In a recent publication, a reader asked: "Should a child open presents at her birthday party or wait until everyone has gone?" I would make the question universal and say, should anyone at any party open presents at the party or wait until everyone has gone?
My personal opinion: WAIT until everyone has gone. Who likes to watch the guest of honor open her presents anyway? And how many iterations of "That is so cute" can one come up with (actually I'm surprised at how many iterations there are, but that's beside the point)? Plus, I'm always the one who's nervous that my gift won't live up to par, or embarrassed by my wrapping, or worried that she's already got one. My opinion is to wait (and I was suprised to find out that it was the opinion of the etiquette writer's as well), but do you think you could ever pull it off? I mean, have you ever been to a party where presents weren't opened? I haven't. Do you think you could end a party with the presents piled high and untouched?
My personal opinion: WAIT until everyone has gone. Who likes to watch the guest of honor open her presents anyway? And how many iterations of "That is so cute" can one come up with (actually I'm surprised at how many iterations there are, but that's beside the point)? Plus, I'm always the one who's nervous that my gift won't live up to par, or embarrassed by my wrapping, or worried that she's already got one. My opinion is to wait (and I was suprised to find out that it was the opinion of the etiquette writer's as well), but do you think you could ever pull it off? I mean, have you ever been to a party where presents weren't opened? I haven't. Do you think you could end a party with the presents piled high and untouched?
Wait, there is a party that ends without gift opening, and that party is a wedding. And don't you just love not having to watch the bride and groom open all of those gifts? I'm sure the couple who (re)re-gifted the plastic juice set is especially happy about that. But then again, what if you are the person who gave the totally awesome set of matching Mac laptops to the couple? Now delayed opening doesn't sound all that fun. And I can definitely come up with a "That is so cute" comment for that.
6 comments:
intersting idea... i kind of like that idea, but at the same time my favorite part of bridal showers/baby showers is watching presents being opened. i am not there to play the silly games. and like little kid parties, they get so excited it is fun to watch! maybe that is lame of me. i guess i am living vicariously through them. :)
you have me definetly debating my stance though...
I'm inclined to agree with you Ash. I don't particularly enjoy watching presents being opened. I'd just as soon spend that time socializing.
What about Christmas? Christmas morning wouldn't be the same if we went to the tree, picked through the nicely (or not so nicely) wrapped presents, found the ones addressed to us, and then took our gifts to a private place and opened them alone.
Then again, we wouldn't have to pretend we liked the tube socks, dancing hula girls, or welder's goggles that well-intentioned but misguided gift givers gave us either.
oh, jess, that comment about tube socks wounds me deeply!
I read that too. Real Simple, eh? I totally disagree. It's not fun to give someone a present unless you get to watch them open it.
Well, it appears that the decision really is split here. I bet the people who like to watch gifts be opened are the people who give really good gifts. I need to work on my gift giving skills.
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