6 Year Old Birthday Party Goodie Bags

You have some good ideas already. I did this with my daughter and we went to the Dollar Store and bought ribbons that we handed out for things like lowest score, highest score, funniest approach, coolest shoes, brightest ball, etc. We let the kids vote on the winners but made sure each child received a ribbon. Another idea could be to serve cupcakes instead of cake and let each child decorate their own with sprinkles or any sugar cookie decorations you use at Christmas. Finally, if you need something to keep them busy at the bowling alley you could give them questions like I Spy and have them find things in the bowling alley during the game otherwise you could do a scavenger hunt for them. My opinion is that you don't have to give the children attending the party anything if you don't want to, as long as you keep them entertained and safe that is what they will remember.

A gift card for a free movie rental or a free ice cream at McD's- I think McD's has gift cards? A deck of cards, marbles, crayons, playdoh. Good Luck!!!

For my son's party last year (5yr) we also had a bowling party. We went to the party store and for each child we got a mini bowling set ($1.50-$4.00, we choose the small one, not the $1.50, but whatever the next size was), a plastic bowling themed cup (.99 and a great deal cause my son loves to drink out it and he is always talking about how he got it and the fun he had at his party) then each child got a bowling ball - super ball (there was a 8pk for $2.00) and we also found (at a dollar store) mini note pads with bowling pins & a ball on them.
We had a pinata and i filled it with yogo's, fruit snacks, and kazoo's. (not a lot, cause there were only a few kids there)

but everyone seemed really happy, and i even got the boling alley to print me off each child's score so they could take it home. for most of the kids, it was their first "not family", birthday party, so i think they all had a great time.

if your local party store doesn't seem to have anything, try oriental trading (they are great for neat gifts & favors) and also, your dollar stores, I was truly suprised of the selection that mine had to offer.

Good luck & Happy Birthday Party Planning!! :)

My son is 7 and you do hate buying the cheap toys because they break so easily, but I have gone through Oriental trading on line, yes some are cheap in bulk some are really cute. Depends on your budget and how many kids you are inviteing. Hobby lobby is a good place also, for T-shirts and having them make there own memories when they get home to do. Do you have a theme? Try searching on the internet under Birthday Partys ideas.

Hope this works for some ideas!!!
T. H.

For my son's party, we went swimming and I took pictures of all the boy's with my digital camera then I printed the pictures at home so they could all take it with them when they left..

I have a 3 year old, so the favors I have done are probably too young for your kids, but we have had the same kinds of issues with wanting something decent that isn't just junk that will be thrown away after the party. We did things like playdough, stickers, bubbles, and little notebooks and pencils...but an idea I had for you is a disposible camera, if that isn't too expensive...the kids can take pictures at the party and then develop them later. Sometimes they sell packs of disposible cameras at Costco or Walmart...good luck!

Coupon for a free game of bowling would be a neat idea and then they can go again with their family.

For my daughter's birthday, I went to a local ice cream shop and purchased kid sized cone coupons for $0.50 ea. The kids (and parents) thought is was a great idea. Since the parent had to take them for the ice cream, they were responsible for when they ate it (unlike candy).

I saw in a family fun issue where they had a bowling birthday and they made bowling shirts to give to each kid! I always like to give notebooks of some make and description and a cool pen or pencil with a little bag mini m&m's as a small treat. My daughter is having a "chefs" party this upcoming Fri. and we are going to decorate plain aprons and that will be their gift! Sounds like a fun party!!

I guess you can call me the party pooper, but as a mother of a 7 year old, I get tired of him bringing all the "stuff" home from parties just to have it lay around for a month or so until I trash it, so therefore, if I throw him a party, I do not give treat bags, they are a waste of money for one thing, and an annoyance to me on the receiving end as well. JMO.I must have missed a generation or something, because I don't even know when these "treat bags" came into existence. Sorry for the negative response- but at least I can be honest about it.

HI,

Depending on your budget, dollar gift certificates to McDonalds. You could accompany that with pencils or crayons & a healthy snack (granola bar), instead of candy.

Plan ahead for next year, when school supplies come out, sometimes you can get crayons for $0.25 or less at Target.

Hope it helps.

J. P

i am not sure me my self think goody bag are a waste it the kids birthday it should be all about them by the time you do up six goody bags it about 3.50 to 4.00 dolllar each time six that 24 dollar rhat one less gift hand out thank you book mark when they leave and call it a day ........then you killed two birds with one stone

Once, we did a bigger "favor" rather than the treat bags filled with little stuff. It was just one thing, a cute water bottle with each of the kids names on it. It was great for an outdoor water party. check oriental trading company online, they have tons of stuff for whatever your theme. You may want to try a search for "bowling" on the website. They have super cheap stuff!

