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I was also worried about the crazy number of toys she would get, but I don't buy her toys so I'm glad she got them. Yes it was a little overboard ..... but I keep some hidden in the closet and switch them out every once in a while. Plus people got her things she needs like clothes too.

I probably wouldn't request it, but I hope people would purchase more books than toys

I'm not going to request no gifts... you and I are the same - DS has hardly any toys because I've never bought him ANY! All the toys he has (which aren't many, but enough for his age) are hand me downs from friends/family!

I would love for him to get some age-appropriate toys, more books (can never have too many!), etc.

We let people bring gifts. She got a good balance of toys, books, and clothes. We put a few things away for later and may even regift them for Christmas (regift them back to her).

Gifts! It's fun to buy baby gifts anyway, and not too expensive. We didn't have a lot of older baby/toddler things so it was great. And we did take some things back and exchange them for things he needed.

I always ask the parents what the birthday boy (or girl) wants or needs before a 1st bday party. And I always give it with a gift receipt. One thing I didn't realize is that it's good to buy up in age a little- I guess both my nephews got a lot of stuff that's good when they are 1, but they'll have grown out of before the 2nd birthday.

@regberadaisy: totally pulled this one out of the archives. You plan ahead!! Did everyone who came bring a gift?

My husband told me last night he wants me to tell everyone no gifts. I feel like it's tacky to say that and like @sloaneandpuffy said, it's fun to buy baby gifts!

I went to a 1st birthday party for a co-worker who specified no gifts with some cute poem on the invitation. The 1st birthday party is really important in her culture and she said she just wanted attendees since she didn't have any local family. I generally take people at there word so I didn't bring a gift. I was super embarrassed at the party to be the only person that didn't bring a gift. As a result I never listen to that request anymore.

If there was a request for donations, books, or something I would have done that.

I don't think anyone in my family would listen to no presents anyways. I think part of the fun of their birthday is celebrating with presents. When people ask I tell them things they like that I wouldn't mind having but most people buy what they want anyways. Our toys are a little out of hand right now. I think it's because we have three the same age so for every birthday and Christmas we get three times the gifts. I am about to go through and purge a bunch of our toys.

@Corduroy: For fear of this happening, we never listen to the no gifts request as well!

We threw a really big 100th day celebration for WJ and requested no gifts, but if people wished, they could bring a book to build his library. To this day we are still pulling out new books every week from his bookshelf and it's so great to read the inscriptions from our friends and family. And we have such a variety-- all the Curious Georges, Grimm's Fairy Tales, bible stories, Dr. Seuss, Thomas the Train.