Childrens Birthday Party - questions & ideas (merged)

essexhoney

Wilkinsons is fab for bits for party bags! Not only do they do packs of little toys for party bags they are really reasonably priced too!
They also sell little packs of crayons cant remember exactly how much but they are literally pennies!
A multipack of sweets/lollys.
A pack of balloons.
A bit of birthday cake.
Thats pretty much all you need then each party bag will have a little toy, a pack of crayons, a small pack of sweets, a balloon and a piece of birthday cake. - More than enough to keep a 3yr old amused for a little while

morlandbanks

I bought loads of bits in Tesco today - hair clip thingies, yo yos, mini frisbies...most things were 49p for 4 or whatever. I thought they were reasonable. Big multi packs of sweets to share into the party bags. bit of cake each. Done. That's what I've got planned anyway!! Have to say, it's the only bit I dread. I've already PAID a fortune to entertain them for 2 hours, then I have to pay them sweeties and toys to leave!!

LOL, only kidding. I love the parties. Have to say though, next year I think the 'about to be 5' child will be having a day out with a best friend for his 6th instead of 30 kids!! Daughter is 3 next month too abd I haven't even started planning that one yet...Back to Tesco!!

pink_phantom

I always put bouncy balls in mine and I have had little novelty themed soaps from ebay before now really cheap.

ruthyjo

I think party bags are a bit of a nuisance. I always feel obliged to do something yet I feel really irritated when my kids come home with yet another bag of bits of plastic tat that I don't really want cluttering up my house.

I think a party take home book is a good idea. You can order packs of 10 picture books from the book people for £8-10 for 10 and write a message in each one along the lines of "with love from (child's name). Thanks for celebrating my third birthday with me." or whatever.

My sister got copies of the beano annual from waterstones for her little boy's party take homes just after xmas for 99p each.

I've also done selection packs for my daughter's birthday on 9th January - quarter price after xmas in Sainsburys. She's had the lucky bags that Claire's accessories do before now - I'm sure these are less than £2 each.

Another nice idea might be a little pot plant each. I'm all for giving one nice item that is actually useful rather than bits of junk which in our house at least go straight in the bin the moment my kids let down their guard.

Hope your daughter has a lovely party whatever you decide.

bigmuffins

ruthyjo wrote:

I think party bags are a bit of a nuisance. I always feel obliged to do something yet I feel really irritated when my kids come home with yet another bag of bits of plastic tat that I don't really want cluttering up my house.

I think a party take home book is a good idea. You can order packs of 10 picture books from the book people for £8-10 for 10 and write a message in each one along the lines of "with love from (child's name). Thanks for celebrating my third birthday with me." or whatever.

My sister got copies of the beano annual from waterstones for her little boy's party take homes just after xmas for 99p each.

I've also done selection packs for my daughter's birthday on 9th January - quarter price after xmas in Sainsburys. She's had the lucky bags that Claire's accessories do before now - I'm sure these are less than £2 each.

Another nice idea might be a little pot plant each. I'm all for giving one nice item that is actually useful rather than bits of junk which in our house at least go straight in the bin the moment my kids let down their guard.

Hope your daughter has a lovely party whatever you decide.

Hear hear!
I second that!
book people/redhouse/school link (same thing but yr kids school gets 10% commission in free books I think if are registered) have great books at great prices and I think it is so much nicer to get something that can be kept and used for a while at least rather than dumped in bin a few hours later!

Also along the pot plant theme - get old clean! tights and fill toes with handful of grass seed, crumpled newspaper wrapped in kitchen roll (so is nice and white!) and tie end so is sort of head shape! Draw/paint a face on with some googly eyes and put into a pot or decorated container and instructions to water. Then when grass grows kids can have fun cutting the 'hair'!

We don't go overboard now - just 1 decent (bargain priced of course!) thing and piece of hm cake is all I put in party bags!

Have fun!

PS Am just about to post a 10% off £25+ spend code on 'Vouchers' board for redhouse and one that worked for me on book people to in a mo!
See you over there!

abbecer

I just had my son's 4th birthday party yesterday. I had 50 children coming so i couldn't afford for the party bags to be expensive. I bought some cellophane party bags off of ebay. They were clear and had colourful stars and streamers on them. I filled them with lots of assorted sweets and tied them with bright curling ribbon like what you use at Christmas. They looked lovely and colourful and I got lots of compliments how unusual they were.

Rebecca x :rotfl:

finc

My daughter was 8 a few weeks ago and I bought some girls' shoulder bags from Primark for £1 each. They were made paper/rattan type material in white with a bit of pink on them. When the girls arrived I had them laid out on the floor with loads of craft bits, feathers, flowers etc and they decorated their own bag. These were then their party bags with a piece of cake wrapped up inside.

Doubled up to keep them entertained for 20 minutes when they got to my house as well :T

morganb

This may not me much help but...

We had a Pirate party for our 4 year old son and all the children that came got the following in their party "treasure chest" :

http://www.bestpricefancydress.co.uk/acatalog/Fancy_Dress_Shop_Pirates_40.html#a1_2123050

Delivery is another £2.95 but we placed a big order as this site is very good value for dressing up bits and pieces (especially hats) and you could get the rest of your party decor from here.

Otherwise Toys R Us do packs of puzzles and cards for a reasonable price plus I agree that Wilkos is another good bet, as is eBay.

Rachel85

At 3 years I'd I'd probably send them home with a piece of cake, baloon and a lolly!

across

i put roughly same as everyone else in my dayghters bags but then i put a little home made princess thankyou card in from the following website:
http://www.dltk-cards.com/cc1.asp
my girls loved them and you can make all different character cards(did the invites too of same site!) i've got it to page where you just click on: Thank you then on next page you choose character you want then carry on through and at end print!! have fun!! xx