I am having my daughters birthday party tomorrow at Chuckie Cheese and I'm trying to decide if I should have her open the gifts there or when we get home.
As a parent going to a party, do you prefer if the birthday kid opens their gifts at the event or at home? It's always the most stressful part of the party for me because it can get crazy! There are going to be 15 kids at the party.
TIA
Added: She'll be 6 and the party is 2 hours.
Thanks, Ladies! Open them at home wins.
Since I'm having it on a Tuesday evening, I don't think space will be a problem (I purposely picked a less crowded time). Since I got some more responses that say at the party, I'll go with that. I just want to do what the guests want.
Thanks!
I should have went with my gut. While the party was a success, the worst part was the gifts. It was a mad house. Never again at an event!
Open that at home. Especially at Chuckie Cheese, the kids want to play, not watch someone else open gifts.
My daughter has been to a few parties at Chuckie Cheese before and the birthday child has never opened their gifts there - but I think it's because they're more excited to play and have fun with their friends! I'd probably just have her open them at home but be sure to write out and send thank you notes =)
How old is the child?
How long is the party?
Opening gifts, can take time. It entails opening it with your child, ohhing and ahhhing at the gift, then taking photos of it with your child, and writing down who gave what so you can then write thank-you cards after.Then you also have to have the Birthday cake and eating of it and what not.
I have been to parties in which this took 1 hour. Or so.
And the kids got antsy.
And it took time out of the party, especially if the party was only until a certain time. So then you have to, TIME the party and the opening of the gifts, if you do this at the party.
Most parties we go to, they open it at home. After the party.
That number isn' too horrible and yes I always like seeing gifts opened after I spend days, hours, months and years looking for it.
So if I were invited I am saying please open them up so we can see how happy your child is!
I'd say, skip it and open them at home. Chuckie Cheese is pretty busy, so the kids won't miss the activity, and if yours is like the setup here, the kids won't have a good place to be able to gather to watch her open the presents anyway. We went to one Chuckie Cheese party where most of the kids got bored an wandered back to the games, and no one actually watched her open the presents. Might as well make your life easier, and take them home where it's easier to log who gave you what.
Happy birthday to your daughter!
My kids are disappointed if they don't get to watch the birthday child open their gift and as the parent who is forking out the money for said gift I want to see it too. I have a relative who never had her daughter open them at the party and my kids were always bummed and it sort of made me care a little less about what gift was given. That sounds terrible but that's how I feel. If you will not be opening them up at the party be sure to send thank you notes to acknowledge the gift.
I love to watch at the party, my kids love to watch at the party. So boring when the pack them up and leave. We do it at the party.
Definitely at home.. Too chaotic at a party :)
Hmm, I do agree that opening presents at home would be easier and the kids do enjoy playing until the last minute...however...I'm not sure I would suggest it. Since you are presumably going to have cake, etc. anyway, can't you take time to do it while the others are eating their cake. I know it takes away from play time but personally my child always wants to see the birthday child open the present she picked out for them. It's disappointing when they don't. As a parent, I don't really care, I get the stressfulness, time issues, etc., but I do think kids want to see their present get opened. Just get another adult or two to help you feed the presents to your daughter take them away, give a new one and clean up wrapping. Also, nominate someone else to write down what everyone gave so you can focus on facilitation.
At that age and party destination, people want to see the gifts opened. Do you have goodie bags for the other kids?
since it's at chuckie cheese, I would say wait and do it at home. That place is WAY too crazy and there isn't a lot of room to even open the gifts and something could get lost. If it was somewhere else, I would say to do it at the party, but not there
We just had my son's 5th birthday party at Chuckie's. Like you, we had it at a time when it was not going to be crowded. Hubby thought we should wait to open gifts at home, and I thought the kids would want to see my son open their gifts. I asked several of the parents at the party what they thought, and they all said, "You should open them here. The kids love to see the birthday child open the gifts." So, that's what we did. We had 11 kids there, and it took all of 20 minutes. Every child enthusiatically looked on the whole time. I helped with the opening, my bff took pictures, another mom wrote down the gift list, and another mom gathered the gifts into bags for transport. It was a beautiful thing!!
I say, open at the party!!
