The Seedling Blog

It's Time to Flip the Gift-Giving Script

As soon as kids go back to school, the influx of birthday invitations begins. The Saturdays on your calendar rapidly fill up, you add “birthday gift for Finn” on your list of errands, and your weekends are consecutively spent in parks with piñatas, cupcakes, and presents. But what to get all these kids?

Let’s be honest — no child needs another box filled with brightly-colored, whizzing, blinking plastic junk. And what parent loves when that stuff ends up strewn across her living room floor? We’re moms. We get it. Not only are such presents from well-intentioned pals an eyesore, but they're missing that "wow" factor that holds a child's attention longer than five minutes. We understand the desire to find a unique gift that stands out among the stack. At the end of the (birth)day, the gifts a child receives are equally important to the mom.

It’s time to flip the birthday party script and rethink the gifts we’re giving to children. What do kids actually like to do? What do they gravitate towards? Kids yearn to be stimulated and challenged. Their minds crave stimulation, puzzles, and problem-solving. Rise to the occasion by gifting a creative experience. Inspire them to cultivate their own adventures, create something from their imagination, try something new. The memories they create will last far beyond an ubiquitous cookie-cutter piece of plastic.

Moms know the value of experience over things, and seeing your child beaming, proudly displaying her own creation is something that can’t be packaged. The gifts we give to our kids’ friends, schoolmates, and neighbors should be the same that we give our own children — ones that inspire and engage, surprise and delight. 

And, yes, of course it's more than acceptable to give gifts that also impress other moms. (Wink, wink.) Thoughtful presents that are beautifully packaged, aesthetically pleasing, AND loved by children are a total win all-around. Birthday boy Finn's mom and her home will thank you. 

Leave a comment