Too many toys at kids' birthdays? Try this.
I love bringing people together. So much so that there were nearly 100 people at my daughter's first birthday party.
I know. We are nuts. But it was also lots of fun and a celebration also honoring my husband's birthday and the new home we had just bought.
As you can imagine, the stack of gifts was significant. It was pretty fun to open them, but let's be honest - so many of them only got played with once or twice given the volume.
So when it came time for her second birthday, we wanted to try something different. I knew that my husband and I would pick out a gift for her (that year, it was a balance bike) and that she'd get gifts from other close people in her life as well like her grandparents and cousins. So I wasn't worried that she would be left without gifts to open and enjoy.
Over 5,000 diapers and 1,000 wipes collected for Help a Mother Out. The stacks went to the ceiling by the time the boxes stopped arriving!
We had seen some good friends smartly ask for donations for their child's birthday, so we decided to try that. Since then, we have approached this in three different ways, all of which have been really rewarding.
Supporting a School
For her 2nd birthday, we got in touch with a teacher we know at the elementary school across the street from our house and asked her to help us find out what teachers needed for their classrooms. They dropped Amazon links into a shared Google spreadsheet and I turned it into an Amazon wishlist (I also added some fun items the teachers didn't request to benefit the teachers themselves - like Starbucks giftcards). We then shared the wishlist with our invited guests and asked them to pick out something from the teachers' list and buy it. We then delivered the items (books, markers, instruments, math games, etc.) before the school year started.
Delivering donated items to Sulphur Creek Nature Center.
Diapers for Families in Need
When my son turned one year old, we collected diapers for Help a Mother Out. This organization helps families who are struggling to afford the $80 or more per month for diapers, which can mean kids spend too much time in dirty diapers or are unable to be put into daycare and preschool settings so that their parents can work to support their family. We also made an Amazon wishlist for this so that our friends and family could easily pick out a box of diapers in their price range and have it shipped to our house. It was more successful than we imagined, collecting over 5,000 diapers and 1,000 wipes!
Supporting Animals
When Brooklyn was turning 3, she was able to more fully understand this whole concept. I gave her some ideas of causes she might be able to help with on her birthday and let her decide. She chose to help animals. We found wish lists from Sulphur Creek Nature Center and our local SPCA (here and here). You can find a wishlist for a local charity near you by searching here. We setup our own wishlist using their items because we wanted the items to come to our house first so that she could participate in delivering them. She loved opening the packages as they arrived, figuring out which animal that item was for, and then delivering and visiting the animals.
I think we will probably continue this tradition, but I also want to follow my kids' lead as they get older. I have heard of other great ideas for reducing birthday toy clutter like every child bringing a used wrapped children's book and each child choosing one to take home as their party favor. Do have other ideas like this you have heard?
Sample Language
I've been asked what language we use when communicating that we want donations instead of gifts, so here's the actual language we used for our last two kids' birthday parties:
In lieu of gifts, Brooklyn has asked for your help collecting items for animals at the East Bay SPCA and the Sulphur Creek Nature Center. Check out this wishlist for what they've asked for: http://bit.ly/BrooklynBday
No gifts, please! Instead, would you help us collect diapers and wipes for Help a Mother Out (http://www.helpamotherout.org/)? This organization helps ensure every baby has a clean diaper. You can bring an unopened package of diapers or wipes to the party, or just pick one out from this Amazon Wish List (click here: http://a.co/cmvDi0z) and it will get shipped to our place to join the stash. We'll drop them off after the party to be donated to local families.
