Goodie Bags and Party Favors Something Useful

Skip the goodie bag. If you must get something, my daughter got a small package of cute hair rubber bands that matched the theme. You can never have too many of those!

Every time I see this question, it's the same response HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE goodie bags, and 90% of the moms say the same thing.

If you're tired of buying things that end up in the garbage why would you even consider buying pre-filled bags?? This makes no sense at all.

Suggestions...
a book
decorate with balloons and send one home with each child
bubbles

Why bother with them at all?

I don't get the goody bag thing. We didn't get them when I was a kid. We were just happy to get cake and icecream. I didn't expect to get something at someone else's party.

I bought some canvas bags from lakeshore learning for super cheap, got some fabric markers and had the kids decorate a bag to take home. It was a hit! And i know 2 years later some of those kids still have the bags

just get a little book or a cd (burn your own)

For my son's b-day, I am putting the supplies for our craft into a goody bag. They will go "fishing" for their bag and then we will do a craft.

For my daughters 2nd birthday we did a little music party, our theme was 2TU Cute. For all the little girls I gave tutu and hairbows as the party favors. I ordered the tutus from haloheaven.com and they were only $2.00 each. I just bought the ribbon and made the hairbows.

The tutu website also has fairy wings and wands and stuff. Right now they are having a halloween sale 15% off with the code spooky and free shipping for over $20.00.
You might be able to get something that the kids will love and use for a long time to come and it shouldn't be too expensive. The tutus that I bought for my daughters party in Feb are well loved and used. We had one extra that I kept for my daughter and it has been worn and played with every day by her and the kids I babysit for the last 8 months and it is still in perfect condition. They are very high quality and low cost. AWESOME!

Decorate bags for the theme, give them crayons, crafts, a mini play-dough, a themed cookie cutter (great for play dough or cookies).

My daughter is 16 now but some things we did.....

Art set with coloring books
Sidewalk chalk
Gift cards

Can you make cookies like that? You could give them cookies shaped like them in a bag.

what i do for my daughters parties (shes 4) is put these in her goody bags- fruit snacks, bubbles stickers, crayons and coloring page and a couple candies.

Happy birthday!!! Piggy paint kids nail polish, they come in nice decorative bags. Excellent gift for mommy and daughter next meni and pedi appt. together.

Why buy pre-filled ones? They are usually filled with junk, anyway...

It doesn't take much effort to buy a few goodies if you really think you need to give something.... Filling the goodie bags would only take an hour at the most.

We have given bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and swirly lollipops at my daughters parties. I can't stand a bag of junk!

I didn't read the responses you've received. Here is my suggestion... what I do is either make sugar cookies and decorate them and put them in a nice bag, or I shop in the dollar section of target. They have some really cool things there and they are a much more durable product then the standard plastic goodies. They have books, stickers, fake tatoos, cups, bouncy balls, cars and much more.

One year I gave every party participant a ball to take home -- $1.99 at the grocery store. One year I gave everyone jump ropes. Another time I sent home homemade playdough. I always did one really nice item that they put in their goodie bags that they decorated... (brown paper bag with stickers, coloring, whatever..) I never made a cake either -- they decorated their own cupcakes and they loved it.
LBC

whistles
kiddie chopsticks (the kinds that are attached at the top)
backscratchers

i don't adhere to any themes anymore when it comes to the goody bag. i am so completely over it. call me a goody bag scrooge, but i am sick of finding its entire contents strewn about around the house. especially with the lethal peanut allergy thing going on, candy has become really lame.

the past couple of years, i've done the plain loot bag in clear or maybe a color. i throw in some fun candy like party twix, milky ways. not gob stoppers or sweet tarts (all throw away candy to me). then i throw in a single serving bag of something healthy and cool. this past weekend for my son's 8th bday it was this awesome kettle corn popcorn i found at target.

that's it. easy, breezy and fair to the other parents.