Goody Bags for Birthday Parties

At my daughters 3rd birthday we made princess crowns. I bought foam crowns at the craft store for $1 a piece and a box of foam stick ons. I put a bunch of stickers in a zip lock bag for each child so they did not fight over them and the kids had fun making them and got to bring it home (I got a foam visor for the boy at the party!).
We went to a party where the mom bought a package of plain white socks and puffy paint. The kids decorated around the ankle of the socks and my daughter loves to wear them.
Kids love crayons (stock up on the small boxes when htey are super cheap at the beginning of school), playdoh (get the big box of small ones, and a bag of assorted cookie cutters and give one of each to each child),have a nail painting party and each girl gets a bottle of nail polish.
All I have for right now.
K.

If you are good with a computer- we just went to a BD party and the parents made a disc of the BD boy's favorite songs- it went over VERY well. All the parents thought it was great.

I bought a cookie mold (mine was a birthday bear), made sugar cookies, decorated them and gave one to each child when they left. Very cute and very cheap!

For a recent party, my 6-year-old was asked to bring one wrapped age-appropriate children's book in lieu of a gift. They played a game to select the books, and the birthday girl signed and dated each one as the girls left. I love this idea! It avoids an influx of toys (who needs more?), supports reading (who can argue?), and gets mom out of buying goodie bags at all - just the cost of one book, which can be as little or as much as you want to spend. Also, the guests have a cherished memento from the party.

I agree!!! I couple years ago I started making a music cd with my kids favorite songs on it to give out. I would even print a label that already said "thanks for coming to my party!" Depending if you can get them, you can even try to give out giftcards (I used cold stone creamery because you can pick the amount) $3 gift card and it STILL cost me less than filling up the junk bags!! And it's something they will use and not throw away or stay on the floor of your car!

I used to work at a movie theater and saw many creative ideas. One, although I wouldn't appreciate it as a busy mom, was goldfish. Another was giving out water bottles (from Oriental Trading Post) because it was a summer party. You can always have the kids make things. I just did puff paint shirts with my kids last week and it cost me less than $20 for 3 kids. You can get cheaper shirts than I did and rework the paint you purchase or where you get it from to do more - or always ask the kids to bring a shirt with them. My daughter went to a sleepover where they made build-a-bear stuff and that was their goody bag (they bought the at-home machine from Target - not sure how pricey though.) Hope those ideas help!

One of things we did was to do a book exchange for our son's birthday. In lieu of gifts we asked guests to bring one wrapped book per child guest (or family). Before they left the kids unwrapped the book, if it was one they had they could choose from the small selection of unwrapped books I had bought for "just in case." Every child left with a new book and was very excited. We've done this for 2 years with great success and will do it again for my son's 3rd birthday.

Wow, Mommies have some great ideas below!

We have been to some fun parties recently, and one idea was giving doing a craft (a picture of handprints, for instance) and bring it home. Or making cookies or popcorn balls and bringing home some.

The party we went to last weekend was a craft birthday party, and the first thing the mother did was help everyone make their own apron/smock to bring home (she got a huge pack of kid aprons and we decorated with finger paints and markers, etc.) Plus, we used those for the party.

One time, we went to a party where teh mother gave out small but nice kid books (from the $1 store), which was a nice idea. She inscribed them all, so it was a memorable take home gift.

Good luck!

I think good bags should be banned completely. Why does every child need to leave with a gift? Didn't they just have a blast being together and playing games, etc.? I think goody bags are just one more way we overindulge our kids and throw good money away. Sorry!

I always feel the same way. I hate bringing home garbage from birthday parties, just to see the girls crying over the stuff when it breaks after playing with it for 1 minute. For my 6 year olds birthday party, I gave out little lunch bags that were printed, like gift bags are. She had a scooby doo party, and I had come across some scooby doo playing cards...got a pack for each child for their gift bags, along with a scooby plastic ring, a cheap box of crayons,and went out online and printed out severl scooby coloring sheets, rolled them up and tied them with a ribbon. Not really much, but was things the kids could actually take home and use...and coloring is something that can actually keep them occupied.
Also, I was at our loval craft store...A.C. Moores, and they tend to have a lot of little craft projects that are fun for kids that are $1.00. Whenever I go in there, I always pick the girls out some of those. Just the other day, I got them each a kit to make a mini wind chime, only $1.00 each, to stick in their Valentine's Day bag. I bet you could find neat stuff there.
K.

