I think many parents may recognise the following situation…

It’s your kid’s birthday, hooray! With care you’ve bought a few gifts you are sure they will love. Guaranteed success, so happy kid and happy you. Such a special day! And then the guests arrive. Grandparents maybe, or other family and friends, your neighbour perhaps. And they come bearing gifts, because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?

And then, at the end of the day you will look around and wonder where for the love of pete you will leave all of those toys.

So what can you do about this?

My first tip would be to work with an old fashioned wish list. Make sure to tell friends and family well in advance what’s on the list. That way you control what things will enter your home. Better even, if you are not particularly excited about receiving race car no. 50 in the house, you can communicate that too! After all, it is your home and YOUR kid’s birthday. And if you use that moment to tell them what would actually be a very nice gift for your kid (that’s where the wish list comes in), most people will be totally OK with that.

The second thing you could do is a bit more radical. Try and think of something your kid would want or could really use that is a bit more expensive than you would normally ask for, maybe a new bike because they grew so fast, or a play kitchen. You could ask for some people to chip in and buy it together. That way you’re making sure no one is going to spend too much because the cost will be shared. Consequently there will be less presents brought into your home and you can be sure your kid is going to get good use out of it.

The third tip on my list is for those of you really eager to not have a pile of gifts at the end of the day and still have a very happy birthday kid. Before I go on, I just want to say I don’t think gifts are bad! If you are OK with your kid receiving all the new toys, that’s completely fine! But if you have found yourself thinking “Help, all those toys!” this might help you.
Here it is. Ask for an experience. Huh, what?
Something really fun to do, that will give your kid great memories! A day at the beach with grandma and just them, an outing to the zoo with a friend, or maybe going to the cinema to watch a film. My little cousin once went to see a match of her favourite football (soccer) club and she was absolutely thrilled. Just some examples of great gifts for your kid without actually having something else take up room in your home.

If you this makes you think “Well, that’s nice for when the next birthday comes around, but what do I do with all the toys already here?” Just send me a message. I would be happy to help!