A mum blogger has started a debate after she argued that parents should ditch the tradition of giving out party bags at kids birthdays.
Renee Kaiman, a mum-of-two from Toronto, Canada, said parents should keep the "pound store crap to themselves".
"I have been attending numerous birthday parties over the last few weekends, and it's just junk," Kaiman told CBC Metro Morning.
"My kids obviously love to receive it, but within a few minutes things are broken and there's lots of pieces all over my house. It's just a waste of money."
On her blog 'My So-Called Mummy Life', Kaiman added: "Can’t we all just agree that its enough with these bags?
"Let’s teach kids about making the birthday child feel good by being there to celebrate with them. After all, that’s the point of a birthday party, not, what the attendees are leaving with."
But when HuffPost UK Parents asked mums and dads what they thought, opinion was divided.
Mum Pippa Needs partly agreed with Kaiman.
"The thing is sometimes party bags can lead to one-upmanship from parents," she wrote.
"Some parents go all out on bags, which is fair enough, but then it leaves other parents wondering how they will match it."
Others, however, disagreed and said the party bags made their kids happy.
"It's a kids' party, it's fun to have a party bag and being a parent it's our job to clean up after all the fun," Toska Powner wrote.
"I enjoy making up the bags, my son would be gutted if we didn't do party bags. Why take the fun out of everything?"
Another parent agreed, writing: "My God, some miserable people out there!
"Children are only small for a short period of time - I intend to make sure mine has the most fun and excitement possible, party bags included."
Other parents believed that whether or not party bags are a waste of time depends on what you put in them.
"I don't mind party bags as long it's not full of tat little toys," Emma Edwards wrote.
"A few little sweets and little bottle of bubbles and piece of cake is enough!"
Maria Hyrapiet added: "It depends what you put in them.
"I always try to put one item that is a small decent toy and a bag of sweets. I also hate some of the crap that can go in these bags so avoid those."
Mum Emma Irving said party bags might be full of "tat", but her daughter still loves them.
"My daughter absolutely loves receiving them," she said. "She comes away feeling really excited and I ration the treats. I honestly don't see the harm."
Parents' Tips And Tricks For Selecting Party Bag Items.
1. "We opted for sweets. Personally I'd like to go back to the getting a piece of cake in a serviette. Cheaper all round and less tat."
2. "We had a pamper party at a local nail salon for a shared birthday party for my six-year-old and a girl in her class and gave out mini nail varnishes, nail files and nail stickers. The girls loved it."
3. "I bought Julia Donaldson books from The Book People - worked out at £1 each. The parents were really pleased and worked out cheaper than doing party bags."
4. "When I did mine they contained a mini plant pot decorated with a ribbon, a small packet of tomato seeds, a little wooden plant label decorated with a ladybird and a decorative toadstool."
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