Send ‘Thank You’ Photos Of Your Kid Opening Presents (Instead Of Doing It At The Party)

Kids’ birthday parties are essentially a trial by fire for new parents. As if the legion of boisterous children wasn’t bad enough, you’ve also got to deal with unpredictable weather, party games that invariably don’t work and baking a cake that looks like a cartoon character (as opposed to a malformed blob.) But arguably the most stressful moment is the whole “pressie opening” fiasco — especially if you have an unruly kid. Here’s a simple tip to make things run a little more smoothly.

No matter how organised a parent you are, it’s basically impossible to maintain order during present opening at birthday parties. There are adult guests to entertain, you need to keep an eye on scores of other children and your kid is usually overly excited and/or hopped up on sugar. By the time the paper-flying frenzy has finished, you usually have no idea who bought what.

The next time your child has a birthday party, set the pressies aside and open them in private after everyone’s gone home — you can then send “thank you” cards to each guest with a photo of your child happily holding the relevant gift aloft.

As an added bonus, this also eliminates the possibility of your kid saying they already own a gift or don’t like it within earshot of the giver. Hurrah!