Well, for ds's second birthday, I handwrote the invites, and down in the corner, I wrote, "Come as you are! No gifts please"

I am so over (so completely over) writing thank you notes - that's my motivation, which of course I can't say to my friends!  And we have too much stuff, as everyone does.

But almost everybody ignored it! We did get all books - which is a clever work around, I must admit. Nobody objects to books. And of course everybody got their thank you note ;).

I should have known, though. A friend of mine did the same thing, and then thanked me for honoring it, because nobody else did. I didn't feel bad at all when I saw that other peeps had brought gifts, because I knew my friend had asked for a reason. That was her wish. I did bring a really fun card for her daughter's scrapbook.

It never occured to me that we wouldn't be invited to other's parties. I think most peeps think of it as a personal preference, which we can only get away with for a few years anyway.