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Musical Gifts
Rated by 5 members
I watched in shock as a dozen small children, clutching packages big and small, suddenly engulfed my petite daughter. Bows and tissue flew in the air as my five-year-old was surrounded by her friends, all clamoring for her attention.
All I'd said was that it was time to open Ally's birthday presents, but you'd think I'd yelled "fire" from the reaction I got. I've never seen children move so quickly.
As I pulled Ally out from under the pile of glittery wrap and polka-dot ribbons, a friend of mine took over. A more seasoned parent with two older children, she had seen the birthday gift-giving frenzy that seems to overcome most young children and she had a solution.
"Come on, let's get ready to play musical birthday gifts," she said as she began drawing chairs into a circle. "Everyone grab their gifts and get ready."
She pulled a chair to the front of the room, declaring it the birthday throne, and offered my daughter a seat. Then she turned on some music.
The rules were simple, she explained. When the music stopped, the guest who found herself without a chair to sit in would get to give the birthday girl her gift. In return, the guest would be given a favor bag to take home.
The room instantly quieted down as the children realized the game might be more fun than creating mass chaos with paper and string. Instead of the usual moans and groans, the first child to go chairless flashed a big grin as he plopped down next to Ally.
"I'm first," he said excitedly, as he eagerly offered up his gift. "Everyone knows the first gift is best."
He helped Ally open her present and the other guests watched while sitting in their chairs. (Really.)
After she thanked him politely, he started checking out his loot bag as the music began again. And so it went.
The quiet respite in between gifts made it easier for me to record her gifts for thank-you cards and gave us a chance to make sure no gift cards or trinkets were lost in the ruckus.
And, amid the gift-giving excitement, it gave the birthday girl a chance to breathe. Which meant I could breathe easy, too.
Member Comments On…
Musical Gifts
An idea we used this year for our Webkinz party - We made a wishing well out of a ice cream bucket and cardboard for the well roof and decorated it with colored paper. Inside I put some fringed blue tissue paper. Then we put a number in the bucket for the expected number of children at the party. Sometime during the party they all got to pick a number out of the wishing well. We used this number to determine who's gift would be opened first as well as placement for other games. Sometimes we let 1 go first - sometimes number 12 went first. Worked very well.
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My friends and I have settled on an even easier way to handle this - gifts are left piled on a table to be opened after everybody has gone home. Not only does this avoid chaos, it allows me to add a stipulation that inspires the birthday girl to do her thank-you-notes quickly: she can't play with any of her presents until she (with a lot of help from me) has finished the thank yous.
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