Hi L A,

During the party you can make the kids decorate their own cupcakes then find a small box to put it in and take home as their goodie bag/box. If you don't feel like baking you can go to the supermarket and get some decorated cookies or you can even have the kids decorate their own cookies and put it in a small sandwhich bag to take home as their goodie bag. You can print labels that says: Thanks for coming to my party or a special message on it as well. This way the kids can look forward to eatting something from their goodie bag. Less junk for parents to deal with when the child gets home and less work for you :)

Hope this helps!

Someone on my birth board online did a variation of the cupcake idea someone mentioned. She put a plain cupcake (some chocolate, some vanilla) in individual decorative boxes with little plastic to-go cups full of icing and sprinkles, and a chocolate milk box. Then the kids can decorate their own cupcake at home, and eat it with their chocolate milk. Great idea! I wish I had heard about if before I did the goody bags for my daughters bday.

I love it when my child comes home w/one "gifty" from a party. My favaorites are books (little paper backs aren't that expensive, especially if it's the only thing you give), coloring books (Party City has cute small coloring books), pencils or plastic cups.

Party city has plastic cups for $1 that you can put pencils in and maybe a lollipop. Wrap it in a cute clear bag and tie w/a nice ribbon.

Packets of chalk. Youc an get them at the $1 store

some do crafts instead. or if you do a pinata the candy they get from that is the "goodies".

I loved reading all of these responses--love the book exchange and CD ideas! For our 4 year old's party, I went to the craft store and bought wooden frames for $1 each, plus decorations (letter stickers, glitter glue, etc.) and we had an AMAZING facepainter come (Her website is http://www.festiveeffects.com/facepainting.html). The kids decorated their frames while they were waiting for their faces to be painted, and then we took each kid's pic with a digital camera and I printed them out on photo paper and put them in the frames while the kids were involved in other party activities. It made a really nice souvenir and I felt good about not sending them home with junk.

Just dont do the goodie bags. when we were kids we used to leave ther parties taking a party hat, one of the party plates and a napkin for the souviners. i don't think the kids really care about the goodie bags and they really don't need all that extra candy.

I was just at a birthday party and they gave little music instruments in the goodie bags and the kids loved them. There was a harmonica and a a triangle with the stick (i can not remember what they are called) I have no idea what the cost is but it was a good idea.

We have done a McDonalds gift card for a happy meal, with one small junky toy (the kids like them) and one piece of candy. It worked well. We spent about the same amount as when we bought all kinds of junk. And it gives the parents a break on making dinner and makes going out cheaper for them.

For my son's 3rd birthday, I burned CDs with his favorite songs, and put his picture on the cover. (used sticky labels to print his photo-easy and inexpensive) Bought cd holders from a dollar store for each child, wrapped in a color foil paper, with a lollypop on top. It was a success! You can get all the stuff mentioned above in a dollar store.

Instead of giving out goodie bags, let the kids do a craft to take home. Depending on the party theme there are lots of inexpensive ideas with some construction paper and glitter or whatever. You can give each of them a lunch bag to decorate with stickers and markers and then they can put their craft inside to take home along with maybe a small bottle of bubbles or something else inexpensive like fruit snacks or individual packs of cookies. All moms feel like you do! Everyone hates those little toys that end up in the trash anyway!

My son loves to receive playdoh...you can get (6) in a pack from the dollar store, stickers, tatoos, art stuff (crayons)...dollar tree has really nice stuff. One year I just was so tight I got (6) coloring books from the dollar store and got the pack of (6) crayons w/stickers and maybe a lollipop. There is also a store called 5 below and they have really nice goody bags items. Hope this helps...good luck.

The goody bag issue is such a troublesome one for moms! No one really appreciates a bag filled with little trinkets that are going to roll under the seats in the car and wind up scattered in the bottom of the closet or lost between the sofa cushions. :)

I very much sympathize, however, with those moms who wind up stuffing bags with stickers, small plastic figurines and penny candy. Most of them wind up doing so because the cost of a goody bag adds up so quickly!

