wedding party bags for kids

buxtonrabbitgreen

Lillibet wrote:

I can remember going to weddings when I was a child , we're talking between 4-10 here, and not only were my parents expected to ensure I behaved & provide anything necessary for my amusement, and food if I wasn't going to eat the main meal, but I distinctly remember enjoying being treated like a grown up at a grown up occasion. Whilst I was never an angel & I realize that not all kids have the benefit of being taught respect & courtsey I wonder how we can expect them to learn how to behave at these occasions if we don't give them the opportunity to learn? I anticipate going to weddings over the course of my sons' childhood, I would expect to provide for him myself or not take him if I don't feel confident of his behaving without the benefit of a happy meal.
Sorry, not the OP's problem I know as it isn't her wedding, just feeling distressed after the end of Dr Who & need to work out my frustration somewhere! I'll get back in my box:o.

yes wasn't it sad. Whatever am I going to do on Saturday evenings till christmas.

Rachie_B

https://www.bakerross.co.uk are fab for cheap lil toys etc

also id give each child a small pack of crayons and then print off character printables based on their ages / likes https://www.dltk-kids.com is a good one

also a lil pot of bubbles always goes down well

janeytel

At our last family "do" we had a table set out just for the kids with a paper tablecloth on so they could colour in on that, some of the novely silver/foam glasses from poundland (pack of six) which they loved and a couple of other small items. They had a great time and it was so relaxing for us parents as it kept them amused.

Counting_Pennies_2

I wanted my wedding to be very inclusive for the children.

When we were having our photos taken, so the kiddies didn't get bored I set up a room inside with loads of colouring.

Then for the table, so they kept entertained through the speaches and long meal I made them up a goodie bag according to their age.

Babies I bought very quiet hand toys.

Other children I did a variety of colouring (downloaded pictures and printed from cbeebies) and put in pencils from a pound shop

Even older ones I put in a variety of colouring and puzzles and made word searches (found a website, not sure of it now, that enables you to put in words (I did our wedding specifically) and just typed in all the words I wanted and pressed go and it made a word search and I printed it out) I found out about it on confetti.co.uk so someone else might be able to help you on this.

I also popped in some chocolate and popped all of these in party boxes and marked them up and gave them to the venue organisers who popped them in their place at the table.

http://www.partybox.co.uk/details.asp?product=2200
I purchased these boxes, to make it out to be cinderella's carriage (to try to keep it in the wedding theme

Contains_Mild_Peril

Bubbles, balloons and sweeties are cheap and popular. I'm not so sure about nail varnish, which someone suggested: even if you only give it to the older kids, a younger one may well get their hands on some, and if get gets on someone's brand new expensive outfit, it could end in tears.
Another item I'd include is those little 3D puzzles, e.g. the ones where you have to make a cube from various different shaped blocks. This will encourage interaction between the children, as some will like to confer on how to solve the puzzle. Tetris-type handheld electronic games will keep some kids (and adults) amused for hours, and are sometimes available in £1 shops.
Disposable cameras are a great idea, and some shops sell "wedding packs" of several process-paid cameras.

moosetastic

for my wedding last year I got some little fold up boxes (the same as happy meal boxes) from our local card warehouse, and filled them with lollies and sweets, and put in little cars for the boys and little dolls for the girls. also put in little sets of stickers, and they went down a storm.

Tesco now though have a huge party bag section filled with little bags of toys and things, and aren't expensive at all. bargains also to be found on ebay, search on children parties, favour bags, party bags etc.

KMK

Lillibet wrote:

I can remember going to weddings when I was a child , we're talking between 4-10 here, and not only were my parents expected to ensure I behaved & provide anything necessary for my amusement, and food if I wasn't going to eat the main meal, but I distinctly remember enjoying being treated like a grown up at a grown up occasion. Whilst I was never an angel & I realize that not all kids have the benefit of being taught respect & courtsey I wonder how we can expect them to learn how to behave at these occasions if we don't give them the opportunity to learn? I anticipate going to weddings over the course of my sons' childhood, I would expect to provide for him myself or not take him if I don't feel confident of his behaving without the benefit of a happy meal.
Sorry, not the OP's problem I know as it isn't her wedding, just feeling distressed after the end of Dr Who & need to work out my frustration somewhere! I'll get back in my box:o.

I did not realize that these goody bags were provided at weddings these days. Like Lillibet, as a child I was expected to behave more or less like the adults at weddings. Surely if a child is too small to be aware of what is going on at the ceremony, then they might be better not going to the service. I think part of the "charm" of wedding receptions is the anarchic way that kids behave afer the meal. By "anarchic", I mean how they join in the dancing and play around in their finery. It is a family occasion after all. I remember going to a French wedding that lasted almost half a day and the enfants were in and out of everything as part of the fun.

It seems a shame to have them colouring in and doing puzzles etc in another room on what should be a shared joyous, family occasion. Family weddings are formative, unique events in life and are often looked back on with affection and amusement. Why "air brush" children fom the event?

I agree that sometimes there are long, boring periods when everyone is waiting around but,hey, that's life! I fear that I am getting old so you will have to forgive me.

*Sparkle*_3

definately check out pound shops and ebay i got lots of stuff from there.

Becles

I didn't provide anything for the children to do at my wedding. They had to be good during the ceremony, and then sit at the tables with everyone else during the meal. They all behaved really well, and they enjoyed taking part, especially when the hotel staff poured them a couple of mouthfuls of sparkling wine so they could join in the toasts!

Spendless

KMK wrote:

I did not realize that these goody bags were provided at weddings these days. Like Lillibet, as a child I was expected to behave more or less like the adults at weddings. Surely if a child is too small to be aware of what is going on at the ceremony, then they might be better not going to the service. I think part of the "charm" of wedding receptions is the anarchic way that kids behave afer the meal. By "anarchic", I mean how they join in the dancing and play around in their finery. It is a family occasion after all. I remember going to a French wedding that lasted almost half a day and the enfants were in and out of everything as part of the fun.

It seems a shame to have them colouring in and doing puzzles etc in another room on what should be a shared joyous, family occasion. Family weddings are formative, unique events in life and are often looked back on with affection and amusement. Why "air brush" children fom the event?

I agree that sometimes there are long, boring periods when everyone is waiting around but,hey, that's life! I fear that I am getting old so you will have to forgive me.

Yes and no. We do not have anyone to leave my 3yo with so she has to come with us. 6yo is 'used' to sitting still now due to having assemblies at school. I do expect him to listen to the service and try to sing with us. My expectations of a 3yo in church is purely that she sits still and is quiet. If I achieve this by giving her a doll or a story book to look thru so be it.
Likewise at the meal I expect them to eat their dinner, toast the bride and groom with a drink but I do not expect them to sit listenting attentively to all the speeches. I have perfected the art of appearing to listen whilst thinking of more interesting things;) . I don't expect my kids to be able to do the same at their ages. This is the time when I'd be happy for them to draw. I don't expect a seperate room provided for the kids, but things to occupy them during the times that they will not be interesting in makes it a far more enjoyable experience for me and after the experience of a reception 4-5 hours after the couple married I will now make sure I have toys etc with me.

OP_we went to Brewers fayre earlier and got a goody bag with kids meal. I thought of this thread as I looked thru it. It had word-searches, dot to dots, colouring pages and small pack of pencils in it. I've never looked but would guess you could probably print pages like this from the internet, which would reduce your costs. you can also print off the cut out dolls with clothes as we did this last year at xmas.