A "No Gifts Please" Party

There was an editorial in the EMC last week titled "At children's parties, 'absolutly no presents' makes absolutely no sense"  by Sarah Crosbie. As a parent who requests that people don't bring gifts I had to respond. Please keep in mind that these are just my opinions and are not meant to offend anyone. I think that you should do what you feel works for you and your family. I am not judging anyone's choice to have gifts at their child's party and I would expect to not be judged because I don't.


"Why do parents want to quash their kid's fun?" Why does fun equal presents? We are having Evan's friends over to play, splash in the kiddy pool (and other surprises I don't want to spoil) isn't that fun? Secondly, he's only 3. There shouldn't even be an expectation on his part for presents.


"...it's easier to have another parent deny your child something he wants than for you to deny your little angel the Lego Pirate he so desperately desires."  Again, he's only 3 so there are no desperate desires for specific toys. I realize this will come as he gets older but when that time comes Evan will have to learn that you just can't have everything you want. I am certainly not going out and buying expensive toys and then telling other people not to buy anything.


"Then, at some point during the party, all the kids gather around the party boy and open the "absolutely no presents" presents."  Not here. If people bring gifts we discretely put them aside and open them after everyone has left. I realize that some people enjoy watching the little ones open gifts but in order to not alienate those who respected our wishes we don't open gifts in front of everyone.


"Children don't understand the idea of cost, so a mini $3 Lego figure will more than likely trump the $50 talking Optimus Prime."  Very true. But unfortunatly the parents do understand and I feel like there is a lot of pressure to get something the parents will find acceptable. And people don't like to be told how much to spend and what to spend it on. I can't very well put "Gifts under $10 only" Having a "no gifts" policy takes the pressure off financialy. We want invitees to feel as though we want them here to celebrate and not just for the gift they might bring. It also takes away the hassle of what to buy. What one parent thinks is an acceptable toy may not be something we want in our home. It makes more sense to me to request "No Gifts" than to include a wish list of acceptable gifts. Also, I don't know about you but we had 3 parties in May and have 3 more in July. For some people, that's alot. And some people may decline an invite because they feel a financial burden. I would rather you come empty handed than not come because you didn't want to spend the money on a gift.


We don't do this to be mean, or take the fun out of anything or to be holier than thou but I would rather make memories than buy "things" that will get used once or twice, if at all. And I'd hate for other people to spend their hard-earned money on things for our son that he may not use. I am honestly surprised this was such an issue when we started doing it. I thought people would happy to not have to worry about buying another birthday present. But people either love the idea, or hate it I guess.

If someone wants to give you a gift, they will, and you can only accept graciously. We just want people to know it's not expected and don't feel bad if you choose not to bring a gift. Don't feel bad if you do either :) Heck, I love gift giving too and am always happy to bring a gift to someone else's party. I am sure I will eventually give up the "No Gifts" policy. We don't begrudge people for wanting to bring Evan something but we want you to come, have fun and help us celebrate our baby boy....gift or no gift :)

Teacher gifts

I found a really cute gift idea on a blog I follow to make for Evan's teachers. They turned out super cute and were really easy to make. A Tea Wreath is a great idea for the tea lover in your life  :)

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Well we have been diaper free since Sunday morning. There has been only one pee accident but Evan has not been keen on the idea of pooping on the potty so he has been going in his underwear :( But he has been staying dry during naps and during the night. We're getting there but in the meantime we're doing a lot of laundry!

I don't want to jinx it but...

. . . can it really be this easy? Day 2 of potty training was another success! We put a diaper on Evan at bedtime last night and the plan for this morning was to get him out of it right away but he wasn't having any of it! And I think that's because he knew he had to poop. Within about 10 mins of being up he pooped, which is unusual as he normally waits longer. Anyway, after he had a bowel movement his diaper came off and the underwear went on. We went to the park and a walk downtown and in 3 hours there were no accidents! However, he doesn't seem to be keen about using a public washroom (who can blame him??) but he's been holding it until we get home. We put him down for a nap with a diaper but since it was dry when he got up then we are going to try a nap without it tomorrow. Then he went 4 hours this afternoon and evening with no accidents! He went to bed with a diaper tonight but once again the plan for the morning is to get him out of it right away. The goal is to have a poop on the potty.

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Even more exciting than potty news  (if you can believe it!) . . . .

Yesterday I got my very first unsolicited "I love you!" It was so cute, he just whispered it at first and I had to ask him to repeat it because I wasn't sure. Then today at nap time when I said "I love you" Evan said it back!! It makes everything worthwhile!

