Ok this one was going to be posted tomorrow, but my fingers were just itching to get this done now.

 Our daughter who will be 4 in a matter of weeks came toddling home from preschool this afternoon with a birthday invitation in her backpack. We open it up and take a look at the when, where, and so on. As I opened the invite a slip of paper fell out that I looked at once we were finished with the "yea party at chuck e. cheese celebratory dance of joy!" Nothing more lovely than knowing as a parent you have to endure a 2 hour hellfest at the House of Mouse complete with running,screaming kids. And if you are really lucky like my husband and myself, you also get the joy of cramming yourself into those godforsaken tubes to pull your daughter out by the leg because she won't come out on her own because she wants to play some more and she would take delight in nothing more on the planet than seeing one of her parent's ( depends on who loses the rock,paper, scissors game) shove themselves up there like a piece of sausage getting stuffed to drag her out! LOL Anyway, back to the regular programming schedule.

 I pick the slip of paper up from the floor and unfold it. I thought it was directions to the new Cheese house here in our area, but it was something else entirely. It was a gift registry.....

to an upscale children's boutique, Macy's children's story, Learning Express and The Children's Place...complete with clothing sizes and favorite this and thats...

for a child turning FOUR!

I looked at some of the items listed and while I frequent these stores myself, I know that some of these items listed get to be a little pricey. My problem aside from the sheer gall of putting in a gift registry for a child's birthday party is it wasn't the child who did this. This is purely the doings of the parents...it just shocks me. I have seen invites to kids parties where some things were listed such as "Jane's favorite color is pink...she likes Barbie Dolls and magic markers" and so on. As a parent I can appreciate helpful hints such as those because when you don't really know the child or family those tips come in handy when gift shopping.

 So, my question is - as a parent what are our expectations of gift giving at kiddie parties?  Again, I don't know this child or their family. Our daughters go to preschool together...I see the mom during the morning drop off and sometimes in the afternoon car line. While I am not a cheapskate when it comes to gift giving, I was thinking something along the lines of an age appropriate game...I usually stick to educational, fun gifts. I look at this list though and see BabyPhat clothing items, a $300 toy horse named Butterscotch and a laundry list of other clothing items and shoes.

 I can see a kid wanting this Butterscotch horse thing...I've seen that in Target and honestly, if I were this age, I would probably want it too! I can't think though for a minute that the child knows about BabyPhat, Guess and Hilfiger clothing lines though on her own. I talked about this with a good friend/neighbor this afternoon while getting the mail and her response kind of floored me. She said, "well you know, the parents are doling out some good money to throw this party, so I guess they expect payback in good gifts." ?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!??!?!?! Hold the phone...........

 Parties are intended to mark and celebrate the event. Parties in our area have become a contest of which family can outdo the other, and let me tell you, I have seen some outrageous parties. I never remember learning though that the more money spent  to entertain and celebrate means the price on presents went up as well. Granted, we give our children nice parties and I am willing to pay to have them at a venue rather than have 20 kids running in and out of my house to be left to clean a war zone afterwards. It never crossed my mind though to expect more expensive gifts for a more expensive party. It is my husband and myself who make the choice to finance the party and spend as we please on it. I am happy to do this if it makes the children happy and it entertains their friends and they all have a great time. We've had people show up with no gifts, and that is fine as well. For whatever reason they chose not to bring one is their business...for all I know it could be a financial issue and they are there in the first place to celebrate the occassion.

 We already have our daughter's party planned for the end of the month at one of those indoor inflatable play places and I do not intend to put a registry into her invitations. The thought did cross my mind though only for me to sneak in a great pair of shoes I've been eyeballing ..I wonder if anyone would question as to why she needs a woman's size 8 though?

 I don't know - maybe I am just too old and am checked out on the "now" thing to do or am I not and is a gift registry for ANY birthday party just a little over the top? Please let me know. Otherwise, when I do my shopping, I will add Candyland, or Hungry Hungry Hippo to my list of things to get.