Gifts...open at dc or home??

[5 Little Monkeys]

I'm shocked that there are parents who wouldn't even say thank you!! However, like I said, this group is young so maybe I will experience that this year.

I'm still undecided as to what I am going to do. Plans have changed and one child is leaving Tuesday for 2 weeks and the others are leaving Friday for 2 weeks. We will do our main Christmas party on Friday now.

[bright sparks]

I give my gifts at the end of the last day to take home. If a parent gives me a gift I thank them very much and put it under my tree, I don't open it in front of them and if they ask me to I explain that I open all my gifts on Xmas morning and they are okay with that. I do have some simple guidelines for Xmas daycare gift giving at this time of year though....This is my honest opinion that's all.

If you have some kind of strategy....don't give a gift.
If you have any kind of expectation e.g, acknowledgement, a thank you or a gift back....don't give a gift.
If you feel obliged...don't give a gift.

Giving gifts is not about anything other than giving and any emotions you feel relating to it are down to you. If giving a gift makes you feel happy and gives you the warm and fuzzies, that is down to you. If you feel resentful, or frustrated that is also on you, not the parents.

If you have no expectations of others then you will never feel let down.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I understand what you mean brightsparks. I have opened a few in front of the parents and I haven't opened a few just because it was a bad time (busy with other children etc). A friend and I were talking about this (opening gifts in front of the person who gave it) and she said it's bad etiquette to not open it lol. I sorta agree with her. When I give a gift I want the person to open it so I can see their response so I can tell if they like it or not. Most people will say they like it but their reaction is the truth and I want to know if I should buy something similar for them in the future or not.

I buy the children gifts because I love giving gifts and I think Christmas is for children. I would love to see their reaction when opening it which is why I am considering it. However, I know there will probably be some chaos to it too.

Thanks for all your input ladies!!

[elysefloyd]

I send them home on the last day. Some parents let the kids open them and some don't. I am okay with either. I also send home a wrapped gift for the parents from the child, I take pictures during the year and put them in a small album so parents can see some of what we do. All of my parents love this and look forward to receiving it each year.

[playfelt]

I don't open the gifts from the kids in front of them either. I accept it and say oh we will put this under our tree for Christmas. I don't want to open it in front of the kids as part of it is often candy or special cookies I have no intention of sharing, lol. It is confusing at the door and I also want time to enjoy the opening and reading the card and really reading it in front of the parent can also make them a little self conscious too in the sense that we write things we can't bring ourselves to say.

I give the gifts for them to open at home. Some families open as they get, others save all gifts to open on Christmas so I leave it up to parents to do as they wish.

[torontokids]

We are having our Christmas party on Thurs and all the parents will be there. Santa will be coming and the gifts will be handed out to the kids at the party "from Santa." I think in this scenario it would be cruel to tell the kids not to open them. I think when they get handed out I'll just direct the kids to ask their parents and let them decide.

[mom-in-alberta]

My daycare kids are receiving thier gifts as they go home on the last day that they will be here. Some families have the rule that NO gifts are opened in advance of the "big day", and I will respect that. We are not having a party, exactly, because there was no one day that all (or even most) of the kids are here this week. If I had a shindig with Santa, I would probably expect them to open them, though. So I will just hand them the bag as we hug and say goodbye for a couple weeks.
I have received gifts from 4 different families already, and i did not open them right then and there. In fact, I am super awkward about receiving stuff, LoL. But I texted them later and said thank you very much.

[5 Little Monkeys]

Mom in Alberta...I am also super awkward when opening up gifts. I feel like I have to act super excited LOL. Actually in June, I had 2 moms arrive at the same time and both had gifts as they were leaving my daycare. It was the end of the day, we were visiting in the living room as their kids were the last ones. The first one I opened, her son was helping me and was really into it. It was a oil scented thing(I'm not really sure as I don't use that stuff) and her son took it to his mom right away lol. I said thank you, I couldn't wait to smell it. Than I opened the card from the other mom and there was a $100 gift card for the Keg and I feel like I gushed over it too much. I felt like such a tool afterwards lol. I am not a good gift receiver, I much prefer giving! haha.

I think I have decided to send their gifts home on their last day at the end of the day, wrapped. I send home the parent's gifts from their child than too.

[Daisy123]

I open gifts from the kids after everyone leaves. I've had kids in tears because they hadn't brought me something too and they were feeling very left out.. I make sure to thank the parents right way, put the gift under the tree and then send thank you cards out later.
Gifts from me to the children and gifts that the kids make for their parents go home at the end of the last day because I don't want the parents to feel obligated to get me something. The kids are always so excited to have something "secret" to put under the tree for mom and dad.