Party bag ideas?

joess

I recently did a party for my little boy, I bought quite a bit from 99p store & pound shops - they have a great selection of kids party stuff especially the 99p store, for example I got 8 boxes of stickers for the girls for 99p, punch balloons (think there were also 8 in a pack). http://www.99pstoresltd.com/products.asp?CAT_CODE=60

I also buy Asda smart price pencil crayons (think they are 19p) and take out the smart price label and did my own with my childs name on.

hampshirebabe

I had an idea for a cheap, easy but personal touch for party bag ideas. I made up a short story along the party theme lines, including my 2 dd's, (its a joint party) and another child, wrote it out and added a few cartoon pictures I found online. Mines about 2 princesses and another princess or a brave knight, (princesses and knight party) who find a baby dragon with his tail stuck in a fence, they rescue the dragon, make friends and live happily ever after. I put a different childs name in each story, will cut them out, put a thankyou for coming to my party note on the back and laminate them. Whole thing should take about an hour, but be something the kids like and can keep as a momento.
I forgot to mention before, I put in a little bottle of magic touchable bubbles in, I much prefer them myself, far less mess. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/36-Mini-Touchable-Bubbles-Party-Bag-Fillers-Toys-Loot-/120598671829?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D21%26pmod%3D190421120882%26ps%3D54

mandco

as a variation on the cake idea we actually did cake decorating with the kids rather then loads of party games brought a load of cheap own brand cakes & icing, sprinkles ect then let the kids loose
kept them occupied for ages and then they took them home.

any kind of craft activty tends to go down well esp with girls and then whatever they make they could take home.

I budget a max £1 per child for take home bags/gifts or it gets expensive so things like books/activity packs from the £1 shop look more substantual than the same amount cost wise of cheap tat.

another thing we've done before is a lucky dip wrap up little gifts or some sweets put them in a big box then let the kids pick one as they leave

my3girls

Argh just typed a long reply and it disappeared!

Thank you all much for your fab ideas - wow!

Should have elaborated on the party, I won't be doing anything myself (for once!) I have a man bringing a bouncy castle, a disco/light show and he does all the games, all he says I've to do is bring prizes which is fab!

Dd is mad on disneys tangled, so that's our theme. Purple bunting/lanterns, frying pans as serving plates (any other ideas here welcome lol)
She also wants a rapunzel tower cake so I don't think cupcakes would work, plus I can't bake to save myself!

Love the sunflower idea and going to use it for my younger daughters birthday next month, but the nursery are doing sunflowers with the children this spring so wouldn't be able to do it for dd2's unfortunately.

Dh thinks sweets in a cello cone wrapped in ribbon would be good, but I'm concerned it's too much sugar for the kids, plus they'll have cake too :-s

So still a bit stuck for something original and cheap, oh I hate being skint lol. I like the lucky bag idea but then it would all need to be unisex wouldn't it?

Also, opinions here please, what do you think of asking for no presents? I think she doesn't need 60 odd gifts but hubby thinks im being cruel lol.

Thanks again so much for all your help, your all fantastic :-D

Jenni
Xxx

mandco

for a lucky dip you could always do 2 boxes one for girl/ one for boys if you;re stuck for unisex gifts

as for the presents maybe make a rapunzel tower style box and say that while you dont expect anything if they would like to give the birthday girl something then rather than presents please leave a small donation in the box that way no one know whos left what

Mayflower10cat

I'm not a Mum, but I think your suggestion of 'no presents' would be amazing if a 5 year old is happy with that. How about simply asking for a donation to a charity of your daughter's choosing, whatever typical amount would be normally spent on a little present. I think you could really help out all the other parents by setting a precedent like this. Alternatively, thinking along a similar line - ask for presents ONLY from a charity shop to a max value of X!!! As so many have small new items now of jewellery and edibles, it isn't difficult at all to find something nice - plus, for a few ££s you can get a lovely almost new book/DVD/outfit/jewellery etc.

cef66

I asked for donations to a local hospice instead of presents for my second child's christening with the exception of the Godparents and grandparents. They bought the traditional christening gifts that our child could keep as mementoes. We found that quite a few guests still chose to give a small gift as well as a donation. The christening was for a baby who obviously wouldn't remember the event so didn't miss anything.
I wouldn't do this for a birthday party - for my children, part of the event is receiving their presents. I could imagine they would remember in years to come 'the birthday they weren't allowed presents from their friends.' Also as a mother I wouldn't like to send my child empty handed to a party - my children usually have a say in what they give to friends and help choose a card - again it's part of the event, giving a gift.
A compromise could be asking for donations as mandco suggested to put towards either a particular gift your child is saving up for, or to put into your child's own bank account. Or you could suggest to your daughter that she give any unwanted / duplicated gifts to a charity shop and take her with you to hand them over so she has the real experience of giving to others.
After my own children's birthdays I always leave their gifts in a pile in their room for a couple of months and, if they are still left untouched, they go into my present cupboard for me to use for presents for others. I never give them away straight away in case they ask 'Where is the ... I got for my birthday?' and then I can produce it. This has rarely happened and usually presents are forgotten very quickly, especially if they are gifts that are too young, old, not something they are interested in or something they already have. My children have often 'chosen' a present to give to their friends from my stash and not remembered that it was something they were given themselves.
There are only a few years when children have these sorts of parties with lots of guests (I've never done 60 invites but did 30 a couple of times) so I'd let her have the pleasure of lots of presents - before you know it she will be a teenager having just a couple friends over for a sleepover.
Good luck !

bethl79

I'm organizing a rapunzel party for my little girl too! I'm also doing purple banners, purple and yellow balloons, frying pan serving plates, also instead of buying plastic tablecovers I'm going to get purple organza to cover the table with plain yellow eating plates to look like the sun (ish!). You can buy 25 metres of purple organza on ebay for approx £7 but I'm still hunting to find it cheaper!

I'm going to make a long plait out of yellow wool to use as decoration, but how about doing some shorter ones and shaping them into 'rapunzel hair' - a loop to go around the head and a long plait fastened with purple ribbon, along with a cheap hairbrush, handheld mirror and a couple of slides/hairbands I think this would be a good gift for the girls to take home. For the boys, Muddy puddles have a brilliant sale on at the moment, they have pirate bandanas for 38p and pirate flags for 53p.

My idea for the cake is to make a basic round or square sponge, cover with green icing to look like grass and some small sugar flowers, then I'm going to attempt to make a cardboard replica of the tower and buy a couple of the small rapunzel and flynn figures to sit on the grass. I've no idea if it's going to work but I'll give it a try!

If I come up with any other ideas I'll let you know

bethl79

Ps I meant to say we bought our party bag gifts from sainsburys sale, packs of disney princess crown shape chocolates for the girls and cars 2 ones for the boys, they were only 59p each, bit worried that this isn't enough though now!

Tired_Mom

Hi not sure if any of these ideas will help you but these are the goody bags I made for my daughter when she had a princess party for her 4th birthday. http://taylormadecrafts.blogspot.com/2010/03/princess-party-goody-bags.html

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