Birthday party treat bags

[imbatman]

Is this something y'all bother with? I've never done them, but DD went to a party a couple weeks ago that had them and now wants them for her party. I'm already spending money on the party (renting the space, food, supplies, present), so I thought it was totally unnecessary. If so, what do you usually do for them? I don't know how many kids will be there (have only had a couple RSVPs), and it could be a mixture of boys and girls. It's a mermaid party, so I had thought of doing some hair ties for the girls on a little card that says "mermaid hair don't care". What about the boys? Or am I totally right and we don't need to do this? She's 5 if it matters.

[shauni27]

I vaguely remember them as a kid, but I do not think they are at all necessary. I hate the idea of them--wasteful and unnecessary.

Do a pinata and let the kids take home the candy from it. That is the extent of any party favor bags I ever intend on doing lol.

[icedcoffee]

You don't need to do anything. It's junk and totally wasteful.

With that said...my kid does light up when he's handed a goody bag. They make him insanely happy.

[cleo29]

I did them more when they were younger and the parties on the simple side. we did the candy from a pinata two summers ago for K, which was a big hit. I also am happy to send home extra cake. lol

Things my kids have received and loved are huge bubble wands (really, they will always love bubbles and it will get used, so not a waste for me), candy and fake tattoos are always a hit.

BUt, if I am paying for a big party somewhere, i feel less inclined to do this. I do not ask for gifts and most follow this. I am treating your child to a fun day, they do not need to take something home with them. I don't care if this makes me sound cheap or a grinch.

[cleo29]

May 20, 2019 12:22:00 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

You don't need to do anything. It's junk and totally wasteful.

With that said...my kid does light up when he's handed a goody bag. They make him insanely happy.

We never really outgrow this. Think of adults getting swag bags at business trips and the like. We live for free shit in a cute bag. lol

[liverandonions]

My kids love them. They went to a party this weekend that had little packs of Oreos or Chips ahoys, fruit snacks, mini m&ms, a game/puzzle and stickers. NOthing to major and only one that that isn't a consumable or that gets used up like stickers.

[downtoearth]

You don't need to and I appreciate those who don't have them more than the ones that do.

We get them at a majority of birthday parties (probably 70%). I am about 40% on giving them out at my kids' parties - 3 kids over 12 years means I've waivered a lot. I lean toward not giving them in the last few years, but it's mostly b/c it's crap stuff.

If you do give something, try to make it something edible or they can use and not that plastic crap from the dollar sections. We did water bottles for a BMX bike themed party about 4 years ago and one kid showed up with his to our house recently. We also did Butterfly yoyos to another one b/c my kid is a yoyo lover who wanted his friends to have "good" yoyos. At another we made wildflower seed bombs with local, native seeds. It ended up costing more than I wanted, but the kids like playing with dirt/clay and took them home. (Like these... www.gardenista.com/posts/diy-wildflower-seed-bombs/)

Basically, don't do them if you're just filling a goodie bag with junk food and plastic rings/crap toys.

[cjcouple]

I prefer edible favors. An easy fun one is a big rice crispy treat with rainbow sprinkles. (see pic)



But I have also hot the dollar store and made a few bags before with candy and stupid party toys.  But it is not necessary but the kids love them

[sonrisa]

For mermaid theme, I'd do bubbles and call it a day. The kids will use them and they are cheap. 

I don't do bags, just a single item (because my kid loves them). Something on theme, that will actually get used. For Alice in Wonderland we did books (I found some great $1 options from scholastic. Books like "Don't let the Pigeon drive the Bus" and "Snowy Day"). For wizard of oz, we did four color rainbow pencils. For space, I found glow in the dark moon necklaces that I still see her friends wearing around.

Personally, I dislike candy goodie bags most.

[devonpow]

We do them. Ds1 (12) hasn’t in a few years but for DS2 (7) they still go strong st every birthday party we go to.

