My observation is that kids enjoy opening their gifts and are overjoyed to see the new toys/clothes etc. they got for their birthday. If you give cash there is no excitement for kids in it. Actually small kids don't know the value of money.

If you are gifting cash thats for the parents to buy something they find necessary for kids. But with a gift item the kids may get a lot of varieties which their parents may not get them.

Me being an adult always like gifts rather than cash.

i think the same as dimple said. cash envelopes may make some of the parents happy. but the children do not care at all. so you can only make one party happy, which is parents in this case.

on the other hand if you bring some gift, the child will be happy. and seeing happiness on the face of children will surely make parents happy so "ek teer se do shikar"

Gift is definitely a better choice than cash for a 3-yr old. For older kids or adults I prefer gift vouchers. I certainly do not like giving cash!

i never gift cash or even gift coupon when it comes to small children. i still remember the happiness that i used to get when my father brought even small gift or some uncle brought even small candies.

kokila its so true. I still remember the smile on my niece face when I gave her a gift packed in a colorful wrapper for her first B'day. Though at that time she may not understand but the brightness in her said everything.

cash is not as bad. i put together cash to buy a motor driven car, which i may not have bought otherwise.

I as a parent won't want a cash as gift for my child as I may not be very good and spend the money for buying stuff for the child. I may end up using it for other households when needed and this will not be fair to my child.