The average birthday party these days is for 10 to 12 children. It is almost impossible for most moms to provide goody bags for less than $4 per child. Those with enough time to put into the effort and those who are naturally creative in this way can sometimes lower the cost to $2 or $3, but most moms do not fall into those two categories. So the cost of providing goody baggs at a party quickly escalates into the $40 to $50 range for most moms hosting an average-sized party. Ouch! :)

The truth is, stickers and small plastic figurines and penny candies dramatically reduce the cost of those goody bags and that's why you see so many of them at birthday parties.

My own particular pet peeve is when the goody bags and contents have no visible relation whatsoever to the theme of the party. For goodness sakes, if it's a cowboy party, don't fill that bag with toy cars or dinosaur figures!

I do like some of the ideas presented here by other moms, including using crafts as a party activity as well as a take-home party favor. However, I will warn moms that handing out those little bagbs at the close of the party has become such a tradition in our culture that children often expect them!

Here are a few other inexpensive ideas:

-- Invite children to bring a used book to trade at the party, and set up a "library" display on a table. At the close of the party, call children up one or two at a time to make a selection. Provide a bookmark as your gift to the child. As the hostess, you will need to provide a few extra used books so that each child will have a good selection when making his or her choice. It's easy to tie this activity into most themes. Simply designate it as "The Royal Library" for a Princess-themed party, or "Ben's Bookshelf" for a Ben-10-themed party, etc.

-- Provide a plastic ice cream bowl (often sold at dollar stores for each child. Tie it up in the party favor bag, with a tulle bow, and it will look fabulous.

My business, The Party Fairy, does sell party favors desgined to help moms staging princess or fairy parties for their little girls. Our Pixie Bags are prepackaged, fluttery little bags filled with girl treasures. We've done the counting, sorting and packaging so that you don't have to. Here's a link to our web site:

http://www.thepartyfairywordpress.com.

Perhaps along with one "junkie toy" that the kid will love the most, you can add another gift that would be educational or to feed, such as gift certificate to the Aquarium, or some sort of local upcoming Children's Event, foodwise, a gift certificate to McDonalds/Burger King, an Ice Cream Parlor.

Coloring books with crayons from the dollar store are always great - not junky and kids love to color. You could always get pencils or erasers too depending on the age. I'm with you on the junk!

I've been doing pinata's for the last few parties we've had. They go over great with the children, and then the goody bags get filled up with the candy. I've also bought little, age appropriate crafts (Oriental Trading) that the kids can make and take home. So far, no one has asked where their goody bag is, so I don't think the kids have noticed.

Make a craft or art project part of the party which also doubles as their take home goody. I also made a couple dozen homemade cookies for my daughter's birthday and let each kid take some home with them. Easy, cheap and will get used.

I bought a regular size ball for 1.20$ for each kid, got them at the grocery store, in one of these big bins and it was a total success, everybody loved the idea !

I feel the same way!!! I hate goodie bags so much. I have 6 year old twins and we've never once done them. It's either toys you end up throwing away or the party parents have just dropped a fortune on toys for everyone. We've done home parties with a theme. With each theme, I do try to have a little something for the kids to take home. Examples: 1st birthday: blues clues, each kid got a handy dandy notebook/crayon and a small blues clues figure (found a big bag on ebay for just a few $$). 4th: Pirate theme, each kid got a bandana and eye patch (from the dollar store) and a couple pieces of gold/gems from the treasure chest they all had to hunt to find. 5th: just a small group went bowling so I made t-shirts for each kid. (pretty cheap actually, shirts from Joannes craft store and I printed out and ironed on the logo which I found on-line). 6th: Harry Potter, we made wands and 'spell books' for each kid (the spell books were Harry Potter activity pages and coloring pages I found on line and printed out).

Be creative and enjoy!!

Julie

What a great question! I enjoyed reading all the ideas. I totally agree with your thoughts.

