How I organized my daughter’s 9th birthday gifts… without any stress

For her 9th birthday, my daughter knew exactly what she wanted for her party: invite about a dozen girlfriends for a laser tag game. Suffice it to say, the excitement was through the roof!

There was still one question every parent knows well: what do we do about the gifts?

This year, she didn’t want one big group gift. She’d rather receive several small things she truly liked. So we decided to do things differently… and her birthday gift list on Kadolog made our lives a whole lot easier.

First step: a little dad–daughter scouting trip

A few days before her birthday, we stopped by two of her favourite stores: a toy shop and another focused on arts and crafts and DIY.

She was able to browse the shelves at her own pace, show me the games she was excited about, the craft kits she’d like to try, and all those little things she’d pause in front of saying, “Oh, I love that!”

The advantage was that we didn’t have to buy anything at the time. We simply did our scouting together.

Back home: creating her Kadolog list

Once we got back, we created her birthday gift list on Kadolog.

For the items we’d spotted in-store and that were available on their online shops, all we had to do was copy the product URL and add it to the list. We also took the opportunity to add ideas directly found on other web shops. In just a few minutes, the different gift ideas were all gathered in one place.

No need to ask parents to hunt down a specific reference or send them a chain of links: one single list brought together everything she wanted.

And above all, these weren’t random gifts. They were genuinely the games and activities she wanted.

One link to share in the WhatsApp group

Once the list was ready, I simply shared it in the WhatsApp group created for the birthday.

Parents could browse the gift ideas, pick the one that suited them, and reserve it directly on the list.

And that’s probably what I appreciated most about the system: no more managing gifts in the WhatsApp group.

Usually, you quickly end up with a string of messages like:

“Has anyone already taken this?”
“I was thinking of buying the same thing!”
“Is someone already taking care of this game?”
“What’s left?”

This time, everyone could see what had already been reserved and choose something else. Duplicates were avoided very easily, without me having to keep the list updated myself.

Everyone buys their gift however they like

Once they’d made their choice, parents were able to order the gifts and have them delivered.

On the day of the party, the girlfriends arrived with their gift to give.

And for my daughter, the excitement was still there: she got to open her presents with her friends and discover the gifts one after another.

The difference was that by the end of the day, she had received lots of things she truly dreamed of, with no duplicates and no gifts likely to end up forgotten at the back of a cupboard.

Mission accomplished.

And after the birthday: thank-yous

A few days later, there was just one last small step left: thanking everyone.

Once again, Kadolog made it easy for me, since I was able to send the thank-you messages directly via the list.

It’s a nice way to wrap up the birthday organisation, without having to go searching for information again a few days later.

A gift list that also makes life easier for guests

At first, I created this list mainly to organise my daughter’s gifts. But I realised it also saved the other parents time.

When you receive an invitation to a child’s birthday party, the question comes almost immediately: “What should we get them?”

With a gift list, there’s no need to hunt for a random idea or message the parents a few days before the party. You immediately have a selection of gifts the child would really like to receive, at different price points.

So for us, it meant much less organising. For the invited parents, much less searching. And for my daughter, gifts she truly loved.

In short: less of a WhatsApp headache, no duplicates, and a child delighted with her gifts.

For her 9th birthday, the Kadolog birthday gift list clearly earned its place in our planning. And I think we’ll do it again next year!