My son is 6 today, and his sister turned 4 about two weeks ago. Originally I was going to have only a family party for my daughter and a train themed birthday for my Kindergartener (K is the year we "do" a bigger party).
BUT - since my daughters two best friends are siblings of two of the guests invited to my son's b-day - I've opted to do a simple combined party for both of them. There will be six 5-6 year old Kindergarten boys, my 7 year old son, and my 4 year old daughter and her 4 year old girl friend and her 3 year old boyfriend.
SO - I've planned some simple traditional games. A treasure hunt, pin the tail on something, throw some beanbags into a box that I make, and some kind of silly race. If the weather holds (we've had unseasonably warm weather here in MN) we might do some time in the backyard for tag or hide and seek or something.
I've been trying to avoid goodie bag items that will end up in the trash. Since the party has no theme - the good bags could really hold anything.... maybe art supplies? What would you put in there?
And - since my kids are literally still finishing Halloween candy, and Christmas is only a few weeks away I'm trying to avoid candy as a prize or treat - but was considering a pinata (I saw a cute idea to make one with a paper bag) - but what to put in it? Your thoughts?
Thanks!
J.
A big NO on the goodie bags.
I once did a backyard party with games. I gave out prizes. The prizes were the gifts they took home. Suggestions... book, crayons, markers, ball, stickers.
Get some helium balloons for decorations, and then give them away as prizes.
Personally, I would skip the pinata. It's hard to find things to put in it that aren't either candy or junk. Also, when I've done them it seems like there's always that one kids that gets out of hand, gets too aggressive and/or is in danger of hitting someone (hard) with the stick. Finally, I wonder if kids that age, especially the 3-4 year old girls, are big enough and strong enough to break it.
As for goodie bags, I often skip the bag and give each child a small gift, such as $4 Lego kits, a book, baseball cards, etc. I try to make them fit in with the theme of the party, but if the party has no theme you can just make them age-appropriate or particular to the interests of the kids. If you do a bag instead of candy I've done pretzels, animal crackers or fruit snacks (just a little better than candy?).
I work hard on trying not to make my goodbags junk. We have done a few things, but ours usually match a theme. If you want to go with your art idea, which I think is great, go to Michaels. They sell small kits for $1, It comes with a wooden animal to paint, three small paint tubs and a paint brush. We got these at a party once and my kids loved them. We saved them for a rainy day and it was great.
As for prizes, I don't really do prizes at our parties. We tried that for my son's 4th birthday (that's when we do our first "big" party) and the kids who didn't win were upset (even though I had something for everyone). Kids wanted to change prizes. Some kids just wanted to watch and didn't want the prizes. It just didn't work. So from then on the games were just for fun, no competition. Everyone has always seemed ok with that.
AS for the pinate. I have to confess...I have filled ours with candy from Halloween in an attempt to get it out of our house. It's hard to come up with things to add to it that don't fall under the "junk to toss later category". Some things I have added or seen added that were not candy...small bottles of bubbles (you do have to worry if they pop open, everything gets soaked in soap), glow sticks and bracelets, small packages of crayons, stickers, tatoos, matchbox cars. I think my favorite was the pinate that had stick on mustaches included. It was just fun to see most of the kids sporting a 'stache. :)
Have fun.
Since you are having a treasure hunt and pinata the goody bag could just be filled with the loot from those activities. Have the kids decorate their bags with markers and stickers too :-)
We have done:
- Personalized water bottles (bought them at Michaels and the kids decorated them to take home)
- Large Rice Crispy treat (prepackaged) with stickers
- Balloon Rockets (Michaels has small sets for $2 each)
- $5 gift card to McD's (small party in preschool)
When my daughter turned 5 we did a piñata. Since almost everyone at the party was getting ready to go to kindergarten I filled the gift bags and piñata with pencils, cute erasers, stickers, small fun shaped notebooks, small boxes of crayons, tattoos, and a few things I found in the party section (small balls, jumping frogs).
Hate the goody bag!
What about a book, crayons & pad, or a $5 gift card to Target, ToysRUs, etc?
I never did goodie bags, and the kids never seemed to miss them. We played games, ate cake and ice cream, opened presents, and they went home.
I never do goodie bags with candy in them. I do try to put useful items in. I always go to the dollar store rather than a party store.
