It may be a good lesson for young kids on the value of human relationships over material things, but if a lot of people follow the example of Bill Doherty, a researcher in childhood consumer culture at the University of Minnesota and co-founder of BirthdaysWithoutPressure.org, retailers could see a big drop-off in the amount of goods purchased as birthday gifts.
What Mr. Doherty and other like-minded parents have done is tell others attending their kids' parties to forget about bringing a gift.
Alissa Michelin Nierenberg, who lives in Manhattan, told the New York Post that she came to the conclusion that all the gift giving "is ridiculous" while on a gift buying trip to purchase 50 presents for the parties her two kids would attend over the course of a year.
Ms. Nierenberg, said of her own daughter, "When she's 75 percent finished opening one gift, she's onto the next; all she cares about is the cake."
Birthdays Without Pressure offers a list of examples of birthdays gone wild
on its website. Here are some of the least extreme examples.
- A Chicago party invitation requests gifts worth at least $35 because gifts worth only $10 at the previous year's party did not cover the family's cost for the event.
- Also in Chicago, half-year parties are in vogue.
- Parents are setting up birthday party registries on sites such as Amazon.com.
- Opening gifts at a one year old's party in Minnesota community takes two hours while the guest of honor sleeps.
Many parents are fighting back against these excesses, asking those who feel they need to give something at a party to make a donation to charity instead.
Ms. Nierenberg
told the Post that she used ECHOage.com for one of her
kids' birthdays. Half of the donations from the party went to a charity chosen
by her child ($450 for Free the Children) while the rest, minus a 15 percent
administration fee, went to buying a gift for the birthday child.
Discussion Questions: Are there ways retailers can actively work with parents looking to create more responsible birthday celebrations? For those consumers intent on going overboard, what can retailers do to capture more of their business?