Childrens Birthday Party - questions & ideas (merged)

code-a-holic

My son is 4 on monday and im thinking about party bags too. He is a power rangers nut so we are having a power rangers picnic! I have masks for each child ready so thats something to take home, then i have the free items from the world book day. A pen, Pencil and rubber each! Some yo yo's from tesco. 49p for 4. A balloon each, wilkinsons have short pencil crayons packs for 29p each and they are bogof, so pack each, some cheap sweets, slice of cake, wilkonsons had a pack of 12 cars for 99p so one each.
I saw in the shops you can buy tubs of party bag toys for about £1.99. What load of rubbish! I cant believe anyone would buy them - i couldnt make out what half the bits actually were!

pdoff

i read on the party thread that someone did a bran tub instead of party bags so all the kids got a present instead so i am pinching that idea for 4 year old! him & some of his friends go really hyper with sweets so avoiding giving loads & upsetting parents! will just get pressie & cake.

jellyhead

in previous years the books have gone down really well, under a pound each from book people and you don't need to buy a bag or anything else, although you could wrap them cheaply if you prefer.

my son actually likes those silly bits of plastic you get in the party bags though, especially the tiny musical instruments, they all went into his plastic drum (somebody kindly bought him a drum that contains other musical instruments, from mothercare when he was 2) and we still have them now that he's ten. they also love the plastic soldier with a parachute.

the children have had a party, nice food, a good time with their friends - you don't have to give them much at the end of the party although i suppose a party bag is a handy repository for the birthday cake, unless you give it to them as part of the party.

my nephew recently went to a party where the party bags were just clear bags containing some sweets, but what made them really lovely was the mum had printed some paper bits (i don't know what you'd call them, just a bit of paper that you fold in half, so it seals the bag) and stapled the bags closed with them, each bag had the child's name on and thanked them for attending X's party, with a couple of clipart pictures of balloons etc. that was more than enough, children don't need expensive party bags in my humble opinion.

Motherof1

Hi All......following on from my recent 'party bag thread' I have thought about doing a Dora the Explorer party for my daugher Shannon. She is turning 3 in August.

Thank you for the fabulous suggestions. I have been on the Book People website and they have some lovely Dora books to give away instead of party bags. I need some suggestions please:

Where can I find Dora merchandise...fairly cheap?
What suggestions do you have for decorations?
Are there any games that would be fun for this sort of theme?

If you know of anything interesting or where I can go to get what I need please let me know.

I really want her party to be lovely......please share your thoughts and ideas.

Thanks.

Edinburghlass_2

I'm sure that MSE's very own Dora the Explorer could entertain the children, well perhaps they might be a bit young for a discussion on Big Brother

frizz_head

They do Dora merchandise most places now, my local Asda does Dora tableware as does Woolworths. My youngest was mad on Dora about 3 years ago, but you couldn't find any merchandise around then.

When I was looking for ideas for a Harry Potter birthday party a few years ago, I used this US website, where parents submit their party ideas. It was really useful and managed to get some great tips from it.

Dora Birthday Party Ideas

HTH
Frizz

Claudie

My little one used to love Dora and Blues Clues...great shows.

The Nick Jr website has some good ideas
http://www.nickjr.com/party/party_packs/dora_fiesta/index.jhtml

Hope she has a great day.

1012donna

I got all my stuff for my littlest one's Dora party on ebay. I made a huge 6ft x 6ft banner myself - printed out loads of Dora characters and stuck them on with Happy 2nd Birthday intertwined through the characters. It looked pretty good even though I say so myself. Good Luck!!!

SammyD_2

Might be a bit late for the OP, but we are doing the rounds of three year old birthday parties this month (result of making too many friends in the post-natal group!). The hit of the party bags has been these huge plastic sun glasses with no glass in them from Tesco, and plastic slinkys (those springy things). I got a four pack of cars from Tesco and split them up too and they went down well.

But I HATE party bags...I feel like I have put enough effort into the party without people expecting to get an extra present too!

BernadetteN

The cheapest option is to not give party bags. For our children's parties, we DO NOT give party bags, just a piece of cake if the children have not already eaten it. It's not hard to say to parents beforehand that there will be no party bags and all responses in the last 9 years have been positive.