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Evan fell asleep in the car last week and I couldn't resist getting this shot. . . .



Sand gloves

Today was day 1 of toilet training. We were at the park for 3 hours this morning and only had 1 accident ( a pee). We went to the park again after dinner and no accidents!! I know we have a long road ahead but today was a great start!

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Speaking of the park, we went to Rotary Park this morning with a group of friends and Evan had fun playing in the sand. He specifically requested going to the park again tonight to play in the sand. We took a trip down to City Park where Evan and Daddy built sandcastles and buried Evan's feet. Needless to say we had to have a bath tonight. After washing his hair there was a pile of sand on the bottom of the tub :)
I have a feeling there will be a lot more sandy days ahead!

These are Evan's "sand gloves" !

My kid is awesome!

Call it what you want, the Terrible Two's the Terrible Three's . . . having a toddler is challenging! The past few weeks Evan has been driving us crazy but rather than complain about it I thought I'd remind myself with a list of some of the things that make him totally awesome!!

*he loves to share
*he loves to sing
*every day when Daddy walks in the door from work Evan says "Hi Buddy!"
*he still loves to snuggle with Mommy at bedtime and sing songs
*has has a lot of pride when he does something on his own
*he can take his own shoes off and is almost able to get them on by himself
*he gives us random hugs
*he knows all his colours and the days of the week (but not always in order)
*he likes to try new things
*whenever we leave an event, activity, playdate or family function he always says "I had fun!"
*he is starting to say "please" and "thank you" without being asked to.
*he loves being read to and is starting to be interested in learning his letters
*he loves going for picnics
*he remembers EVERYTHING (which is not alwys a good thing. . . ha ha)
*he has a great sense of direction

So long friends, until we meet again!

Today was Evan's last day of preschool. Thursday was his last day at the school but today we had our final field trip at the conservation area. Even though we knew we would see everyone again today, I was very emotional on Thursday. At the end of class Evan gave Miss Caroline a kiss and Miss Michelle a hug (Miss Janet was absent) and I started crying! It's hard to believe the school year is over already! Evan started in January and was the youngest (and one of the smallest) kids in the class. The children were all so wonderful to him and the parents were all so supportive. Most importantly his teachers, Miss Caroline and Miss Janet were FANTASTIC and Evan loves them so much! They were so supportive and loving and helped Evan to fit into the class with ease. The good news is that Evan will be going back to pre-school in the fall with Miss Caroline and Miss Janet. And some of his friends will be back with him. Most of the kids are moving on the kindergarden in the fall but hopefully we will see them over the summer. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful experience!!

Evan with Miss Caroline

Evan with Miss Janet

The whole class ~ It isn't easy getting 15 kids to stand still for a group picture :)

I am a Soccer Mom!

We signed Evan up for soccer in the FITBATOTS program. It starts this week and we are so excited. Last Friday night there was Soccer in the Square down in Market Square and we took Evan down to check it out. He had such a great time!

He shoots, he scores!

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Last week we had a picnic in City Park every night for dinner. Evan has decided he loves picnics and he actually eats his dinner! The best part is he burns so much energy playing that he is going to bed so much easier and sleeping in a bit longer. . . and when I say sleeping in I mean longer than 5:30 - 6 am!! He has actually been sleeping until 7ish which makes for a very happy Mommy and Daddy.

Who knew pee could be so exciting?

I was going to write about something else today but something really cool happened! Evan has been going pee on the toilet every night for over a year. He was going pee everytime we put him in the tub so we decided to stick him on the toilet and see what happens. We bought one of those seats that sits right over the toilet. He started going pee no problem. We have a potty that we keep downstairs and have tried the potty on other occasions and haven't had much luck. Back in March he asked to go on the potty before dinner one night and he peed. He did that everyday for about 4-5 days then he sort of forgot about it. We have never pushed him and had sort of thought we'd really potty train when pre-school was over. We talk about going pee and poop on the potty alot and that soon he will be wearing underwear. He has he nighttime routine down pat and after getting undressed he goes to the bathroom and grabs his seat to put on the toilet but tonight he did something different. . . tonight he peed standing up! He just walked up to the toilet and tried to aim but of course couldn't reach :) I grabbed a stool for him and he stood on the stool and peed standing up! It will be interesting to see if he does it again tomorrow night. Stay tuned...

This was Aug of 2010. One of our attempts to encourage using the potty.