[DotAndBuzz]

Need? No, of course not, but I do think they're fun, and I like doing them for my kids' parties. Decorating the bags can be one of the activities too, that kids LOVE.

I don't spend tons on them, or make them super fancy, but I usually include something like:

mini bubbles
2 fun pencils
maybe mini stampers or erasers
sheet of stickers
3-4 Dum Dum lollipops

You can buy all that in bulk and just divide it up into however many bags you need. I like Oriental Trading for this kind of thing. You can even get like 24 fun themed pencils for like $4. Or 12 "stacking" pencils for $5 (here are some cool shark ones:
www.orientaltrading.com/shark-stackable-pencils-a2-13684675.fltr?keyword=stacking+pencils)

[imbatman]

Her party is at an indoor pool, so I don't know that a pinata is a great idea. I'll look and see if I can get some little tags for bubbles and call it a day. If not, no gifts. Thanks!

[twilightmv]

I’ve always done like 1 good gift as the goody bag. What the item was depended on the number of attendees. I’ve done:
Animal shirts (this was a small group of kids)
Dinosaur figurine
Melissa and Doug hand puppets
Wearable dinosaur tails
Animal ear/tail

[cleo29]

May 20, 2019 12:48:10 GMT -5 imbatman said:

Her party is at an indoor pool, so I don't know that a pinata is a great idea. I'll look and see if I can get some little tags for bubbles and call it a day. If not, no gifts. Thanks!

Just get a bunch of these and hand on out to each guest and you are done. My kids still love this kind for the huge bubbles.

Mermaid bubble wand

[isabel]

I did not do them for DS2’s 4th Birthday Party last month. I asked the same question on MMM and the general consensus was that they’re nice, but absolutely not necessary. Also, if you do them, do something edible instead of trinkets.

I was like you and felt like I was spending plenty of money on kids having a good time, lunch, and cake. A goodie bag seemed unnecessary. Nobody seemed to notice or care.

[flygirl]

I wish people didn’t do them. We’ve gotten a few where I just throw the whole thing away. I like the suggestion of sending the kid home with a sucker or some other small treat

[bbdoll]

I just had my kids' joint party this past weekend. I bought re-usable straw cups from the dollar store in fun colors. I filled them with little candies and some stickers. The kids loved them and I only had about $20 in spending for 10 kids. Plus, I figured it was something actually useful for the kids, instead of just those little plastic junky toys they normally get.

[af1212]

I have never been to a kid party that didn’t have some kind of favor. And I always do something for my kids.

Last party (9 yo) was a sleepover so did pillowcases with vinyl names on them and a little zipper bag with chapsticks.

Party before (6 yo) was Halloween cup with Halloween glow sticks and a pencil)

Party before that I can’t remember 🤣

I appreciate when the favors are usable items and not just crappy candy or oriental trading crap. Books, coloring books, fun pencils, frisbees, stuff like that are always great.

For a mermaid party I would do a little bag of diving toys for the pool.

[cmeon]

I personally love a literal "Thank you for coming!" over favors, but, most little kids disagree.

DS went to a mermaid part years ago (around 5yo) with bath bomb favors. They are easy, cheap (super cheap if you DIY- and they can be done way ahead of time), and consumable- and non-gendered.

I will say, the little 4 and 5yo boys in my preschool reading groups LOVE my FOE (fold over elastic) hair ties (I often have one on my wrist). I almost made them all one, but, I didn't want to deal with the parents- LOL.

[nicolewi]

Totally junky but like everyone here seems to do them. My kids just assume there will be a treat bag, so we have always done them. I try to go a step up from total junk and have often found surprisingly cute stuff at Dollar Tree.

I try to go with something "in theme," like we did little cosmetic bags with a toothbrush and an initial charm on them for DD's "almost sleepover."

For her 1930s American Girl/Kit party, we did a notebook (Kit's a writer), cool pencil, and a fruit lip gloss (like Great Depression apples), and a Kit Kat bar.

