{"id":5145,"date":"2014-10-07T21:45:53","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T04:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/?p=5145"},"modified":"2014-10-07T21:45:53","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T04:45:53","slug":"letter-from-the-editor-childrens-birthday-parties-lets-stop-the-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/?p=5145","title":{"rendered":"Letter From The EditorChildren\u2019s Birthday Parties:  Let\u2019s Stop the Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<![CDATA[<a href=\"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/birthday-parties.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/birthday-parties-300x137.jpg\" alt=\"birthday parties\" width=\"300\" height=\"137\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5146\" \/><\/a>Every parent has planned a child\u2019s birthday party and attended several other children\u2019s birthday parties.  The parties range from having extravagant themes, to being simple picnics at a park, with everything in between.  Many people will provide snacks, order pizza, or make some food for the kids and the adult guests.  Some hosts are even kind enough to make sure adult beverages are available, which is nice.  No matter what type of party you want to throw or what sustenance you choose to provide, I have no problem with that at all.\n<!--more-->\nWhere the madness comes in is the additional pressure the host endures with the extras.  The host parents usually are stressed trying to make sure their child is having fun, the other kids are having fun, and the adult attendees are comfortable.  Then, they essentially become ring leaders in making sure order is maintained when it comes to playing, eating, birthday cake, and opening presents.  So, since Stapleton is Denver\u2019s leader when it comes to producing children and birthday parties, we need to lead the way on ending a couple of things and making things easier for the hosts.\n\n\n<ul>\n\n\n<ol>\n1.  <strong>No more gift bags for the child guests<\/strong>:  When did the kids having the birthday party start giving presents to their guests?  I don\u2019t remember this happening when I was a kid.  Is this part of the \u201ceverybody gets a trophy\u201d culture?  Just tell your kid, \u201cno, it\u2019s Johnny\u2019s birthday so he gets presents, and on your birthday, you\u2019ll get presents.\u201d  Kids actually know that they are supposed to get a gift bag at birthday parties now.  Well, that ends moving forward.  Let\u2019s all agree to end this craziness.  As mentioned, the hosts have enough going on they don\u2019t need to add this pointless gesture.<\/ol>\n\n\n\n\n<ol>\n2.  <strong>Thank you notes are unnecessary<\/strong>:  I bought your kid a $15-$25 toy.  At the party, they either said thank you to my kid and or gave me a high five or a hug.  We are all good.  There is no need for you to sit there scrambling trying to write down who gave what present to your child.  If my present was a functioning kidney, a quick thank you note would be great.  But usually it is something we grabbed at Target less than 24 hours ago.  No one (that is not a self-absorbed ass) will be offended when they don\u2019t receive a thank you card referencing their present.  My kid had a great time, got food, cake, and I had some beers.  I think we can call it even, and just exchange personal thank yous as we exit the party.  <\/ol>\n\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\nOkay Stapleton, ball is in our court now to set these rules as the standard and stop the madness.  No more gift bags or thank you notes.  You\u2019re welcome, future child birthday party hosts.  And, please, no need to send a thank you note.\n]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<![CDATA[]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-issue-90","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}