Frugal, eco but fun party bag ideas

JoJo77 · 14 October 2019 at 8:56AM

I need some inspiration for party bag fillers that are cheap but not full of plastic tat. I’m quite creative so would be happy to make things but all I can find is dreadful plastic rubbish, or items that would end up costing me £3 per child, and there will be 20 children! Che children range from 4 years old to 7 years old and are a mixture of boys and girls

Having a baby just before Christmas works out expensive and complicated. I have already booked the village hall (£37) and a bouncy castle (£70). I think a friends daughter will do glitter tattoos for some pocket money and cost of the tattoos which we be a major saving of the local face painter who is amazing but charges £70! Still need to add food (hot dogs and chips, plus crisps etc), cake which I will make myself, decorations for the hall, invitations which I will design and print and things like tablecloths etc. Any ideas to minimise these costs would also be much appreciated

The background is that we are livening in a static caravan so can’t have a party at home. I’m waiting for a new job to start and haven’t earned any money now for 3 months. My son has just transitioned to school so at the moment has friends from both nursery and school (and outside school) hence the number of children

Many thanks xx

Accountant_Kerry · 14 October 2019 at 9:03AM

at this age agreed another bag of plastic tat is really not what anyone needs, historically I have tried to keep to £1 per child. The best ideas I have come across are, a book inc a colouring book from the £ shop or similar per child, sweets in a paper bag which can be got for pennies from the auction website,

rach_k · 15 October 2019 at 10:45AM

We've given out colouring books before (pretty sure they were in a pack of 10 for £10 at either The Works or The Book People - they were nice ones, not the rough grey paper kind! They also do packs of story books you could use instead). You could add a small cheap pack of colouring pencils or crayons if you wanted, although I'd probably not bother. Wrap some cake in a napkin and I think that's enough. Little notebooks and stationery always go down well here too, as do novelty pencil rubbers.

JoJo77 · 15 October 2019 at 6:43PM

Thank you both. I have looked at The Works and they are doing 10 books for £10. Going to go into town on Saturday and have a look in their shop and Poundland x

FreebieMum · 30 October 2019 at 5:29PM

What about making some little soaps?

sazaccount · 30 October 2019 at 11:12PM

I'm going to start with... I don't have kids, but I used to run a Rainbow unit, I found that a small colouring/activity book (one year it was reporter note books) and a pack of pencils/wax crayons (I budgeted 1.50 per person) was really good as the girls liked getting something and I got them small enough for parents to chuck into a bag if they were travelling anywhere or going for dinner to keep the little ones occupied. Then a small packet of haribo (have a look for the after halloween sweet sales!) They normally didn't make it to the car/home :rotfl:

BargainJunky · 10 November 2019 at 12:33AM

I also hate the plastic tat that normally comes in a party bag. My two boys are a bit past the party bag stage at 15 and 11 but in the past I have made label covers to go on kitkats, fruit pastilles, chocolate bars, bubbles - look on Ebay for ideas - something along the lines of thanks for coming to my party etc.

I also used to stock pile reductions from Wilko as most of their stationery ranges would change quite often and get reduced down to less than 50p.

A cheap football always goes down well for boys or even one of the blow up punch type balloons (pop a bit of rice in for extra fun). Story books or puzzle books can be picked up cheaply from Works, Home Bargains or even Poundland.

My youngest sons birthday is bonfire night so one year I gave out sparklers. I have also bought beakers/drinking jars and filled them with sweets. Wilko had some really good ones in a while back at 12 for £2. Will see if I can find a link (although they did put the price up).

Not sure how close to Xmas the birthday is but if its before 1st December you could buy advent calendars (currently on offer at £1 in Morrisons).

POPPYOSCAR · 10 November 2019 at 12:46AM

How about a small pot and some seeds to grow their own plant?

You could write the name of each child on each pot with glue and glitter.

daisydaisy99 · 11 November 2019 at 11:23AM

To avoid plastic crisp bags, look for Two Farmers Crisps - more expensive but you only need a few bags to keep everyone in crisps, so less cost to the environment.

Also, go for bio glitter - the little pieces of plastic that make up “regular” glitter get into the water system and so our rivers & sea so eventually into fish.... and hose who eat them!

Also, if balloons are planned, go for bio degradable balloons you blow up by puff on a piece of non-plastic string - helium is a scarce non-renewable resource and the balloons are not recyclable or compostable.

Qtipps44 · 4 December 2019 at 10:17PM

I love the seed idea. My friend made seed bombs the kids loved.

Plasticfreemama · 26 January 2020 at 9:57PM

I made "grow your own garden" party bags for my daughter's birthday. You can google it, all you need is used egg boxes, just add soil and seeds, plus instructions on how to take care of the veggies planted/ Kids loved it and I got great feedback from parents too, as it's also a nice activity for kids to take care of their own veggies at home!

Frugal, eco but fun party bag ideas

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