Party Favor Question RE: Gender of Guests

As a mom to a 4 year old girl, I would not be offended at all. My daughter loves to play with trucks. She has a remote control monster truck that is one of her favorite toys.

I would not be offended. I've found that both boys and girls like playing with dolls and cars. So I would also not be offended if my 4 year old got a doll at a birthday party. He would probably just give it to his cousin but that would be his choice.

Anyhow, hope this helps.

Go with the trucks!!! Expand the horizons of those little princesses ;-) Seriously, my daughter LOVED trucks at that age. The favor should not be the guests' focus - but rather coming and enjoying the party and celebrating their little friend. At this age, kids are old enough to learn that, so hopefully parents of any lttle ones who have a problem with the trucks will take advantage of a teachable moment.

Happy party! :-)

NO!!! I would never be offended!!! The fewer reinforcements of gender stereotypes, the better, I say. Go with the Monster Truck - it's an awesome theme and an awesome idea.

Happy Birthday to your son!
H.

I have a little girl who just turned 6 and she would really like to get a truck and she is quite the princess girl. I don't think it is a big deal from a mom's perspective either.

When my daughter is invited to "boy" parties, it is rare that she brings home "girly" goody-bags. I'm not offended and neither is she - granted she has two brothers and if it isn't something she would play with for long, it just gets passed on. When we have had boys at her b-day parties, I have tried to stay more gender neutral with prizes - but I think there are a lot more girls who would enjoy "boy" stuff than boys who would love lip gloss and princess wands. Just my two cents...

http://www.hasbro.com/playskool/default.cfm?page=browse&a...

check out these sweezable trucks by playskool (walmart) .. very cute and like $7.00 dollars for a pack of 6. you can give one to each kid.

I don't think anyone would feel offended by the gift. I have two daughters and if they were to receive a little truck, they would probably give it to their cousin since they are not interested in cars. I am sure that those who don't really care for cars will find something to do with it. So don't worry about it. Kids come to the party to have fun. Happy Birthday to your son:)

I have a 5 yr old daughter...she is the youngest of 5...I would not be offended at all...we go to birthday parties because someone was kind enough to include us in their celebration...if they give us a gift at the end...wow...how great is that!! That's how we approach birthday parties..Have fun! M.

I have two daughters so I buy different favors for the boys that come to the party but try to keep it similar to the theme. If I had a boy, I would stick with the boy favors for everyone. A girl playing with a monster truck is quite different than a boy getting a tiara or something. My 3 1/2 year old is a major girly girl, but she loves playing with cars,too. Give them all the monster trucks. Don't stress yourself out over it.

I have 4 boys and one girl. I can tell you that my daughter would be fine getting a monster truck. She's 4. My boys, on the other hand, probably wouldn't be happy getting a doll as a prize though, lol. Girls seem more accepting of "boy" toys than boys are about "girl" toys. Maybe find a pink monster truck? Scarlet Bandit is the one pink one out there, I believe. I think moms understand that if their daughter is going to a boy's party, there will be boy favors handed out.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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Any parent who would be offended over such a thing needs to get a life! If their daughter doesn't like it...they can just pass it along to someone who does.

My son once came home from a girl's party with nail stickers! We laughed and gave them to his sister.

Give the trucks to everyone, girls included. My daughter plays with trucks and trains, right along with her doll and stroller!

I have 3 girls - 7, 5, and 2 - and they all would actually really like a truck. Sure, at points, they might say "oh, that's a boy toy" but for the most part they'd actually enjoy it more than *another* princess thing - novelty counts for something. Lately my girls have actually been fighting over the cars and such that we do have, so Santa's bringing a race track and more cars to our house this year. Go with your theme and have fun.

Just an idea--how about Monster Truck coloring books and some new crayons for the favors?

