Toonie Parties are getting big in our neck of the woods. My oldest just started grade 3 and so far he's had 2 of them. His 6-th birthday had about 15 kids (his whole school!) and it was a gong show. It was actually hard to watch, he was like a gift conveyor. Rip off paper, briefly look at gift, throw out a compulsory Thank You, next gift, Rip off paper.....you get the picture. And then we had SO MUCH STUFF, mostly useless except for lego and some pretty beach glass that one girl had given in a recycled wooden bowl (she must be a mini-mustachian in the making).
But for the last 2 years we say no gifts, just toonies. 1 toonie for the birthday boy and the other gets donated to the charity of his choice. We've had a couple of occasions where we've had kids bring 20$ in toonies (possibly there first experience with this type of party) which my son loved.
Most of the kids in his previous school also threw toonie parties, so it made it way easier, and to be honest, in most cases the kids love it. They love getting cash, and counting their dollars, over and over again, saving up for something they really want, rather than some plastic, crap toy that get's lost in one of their overflowing toy boxes.
That said, my 5 year old has been invited to his first kindergarten birthday party and my lego stock has run dry. I stocked up on lego last year when zellers was closing and they had crazy deals, but they've all be used, so i'll have to be making a purchase for this one. After kindergarten though, we generally just give out cash, whether it's a toonie party or not. Most kids have tons of toys, and they have their favorites already and the rest just pile up!