If you like to cook, you could make some cookies in the shapes of bowling balls and pins, and then wrap them in colored plastic wrap. Everyone likes cookies, and this would be really cheap. or buy some cheaper toys, like containers of play dough, or small boxes of crayons, some of those gummy toys that you can throw at the wall to make it stick, anything that come three - five to a package that you can open and separate would be cheap. Then put them in a bucket and let each child choose one to take home.

My sons are 18, 18 and 15....I got tired of the goodie bag stuff because it cost so much and took so much time to buy and fill so, I decided that all birthday parties would be movie parties....I took all the kids to a new movie in the theatre and then home for pizza....it was much more reasonable than a goodie bag and filled the time!

We had the kids make door hangers for their rooms. It was an easy thing with a pack or two of hangers and some of the foam things to add on. It may be a great activity for the kids to do between frames or after their turn. Make sure to have a sharpie just in case kids decide not to put theri name on it. You may want to check out familyfun.com or the orential express (they usually have kits).

If boys you may want to give a match box car and if girls may be add in a lip balm. Of course there is always playdoh, or some homemade gauck (sp).

Best wishes to you and yours in 2008!! Have a fun at the party!!

A.

Hi H.!

I am having a big party for my twins in June and have been working on it and I came accross this website that is great! Not just for parties, but just everyday things. It will give you ideas for everything, it has a "bowling" theam that has different ideas of games you can play while you bowl as well. Check it out the website is Familyfun.com, but this one will take you right to the bowling one. http://familyfun.go.com/parties/birthday/feature/famf0304... Have fun at your party!

Oh I really dislike those goodie bags. The ones that I liked the most had crayons in them, small markers, tiny coloring books. Those are the items that I can throw into his bag when we are driving somewhere. I usually throw the other trinkets away. You know you can get a Hot Wheels car for 97 cents at Walmart and all little boys like those. I always wondered why I had to spend up to $5 on each of the kids that came to my child's birthday party. The last party we had I wrote in the invitation "No Gifts Please". When the Mom's called to RSVP I explained that we have so many toys and I really just wanted my son to have fun with his pals for his birthday. I then told them if they wanted to purchase a toy they could do so and we would donate them to our local charity. When we played games I awarded the boys with gold metals, small frisbee's and wall balls. This seemed to work quite well for this group. Good luck to you!

I'm from Waukesha as well. My son had a magic themed birthday for his eighth birthday and in addition to a wonderful magician, I wanted to have some magic goodie bags for the kids. The magician (Great Scott 'it must be magic') gave me a wonderful idea of going to the Dollar Store. They sell small magic kits and pop-up top hats for $1. The kids loved them. These would be great for any party though.

By the way, if you ever want an absolutely fantastic magician for kids, and you live in Wisconsin, you need to look up Great Scott. My son is still talking about the show , and that was 2 months ago already.

You can get small boxes of legos, bionicles, or small transformers. I recently got the transformers for my son's B-day @ the Dollar store! I know most boys love that kind of stuff.

I have my kids pick a theme. My daughter is turning twelve and we got her friends a fun lipgloss, nail polish, cute pen, and small pad of paper. Popular now are the "teck deck" mini skate boards, Ben 10, and Transformers. You could just get each child one of those. You can find them at most stores and just shop for the best price. Kids will love anything.

My sons (born on the same day 5 years apart) had a bowling party last year. I, too, was sick of the same old cheap birthday favors! We ordered white t-shirts from www.blankshirts.com. They were very reasonably priced (under $2.00 per shirt). I then printed each childs name and a picture of a bowling pin on iron-on transfer paper (4 to a sheet). I ironed each where the breast pocket would be. For the 'birthday boys' I did a full sheet transfer on the back with their age and other birthday themed clip art. The coolest part was that the bowling alley was lit with black lights which made the kids glow in the dark. It made it much easier to keep track of all 26 kids (I'm crazy, I know)!

Good luck -- hope this helps!

H.- I like sending them home with a coloring book and a small set of crayons. Easy, cheap, and it can also entertain them while waiting for their parents to pick up:) Hope that helps. H. J.

Hi H., We had a bowling party for our 7yr old last year and it was a blast! For the goodie bags, each child got a personalized t-shirt and a gold medal ribbon. We did the shirts iron on and they went over great, alot of the kids wore them to school. Then we did a little tournament for prizes, like 1st strike, etc.. and each child got to pick out of a grab bag. We did a bowling lane cake and hy-vee made it. At the party we took a pic of our daughter with each of her guests individually and then made these frames from oriental trading and gave them to each guest as a thank you.
I attached some links, good luck. The bowling pin candles were the hardest to get, but sometimes you can get lucky at Nobbies

TSHIRT:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDis...

CAKE:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50104

FRAMES:
http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=brow...