House Full o' Toys
Jan. 4th, 2007 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
creidyladI have a house full of crap.
To be fair, most of it is great crap.
Toys, mostly. We have a lot of toys. More than I know what to do with. Seriously. We are getting new shelves in hopes that we will find places to put all the toys (and books). We are putting some toys in storage and hoping to rotate them on a month-to-month basis.
And yet Gwen's birthday is coming up.
My instinct is to ask people not to give her gifts. Make a donation in her name and give her a lovely card or some crap.
But realistically I know she's really looking forward to unwrapping things.
But how does one tactfully tell people not to give large presents? I think all we can handle are perhaps a few more pieces of dress-up clothes (but NO SHOES) and maybe some doll clothing.
Do I print out a card explaining my plight and include it in the invitation?
Do I just suck it up and figure I'll have to rotate MORE toys?
I can't wait until it is time to give half of them away. They are great, GREAT fabulous toys and both of my girls will love them -- but there are probably inner city blocks with fewer total toys than are crammed into my small living quarters.
*Sigh*
To be fair, most of it is great crap.
Toys, mostly. We have a lot of toys. More than I know what to do with. Seriously. We are getting new shelves in hopes that we will find places to put all the toys (and books). We are putting some toys in storage and hoping to rotate them on a month-to-month basis.
And yet Gwen's birthday is coming up.
My instinct is to ask people not to give her gifts. Make a donation in her name and give her a lovely card or some crap.
But realistically I know she's really looking forward to unwrapping things.
But how does one tactfully tell people not to give large presents? I think all we can handle are perhaps a few more pieces of dress-up clothes (but NO SHOES) and maybe some doll clothing.
Do I print out a card explaining my plight and include it in the invitation?
Do I just suck it up and figure I'll have to rotate MORE toys?
I can't wait until it is time to give half of them away. They are great, GREAT fabulous toys and both of my girls will love them -- but there are probably inner city blocks with fewer total toys than are crammed into my small living quarters.
*Sigh*
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 04:20 am (UTC)But are we really referring to Miss Manners for a 5-year-old's kiddie jamboree? And further, given the prevalence of registries, wishlists, and "donation in lieu of gift" trends in contemporary society (the last a nice recognition of how landmark occasions should really be more about the event than the materialism), is her dictum realistic anymore?
It basically boils down to these choices:
* Offend Miss Manners and tell people you don't want gifts, and just lump the fact that certain people will probably ignore that wish.
* Offend Miss Manners even more by telling people what kinds of gifts are preferable, whether through a registry or a gentle suggestion in the invite. You'll probably still get things you don't want, and then you can decide what to do with those things.
* Lump all the gift-giving altogether and then return/donate anything redundant/unnecessary, whether it's a gift or existing possession.
Actually, it really boils down to this, overall:
Purge.