I have been able to find wonderful Elmo/Sesame St books at the Dollar Tree and Target in the past. I really love to give books. For my son's 3rd bday party we did dinosaurs. They all broke open "eggs" and kept the little dinosaurs inside and each family left with a dinosaur book ($1section of Target) and a shovel to go on a dinosaur "dig". June bday so works for the beach and sandbox :) We did butterflies for my daughter's 1st bday and I used clear favor bags with a pack of jello and a butterfly cookie cutter to make jello jigglers and cookies in the future. I like giving them things they can do with their family. This would work with tons of cookie cutters/themes. They did crafts at both parties to take home as well.

One party my son attended did painting piggy banks as their craft/activity and then the kids took those home. They were a big hit with the kids. I think she purchased them from www.orientaltradingcompany.com They have some great things and some real junk, too. Be sure to read the reviews first! :)

Can't wait to see some more ideas!

For my son's 5th birthday we gave every child a puzzle that was gift wrapped. The guests were excited to get their own gift to take home, many parents thanked me later for a useful gift and I didn't waste money on junk. We're looking at getting each guest a book this year and we'll wrap those up, too. I also like the small Lego sets (you can never have too many Legos!). For a Diego party, we gave each child a visor (Oriental Trading), inexpensive binoculars (Dollar Store) and a special cup shaped like an animal (Oriental Trading). Hope these ideas help.

LA,
With warmer weather comign up, bubbles are always fun and cheap if you buy the packs at Dollar store(the good bubbles there are the ice cream cone shaped ones and they even smell yummy). You can buy a big package of play doh from target and give eahc child one or two. Also chalk, buy a big pack from walmart and split them up for the kids. For a farm themed b-day for my daughter last year we bough some littel pots(that come with seeds) from target's dollar isles, and little gardening gloves and gave those out, And they actually grew!
Good Luck,
pammy

If you have a printer handy I can send you a template for a cover that goes over Hershey bars. You can personalize it, put pics on it, etc. and then you can skip goody bags altogether - just hand out the bars. Or you can add them to the goody bags. If interested, respond to me and I'll email it to you!

I have just gone through this for my son's Pre-K class. There were 21 children, so it does add up. You are right about all the junky toys out there. It's really hard to find things that aren't junky, but are quality.

I found a fold up plastic ruler (folds on each inch) that cost $1.19 at Lakeshore, but could be cheaper elsewhere.
I also double-side photocopied a $100 bill because it was the 100th day party. A pencil and a small pad of paper for each. An eraser that looks like a miniature $50 bill. A gold coin that I wrote on. A die. I saw some miniature slinkys for less than 50 cents, and a miniature calcultor on a keychain for a dollar and change.
Also, I posted a request on Mammasource for ideas and received a number of great responses. This was about 3-4 days ago.

I think small art supplies: pencils, crayons, markers, stickers; are great. You can get them at places like Dollar Tree and are a lot nicer than the junky toys!

I agree with everyone about getting rid of the junk! For my son's 1st b-day party, I found some books at Giant (the supermarket) for $1 each. I put them in a basket (unwrapped so they could choose which ones they wanted). Any that were unpicked were returned to the store for money back! Everybody loved it.

I always liked the magnetic picture frames. You can get them at a dollar store or a craft store, the kids can decorate them (anyway they want or with party theme), you can take a pic of the child iwth the birthday kid, and it can go on their fridge at home-so they get to see it and be proud of it, and it won't break in a few days.

this website has nice activites flash card great for goodies bag. yesicanread.com you can find 50 things to make and do for fairy . or 50 things to do on the trip. 50 things to make and do on the vacation. much more. or a small book like first experience to party, etc. cost between 1.99 to 4.99.

Yes, I have a great idea for you! I stopped buying junky party favors about 3 years ago. Now I buy one nice personalized favor item and just add some candy and maybe something like stickers. The favor I order most often is a bag tag with each guest's full name. They can use it on a backpack, lunch box, sport bag etc. I buy them online. Here a link to an article about choosing personalized party favors. I hope you find some good ideas.
http://funkidspartyideas.com/gpage8.html

Ha, I wonder where the whole goodie-bag thing came from anyway....don't remember them when I was a kid! But since we're stuck with them, how about including sticker sheets, pencils/crayons, hair accessories (for girls), a couple of homemade cookies? I don't like the junky toys or the candy, either, but I don't mind when my daughter comes home with useful things like art supplies. You should be able to find cheap stuff at the dollar store.