Hi K.,

I think you should probably stay with the monster truck favor, although if you could find a gender neutral (stuffed toy...) option, that might be good. I had the same issue having 3 girls and inviting boys to the party, but usually I wouldn't invite them if it was a "REALLY GIRLY" theme--princess, make-up.... But my girls usually picked animals, or bowling, or other things that didn't matter.

If my girls went to a boy party, and got a toy they didn't want, they would just give it to a cousin, or keep if for when boys were at the house to play.

Most of all try to have fun at the party. They don't stay little for long, and then the parties are really different!!! lol

Go with your theme and don't fret about gender specific. You would be surprised what girls will play with, especially when they see the other girls playing with them. It's a gift no one should be offended by it, they should be appreciative and understanding about wanting to keep with a theme.

I wouldn't be offended 1st off because my daughter loves cars(she has her own collection), and if most of hte girls have little/big brothers at some point they play with cars. Also its your gesture of saying thank you for coming, they don't have to take one if they don't want.

Maybe think of it this way...would you care if your son got a princess doll at a party? He probably wouldn't play with it and you would give it to a neighbor. This would most likely happen with the monster truck for a little girl.

We had a monster jam party last year for my son and I did the same thing: gave each boy a little truck. I gave each girl their own favor-I think it was a little lip gloss, nail polish set.

I would absolutely not be offended!! Contrary to popular belief, it is not mandatory to give treat bags to your party guests at the end of a party. But since it is the norm (I'm not on a high horse, I do for 3 kids every year!), anything you choose would be appreciated. You never know, maybe inside that pretty princess lies the heart of a race car driver (in a pink tutu). My daughter plays with my sons' monster trucks and has a ball.

I wouldn't be offended. I have a 7 year old daughter that loves to play with monster trucks. Of course, she has brothers, so that may be part of the reason. But, I would think that that would be ok. They make a 'girly' monster truck. I don't know how many you would need, but we got one for our daughter from WalMart.

Hi K.,

I have an almost 4-yr.-old girl and it wouldn't bother me if she got a truck as a party favor. Rather have that than a bag of candy or dollar store stuff. Then again, I have a boy and 2 girls so they are used to playing with each other's toys all the time. Have fun with it!

I don't think a truck is gender-specific. Or at least it shoudn't be. My daughter is 5 and she likes dolls and lipgloss, but she also likes cars. Giving boys a doll is a little different. In your case, I would give the cars to all the children. And like the others wrote, they can give it away if they don't want it. After all, there is no guarantee that they will all use it, no matter what the gift is. Have a great party! Last year for my daughter's party I gave a juice, snack and a box of crayons. All useful and yummy for all kids. The kids were VERY pleased! :)

Hi, I have 2 girls, one would play with the truck the other would give it to her sister. If you can get pink cars I think that would be a step in the right direction. If you give trucks to everyone I would make sure there was something else in the bag, (candy, pencil, stickers) that the girls would use or enjoy they wouldn't feel let down. My daughters so enjoy going through their goody bags.

Good luck and remember you can not please all of the people.

No, I would not be offended, my daughter is 4 and most of the favors she receives are played with briefly then added to the pile. Don't waste too much energy about the favors, a monster truck for the girls is different (if you could find pink or purple trucks that is a plus). It is so much more important that the children have a good time (especially the birthday boy).

I wouldn't be offended. One minute my daughter is playing dress up with her jewelry then the next minute she is stomping in mud puddles. If you are concerned that some will be offended, maybe include some inexpensive stickers in the goody bags from the dollar store so they can decorate their trucks.

I know my daughter wouldn't have a problem playing with monster trucks. In fact, she'd love it! But, if you want to find a "girlier" type car, I saw some over the weekend you might be interested in. I was in a Disney Store outlet and they had 3-packs of Princess cars for $9.50 (and they had an additional percentage off). I'm not sure if they are in regular Disney Stores, but they were cute.

My daughter is pretty girly, but she loves to play with trucks too. Maybe just get them in a color like red or yellow for the girls. Then it isn't too "boyish".