Last year for my GD's goodie bags, I put:
Princess Hairbrush
Chapstick
Pencils and Erasers
Kite
Water Bottle
Good for you for not feeling pressured into a big theme plan! Kids don't care! And the less structure, the better! That doesn't mean you can't have organized games of hide & seek or treasure hunt, it just means they can have some fun running around and do what their imagination suggests some of the time too. We've used plastic easter eggs for treasure hunts - you can find them at party stores year round. Try a sack race for the older kids - although 3 year olds can hold up the sack and sort of waddle along. Potato races are fun too, and cheap. These are time-honored activities, and many kids really love them precisely because they never play them at big bounce-house or pony & reptile man parties! You could also do a sponge throw - wet sponges thrown at the side of a large cardboard box - cut a hole and have one of the dads inside, getting a wet sponge-ful in his face!
I agree to skip the candy. Lots of small toys (but not complete junk) are great. Since you are doing traditional party games, why not some old fashioned toys? Yoyo, jacks, small (child-sized) decks of cards (either regular cards or Go Fish games, or Uno), erasers, crayons (mini packs okay), small puzzles (maybe 20 pieces for the 4 year olds), etc. You could do nerf balls or that sort of soft indoor toy. Also bath bubbles.
We ALWAYS did parties like this for our son, and neither he nor we ever regretted it!
Have an awesome time!
I wanted to say about sharing birthday parties :-) .... My younger brother and I always shared a birthday party as our birth dates are exactly one week apart. I just wanted you to know we loved it that way. It was that way even in our teens, and even after we started college we tried to always be together to share a birthday. We don't any more, but we never fail to send things, call, etc. - we are in our 50s)
As for goodie bags, it is a modern day thing that really doesn't matter. That said, I'd go to the dollar store and see what is there. You can put stickers -- kids that age love stickers. You can put a package of some toy determined by the dollar store. They even have little felt art coloring pictures for a dollar each that might be wonderful. There are teddy bear and other little keychains they hang on backpacks. So many things... just go and see.
Also, sometimes art supply stores (like Michael's) at this time of year will put up many bins stacked in the hallways that have many fun items that they price at 50 cents to a dollar each.
The problem is that at this time of year, the shelves are being picked over by Christmas shoppers, so go soon! I collect prizes from dollar stores for young students, so I go visit them several times per year.
Bubbles
Stickers
Crayons
Lancetts
Personally? I hate goodie bags for the kids. I always try to "forget" them when we leave parties, because it's always full of candy and goodies my kids don't need, or crappy toys that I will inevitably step on while on a 3 AM trip to the bathroom, or play dough that will get ground into my carpet.
At my son's birthday party this summer I had three moms thank me for not making goodie bags! Best decision ever. Never making them again!
My kids got coloring book and box of 12 crayons for one party treat. It was nice and simple. Probably purchased at the dollar store.
For the girls...how about something for their hair?
I typically theme the contents of the goody bag with the party. You can do anything but since it is for both genders and the age group you stated, I recommend like crayons, playdough, stickers, etc. Another option is to do a craft or two and let that be their goodies. Get a few "brown paper bags" (any color is fine) and let them decorate their own.
small bottles of bubbles (they have party sizes)
hot wheels (nowadays, you can find a big pack on sale)
jump ropes
also balloons <<< kids love em
I would also suggest buying some balloons and blowing them up... do you have a place in your house that you can fill with some? I mention this because I hosted an ice cream social and do you know the kids from 1st grade and under LOVED LOVED the balloons... that is all they played with.. they kicked them, tossed em, threw them up in the air... it was fun to see... and they needn't be helium.... I blew them all up the old fashioned way....... with lots of hot air :):) I did have some of the older kids help out... I stored them in big green trash bags and when the kids came in..... I "freed" all the balloons... they all got so excited...
I try not to do goodie bags. I just hate them. I try to just give them something to go home with. I've done picture frames that they've decorated and put a picture of them with the birthday child in it. I've made really great over-sized cookies to take home when they leave. I've had them decorate crowns or swords to take. At my last party, the kids all got really cool balloon animal hats to take. A keepsake is great, a goodie bag is just a bag of junk. Good luck.
Friends have put rubber duckies (Oriental Trading has tons of them) and pencils and necklaces and all sorts of non-candy things in them. I also avoid pinatas full of candy. Little games, lipgloss, balls, rubber animals....whatever. Give each kid a baggie to put all their stuff in as the day goes on if you have prizes for games or activities. At a recent party, the mom used brown lunch bags and the kids decorated them.
