cf from australia

hello everyone i have been lurking around here for a while and thought it was about time i got ranting. i am 35 and my partner is 36 and we are at that stage of our lives where everyone we know has kids and we keep getting invited to their stupid parties, naming days,christening and whatever present scamming occasion they can think of. i know we have all been throught the same things so i wont bore you with it look forward to ranting with you.

Hi Roger! Welcome!

Hey Roger!! WElcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Present-scamming occasions are very common with the parents we know - first communions, birthday parties, showers, weddings, etc.

And here in the U.S., people will invite total strangers to their present-scamming parties, just so they can get more free stuff.

We also have the trend of adult birthday parties here, which I don't care for. It used to be that people just had b-day parties on their milestone birthdays, like age 30, age 40, etc. Now they are having them every single year and inviting lots of people so they can get tons of gifts.

My aunt had a graduation party for her son and specified on the invites "no gifts please" which I think was a very classy thing to do.

:bal Welcome!

Gift-grabs are the biggest thing with breeders. I never heard of naming ceremonies. I should not be shocked as this is just another excuse for a present. When I was a child, this little girl at the same babysitter's I went to had the gift-grab down to a tee. When the invites for her 4th b-day party went out, the child kept saying, "You are coming to my party and bringing me a present." She could have only learned this from her mother as she was not in school yet.

naming day ceremonies are just like a non religous christening if that makes any sense, still dont understand why but yeah it is just a scam.but we got them at christmas last year we made donations to the zoo to sponser an animal in their name.