday when they get the gift.

@Caroline they have to learn to wait & be patient, though. It's an important thing for them to learn

@Rachel I agree, but the relatively public forum of a birthday party isn't how I'd advise one starts or tests this lesson.

@Caroline why not? They are going to be going to a lot of parties as they get older, so I think it's the perfect place for them to learn patience 🤷‍♀️

@Rachel if you want to ruin the party then great! 😂 Even my 4.5 year old would be overwhelmed, emotional and eventually bored opening 30 presents in front of all the guests. It's a pretty solid recipe for disaster with a younger child and Incognito said her child is 2. We've been going to 10+ children's birthday parties a year for 3 years and no one ever opens the presents at the party for this reason.

@Caroline yeah I don’t like opening presents in front of a crowd of people and I don’t like watching other people do it either lol let the kids play instead of making them sit around and look at what someone else got 😂 it’s so boring imo. I think there are better ways to teach patience

Oh I clicked no because i thought you meant like thank you cards, but we did send photos of my little one with the gift they purchased saying thank you but over whatsapp