For DD2's flamingo party, I got some fuzzy flamingo pens, flamingo notebooks, and some other flamingo stuff at the Dollar Store and threw in some pink candies.

For DS's dino-theme, we got some actually nice plastic dinos that were in a multi-pack at TJ Maxx, and everyone got one of those, two cheapie mini dinos, and a few candies.

REcently DS went to a Lego party and they gave the Lego knock-off figurines with a Lego funbook the mom printed out from online.

[hocus2]

I've tried to limit  plastic in our party favors though my kids will make specific requests which I try to accommodate.

One year we did pokemon cards. I've done books multiple times. I also think something like goldfish, a pencil, and maybe a small piece of candy works fine too and would be a $1 per favor.

[susiebw]

For my kids' parties this past fall, we did favors they could use during the party and take home. DD had a fairy party and the girls each got fairy wings (dollar store) and flower crowns (Amazon) - they all wore them for the whole party (and the pictures were awesome), and then took them home. They also made fairy houses as part of the party, and they took those home as well. DS's party was at a farm, and the kids each got a straw cowboy hat at the beginning, and we picked pumpkins during the party and we provided decorating kits and the kids took their pumpkins home.

[dale]

My friend makes us Hershey bars with custom wrappers with the party theme. DD's last party was "Cats" and the wrapper was gorgeous and said "Thanks for making my party Purr-fect!"

[formerlyak]

I hate them so much, but they seem to be the expectation around here. I remember one year I wasn't going to do them for DS' birthday because it was a slumber party (he was turning 11) and they had so much going on, but my friend was like, "You have to do something. Kids will expect it." I hate that it is an expectation.

Anyway, I try to do things that are either edible or not going to end up in landfill. Between my two boys, my favorites have been:

Beach bonfire party - good quality marshmellow roasting sticks
Slumber party - reusable Starbucks cups that they drank their morning drinks in before pick up
Preschool party - bought bulk Legos and put handfuls in party bags (preschool parents loved that one because it could just be added to their set of Legos)
Indoor Rockclimbing party - mini flashlights on keychains (lots of them still have them either on their keys or on their backpack)

I would try to make whatever you choose something that won't end up in landfill.

[lolo]

We just did a sea creature themed party and gave out little things of seaweed and a flip sequin stuffie.

For a mermaid theme, you could do a bag with a couple of cute seashells plus a small container of seaweed. Or you could do beach towels, if you found a good price.

[dochas]

May 20, 2019 12:48:10 GMT -5 imbatman said:

Her party is at an indoor pool, so I don't know that a pinata is a great idea. I'll look and see if I can get some little tags for bubbles and call it a day. If not, no gifts. Thanks!

If you want to do something, a beach ball, squirt gun or those little lightweight balls that you throw at the beach or in the pool are all cheap ideas that are useful. 

[jenna]

We've done books with stickers - Curious George theme. - party for his 3rd birthday

We've done Lego polybags and minifigures.

We've done LOL! Doll or Super Mario keychains/bag tags.

[eb777888]

Yes, we do them and we do snacks in them (some healthy, some not, some candy), none of the plastic shit at all. I also like to put pencils in there.

[livinitup]

I like to send the helium balloons home with the kids. Your theme would be perfect for using (small) bubbles as anchors for the balloons - then send them home. Keep extras for yourself.

Are you sure your party place doesn’t supply goodie bags?

If the birthday kid wants goodie bags, I would make them from the dollar store using his ideas. It’s not hard or expensive. And I am NOT very creative or competitive with that stuff.

[sent]

My DD lived for making goody bags starting at age 3. Birthdays, Valentine’s, and a bunch of other events. I usually bought colorful paper bags at Party City and had her fill them with some regular candy and snacks. Sometimes we put stickers or a little notebook when she was younger. No cutesy themed stuff because I had no energy for cute and I find the whole theme thing a bit forced sometimes. If she really wants to make them, I’d let her.