Growing up, there was always one thing that made my birthday parties different from my friends'. Not the perfectly executed birthday cakes or the elaborate goodie bags (even though these details were always spot on!), but it was part of the party that was always missing: I never opened gifts during the celebration.
Although as a child I didn't understand why was this was my mom's biggest birthday rule, and as I got older it became a part of our party norm so I didn't give it much thought, as an adult I appreciate my mom's present-opening ban. Along with the other meaningful traditions from my childhood that I plan to pass on to my kids, I will also take a note out of my mom's birthday party playbook and won't be letting my children open their gifts at their parties.
Some people skip this part of the event for the sake of convenience (it can be time consuming and messy), but my mom had different reasoning for her stance on gift opening, and this meaningful position taught my siblings and I an important lesson. These are the three reasons kids should wait until after the party to start digging into the pile of gifts.