One mom thinks modern parents are getting out of hand when it comes to birthday parties. In a video shared on TikTok, the mom detailed the birthday gift guidelines set by parents throwing a birthday party for their child. The parents’ expectations made the mom feel like the family was asking for way too much — and made her not want to take her kiddo to the party at all.
The mom, who goes by Shay27xo on TikTok, explained that her daughter received a birthday party invitation.
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After RSVPing to the birthday party, the mom received a text about birthday gifts.
A few days before the birthday celebration, the mom hosting the birthday party for her child sent a text to the parents of the party guests. The mom shared a set of “strict” guidelines for guests to follow when choosing a gift for her child.
The gifts must have no colors, no noises, and be zero waste.
“It was like, no colors, it can’t have a color. It can’t make noise. And it has to be waste-free,” the mom said, describing the gift requirements. After receiving the text, the mom used Google to search for waste-free gift options.
She learned that for a gift to be waste-free, it should not contain plastic or come in plastic packaging. Based on what the birthday girl’s mom described in the text, the mom concluded that the gift could not be colorful, contain plastic, or make noise, which seemed pretty challenging.
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She didn’t want to choose the wrong gift.
Frankly, the guidelines felt kind of intimidating to the mom. In her video, she explained that she didn’t “want to make a mistake and be that one that broke the rule.” For those who couldn’t find a gift that fit the criteria, the mom of the birthday girl offered another option: make a handmade card.
The mom of the birthday girl advised parents to avoid purchasing a birthday card “because that would produce waste.”
The rules felt like too much for this mom.
After explaining the gift-giving rules to her followers, the mom asked them to weigh in. “Have any of you guys experienced this? I need to know because at that point I was like, ‘We don’t even want to go to this party,'” she said. At the end, she seemed to blame modern parenting, saying that “it was so much easier in the ’90s.”
Some of her followers shared gift ideas with the mom, but agreed that it sounded ‘stressful.’
@shay27xo Kids birthdays 🎈 #birthdays #kidsbirthdays #momsoftiktok #giftsforkids ♬ original sound – Shay27xo🤍
Some of the ideas were genuine. “Look up Montessori toys 🫶🏼,” one person suggested.
Others chimed in with gift ideas — many of which were jokes.
“Perhaps the child would enjoy a sourdough starter?” a TikTok user commented.
One person suggested giving the child “a beige bath towel,” while another said the mom could give the kid a plant.
“At that point the mom just needs to say ‘no gifts please’ 🙈,” a third person concluded.
