No gifts, please

That's what the birthday party invitation said..... no gifts, please...and then went on stating that your presence is your present. 

OK.  I get that.  I respect what the host wanted.  I responded to the invitation in a timely manner and showed up as I said I would and did not claim some lame excuse after I accepted the invitation to try to get out of the social commitment I had just made.  Believe me, I could have easily blown off this party.  I thought about a simple, home-made gift but then out of respect for the wording on the invitation decided against it. 

I arrive at the party to a HUGE table filled with gifts.  Wait.  Didn't the invitation state "no gifts, please."?  So, if that was truly the intention why have a table set up with a mountain of gifts on it?  Why didn't the host scuttle the "unexpected" gifts to a bedroom and shut the door so other guests, who actually followed the hosts wording on the invitation and were not in on the 'gee, we said no gifts on the invitation but we really didn't mean it' , making me feel like a complete cheap ass? 

Say what you mean and mean what you say.  I don't engage in mind or word games.  Lay it on the line. 

I made my quick rounds hugging the host family and thanked them for including me on their "celebration" and left.  I'm done with them.