You know all about “swag” … those goodies you get when you attend parties. According to this NY Post article, swag is not just for grown-up parties, conferences and weddings anymore. Kids not only look forward to good swag, they expect it!  From expensive toys to LeSac bags filled with spa goodies and beyond, many parents are giving in to giving swag.

The article also points to parents who don’t agree with the swag-giving trend, citing one parent who is giving a lollipop with a note that a donation has been made to Haiti Earthquake Relief.

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The Wall Street Journal’s The Juggle blog featured the topic of bringing gifts to kids’ parties when a “no gifts” request has been made on the invitation. If you have received these invitations for your kids’ friends’ parties and aren’t sure what to do, this blog and the related comments are definitely worth a read to see what people think.

I have already chimed in my thoughts here, but it’s an ongoing issue with modern day kids’ parties. Check it out!

We requested “no gifts” on our recent kid’s party invitation that adults were invited to attend. When the party rolled around, some people honored our request and brought “no gifts,” while others brought gifts and couldn’t imagine attending a kid’s party any other way. When the guests who did not bring gifts saw that some had brought presents, it made them feel awkward and had them asking questions. How could I have handled this situation better?

Today, parents are often asking for “no gifts” to be brought to their kids’ parties on the invitations. Although you have deliberately set forth this guideline, presents are really almost “part and parcel” of any kids’ parties. I mean that even when you write such a guideline on your party invitation, many people will ignore your request and just bring a present as party goodwill.

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So, what if you really don’t want any guests to bring gifts for their birthday party? This could be for any number of reasons — your child is too young to appreciate gifts, your child has yet to go to a friend’s party and so hasn’t given any other child a birthday gift, you don’t believe in gifts at parties, etc.

Would it be appropriate to put on the invitation, “No gifts, please?”

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