I'm trying to find inexpensive party favors that can be used and not thrown away or wasted. Her party is not till january but i like to do things in advance so i just want to have all my plans together.
My favorite party favors are Golden Books from Walmart. Put them all in basket and let the kids pick one as they leave.
One of my kiddos loves to stamp, so he asked if we could make cards at his birthday. We did a thank you theme and the kids could make a thank you card for whoever brought them to the party. I know StampinUp had a set of stamps that were cupcakes. The stamps can be reused for almost anything.
You should check out Etsy.com, type in Cupcake in the search. Tons of cute handmade items. I love buying from Etsy sellers and always receive quality items. If you have time since the items will most likely have to be shipped it is a great option. You might also want to check out the following blogs for inspiration (I am a little obsessed with party planning:)) http://partyperfectblog.blogspot.com, http://www.hostessblog.com/, http://stemparties.blogspot.com, http://creativepartyplace.com/, http://uponaparty.blogspot.com and http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com. Also, we love to give socks, sounds crazy but kids love socks, you could probably google how to make them into little cupcakes:) Have Fun!
There are oftentimes mini books in the $1 aisles at Target. It's nice to have some tiny books to take along to the doctor's office, church, etc.
Instead of purchasing multiple items to fill a bag, invest in one quality item. I just did this for my son's second birthday - Thomas the Train theme. I purchased cotton child size engineer hats from Oriental Trading and then had them personalized with each child's name by a local mom. The cost was $4 per person and the moms and kids REALLY liked the hats esp with the child's name on it -- none were left behind at the party!
goldfish crackers
crayons/coloring books
sunglasses
Why not buy coloring books and crayons for all the kids? Bubbles? I don't think it has to match your theme.
We usually take a $10 roll of quarters to the closest Old Navy and load up on their $0.25 bouncy balls, $0.97 Matchbox cars, stickers, etc.
The BIGGEST hit at our son's birthday party last year (3 year-old) was the helium tank from WalMart - the kids picked out what color balloon they wanted and had more fun with those than anything else.
Usually, the stuff is pretty awful and gets thrown away when the kids are sleeping.
This would take some time but you could buy small planters (terra cotta or plastic) and paint them to look like cupcakes! Then you could couple w/seeds like someone else said or just fill with other goodies.
I did not want to spend a lot on my son's 1st bday favors but didn't want junk either. I saved up $1 Johnson & Johnson coupons and bought Bath Buddies (kid safe bar soap) with them (FREE after coupon), bought a pack of crazy straws that I split up, bought colors/numbers flash cards from the $1 Target bin, bought $0.25 mini rubber duckies with party hats on and put a little bit of candy in (again, bought with coupons). I spent about $15 for 10 bags. They were baby/kid safe and everything could be used!
I got each family a children cupcake baking set form Bed, Bath and Beyond ($5), a box of baking mix and tub of icing with sprinkles. They all went into a cute bag.
I really like the idea of little golden books. Then everyone will have something that they will actually use.
Bubble solution with mini wands; little books from the $1 aisle at Target. Little cars and bracelets from the party favor aisle at Target. For older children (2+) buy playdoh in 24 packs; "crayons" filled with bubble bath (at baby section).
Since its spring you could always do flower seeds. You could even make it into a little "craft time" during the party. The kids could all plant their seeds in cups to take home and water (that is if kids are coming that are older). I've never done it but heard the idea before and thought it was pretty neat.
I agree with the mom who suggested Etsy. They have the cutest stuff and I got my daughter a cupcake bracelet for her 1st (our theme was also cupcakes). This site also some great ideas:
http://www.busybeelifestyle.com/host-a-cupcake-themed-bir...
I wouldnt worry too much about favors. I just talked about this yesterday with my friend. With my first son, I did it every party. More then half were left at the party, broke or ruined, or just tossed away shortly after. Unless its something useful which can get costly, i wouldnt waste your money! Especially if the kids are really little. Just enjoy the party with your little one:)
For my daughter's 1st birthday I made extra cupcakes and frosting and bought some small plastic "ketchup cups" with lids. I took 2 cups per child and piped frosting into one, and filled the other with colored sprinkles. I bought small white gift boxes which I decorated with stickers. I put a plain cupcake, the 2 cups (icing & sprinkles) and a chocolate milk box. Each child took home a box as a favor and got to frost and decorate their own cupcake at home. You could do the same thing with sugar cookies. It was reasonable, unique, and the kids LOVED it, as did the parents who didnt need more useless party favor stuff laying around.
How about an actual cupcake. You can get cupcake boxes so they can take them with or use those silicone cupcake liners that are characters (I did the Wilton bears one for my daughter's 2nd birthday which was bear themed and each child took one home and the parents could decide when they got to eat it.) If you use the silicone ones, bake the cupcakes regularly in paper liners and then just drop them into the silicone, much easier and it keeps the favor looking great. They can reuse the silicone cupcake liner at home. I also agree about checking out orientaltrading. They have cute rubber ducks with almost every theme. I saw some cute, pink ducks with a #1 on them for a first birthday. You could use these as cupcake toppers and it's something a 1-year-old can appreciate. Have fun!
for our daughter's 1st, we also did a cupcake theme. we didn't have any young children attend, so our favors were colored spatulas from the target $1 section and little packs of recipe cards to go with the theme.
you could also send home cute cupcake liners so they could be inspired to go home and bake. :)
Have you tried orientaltrading.com? They normally work for me when I need to plan a party.
Board books. These wee party goeers will never know what's going on and will have no idea if they get a party favor or not (I'd say not, but that's me). But for that age if you want something simple, find a board book that has a birthday theme or about cupcakes, or even if you give a mouse a cookie (actually, I think that is part of a line of books that has if you give a (different type of snack) to a (different type of animal)). There might be one about cupcakes. Go to http://www.daedalusbooks.com/ they have tons of kid books at really good pricing. Or go to Ollie's, they have a great book section at deep deep discounts (like .99 or 1.99 per book!)
Enjoy
J.
