Do you think the guest of honor should open presents at his or her birthday party? At a recent birthday party quite a few people in the room thought the guest of honor, (a woman in her fifties), should open presents in front of her guests while the other half thought she should wait until she got home.
What do you think? When is it appropriate to open gifts and when is it appropriate not to? Are there rules for this type of thing? Is age a factor? Is the event type a factor? For example, a baby or wedding shower, versus a birthday?
Let me know what you think. Based on the thoughts of those in the room there seemed to be a generational divide, but I’m interested in hearing your ideas on this matter.
Slinky
Monday 14th of December 2009
In general, open if requested by guests, or as you see fit. If opening later, make sure to thank people by card or in person.
Another situation to note: Sometimes not everyone will bring a gift. This happened at my graduation party. Some people brought a card or gift and others didn't. In that situation, I opened later so that no one felt bad for not bringing a gift. Since I wasn't expecting any, they didn't need to feel bad, but this way, it's all good.
Sarah
Friday 11th of December 2009
Large birthday parties for adult or weddings-wait. A solitary gift to someone, a child's birthday or a shower-open now! I love seeing baby gifts-even duplicates especially.
Interesting that this was posted, as I felt a bit offended by my MIL this weekend over a gift situation. The kids and I bought her a birthday gift. My son handed her the gift. She may or may not have thanked him (he doesn't remember) and left it on the kitchen counter. Not one mention after that. I was a little miffed that she didn't acknowledge it as a birthday gift at all. Knowing MIL, we will never know if she even opened the gift. Oh well.
Cindy Brick
Wednesday 9th of December 2009
There's the rub, isn't it...you want her to open your present -- so you can see if she likes it or not -- but you don't care that much about her opening the other presents! Opening everything is the given procedure at any kind of shower, but otherwise, I don't think it's that critical. And not opening them means the recipient should be sending thank you notes. But I'm a bit older -- 51 -- and grew up in Michigan, where they had showers ad nauseum. Most of the time, I picked my favorite person to sit by, and just talked to them while the umpteenth sleeper set or pack of pickle forks was passed around to admire.
One Frugal Girl
Tuesday 8th of December 2009
Based on the comments it's easy to see why the room was divided. I was definitely torn on the situation. On one hand I like to see the recipient open the gifts I provide, on the other hand I can understand why people don't want to sit around for an hour and watch someone else open presents.
In this case the guest of honor chose to open all her gifts. A couple of guests came from quite far away and asked her to open them in front of them. She didn't feel right just opening one or two, so she chose to open them all.
It's me ...Mavis
Tuesday 8th of December 2009
I think it is rather strange to give someone a gift and them not open it... Part of giving someone something is so you get to enjoy (hopefully) them opening it. Whether you have 2 or 20 gifts to open... I think you should.