HI L A
we gave t-shirts w/ cute iron-on pictures that went w/ the party theme.
I bought undershirts on sale at target (hanes/fruit of the loom) and iron-on sheets (40% off Michaels coupon, available almost weekly). I found a picture on-line and was able to format the image so that I could have 2 iron-ons per sheet (1 page good for 2 t-shirts).
I had 15 shirts that the kids loved, for about $1.25 each. At the end of the party, we jsut handed out the shirts and they all wanted to wear them right away, so we got a nice group photo w. everyone in matching shirts. All the parents loved it too. Good luck!

L A,
I could not agree with you more on getting junkie toys in b-day goodie bags. I love going to the dollar store and hitting the craft section and putting together the items for the kids to make a craft at home. One year for my now 10 year old I bought wooden picture frames and the sticky foam decorations and sequins and made small snack baggies of all of the items and I took a picture of each of the girls that were at the party with my daughter and one with my daughter and all of the girls and when I had the pictures developed I mailed them to each of the girls with their thank you note. The moms told me their daughters loved decorating the frames and getting the pictures in the mail. If you have the time you could always order from the Oriental trading catalog and get individual crafts in pulk to give all of the kids who come to the party. Good luck.

Some people give a few candies or one activity book.

I have seen some people give photos framed in foam.

Hope this helps!

You could bake sugar cookies and let the kids decorate them, and that would be the gift.

Is it for a 1yo or 3yo? The Dollar store is a great place to get coloring books and board books. Michael's is another great place, they usually have $1 craft kits, puzzles, stickers, etc. Wendy's frosty coupons are also cheap. Don't forget bubbles, multi packs are cheap and every kid LOVES bubbles!Put one thing like that and a treat (lollipop or fruit snacks) and you are done!

I have three boys ages 5 1/2, 3 1/2, and 19 months. For their party favors, I have put together little bags that included a snack size applesauce, Goldfish crackers, animal crackers, Dum Dum lollipops, and a small container of Play Doh or inexpensive squirt toy to play with in the bath or pool. Next time, I'll probably go with a smaller bag so I don't have to buy so much to put in it. Good luck finding something that works for you!

A nice option is a coloring book in a particular theme that can be downloaded from the internet, bound together - or just stapled - and offered with a small box of crayons or colored pencils. You can theme the content pages with the party (e.g. Clifford or the Little Mermaid) and for an added touch add a title page with the guest's name to personalize the book.

Also fun is a CD of songs your child might really enjoy. Make a playlist and burn the CD. Play the CD at the party to games such as musical statues or musical chairs. Give each child a CD when they leave.

My two and half year old loves crafts, so maybe you can incorporate that into the party...get construction paper and have each child color, put birthday themed stickers or pre-cut magazine photos to glue on. That would be fairly cheap. Whenever my son does a craft he is always so proud of it and carries it around the house all day/s. I think that would be a big hit and I think parents would appreciate to NOT receive the silly toys that come from parties that probably end up in the trash after a day or two.

My son & I went to a birthday party last week for his 2 cousins (ages 3 & 5). instead of a goody bag, there was a basket of cd's on the table that their mother had burned. it was titled "John & Joe's 20 favorite songs." There was a list on the cd envelope with the names of each song & the group singing it. I thought this was such a great idea I told the mom that I was using it for my son in May. It is sure to be used much more & much longer than any cheap toy or sugar filled treat found in a typical goody bag.
T.

My gosh did you think you would get this many responses! LOL Such great ideas everyone has! Heres mine...why not get cheap white paper plates and finger paints. Let them paint the plates and take them home,If you dont wanna do paints then just crayons or markers.Just a thought enjoy all your neat answers!

We once had a hoola hoop party and the kids each got to take their hoop home. Another was a watercolor painting activity and then they took home their artwork and their own watercolor paint set.
The whole gooody bag think really irks me!

You could do the foam hats that you buy at michaels or online at oriental trader..and have the kids decorate them with the foam stickers or crayons. The hats run about $1 each. This way they are proud of what they made but it is also a goodie to take home. By the way, at 3 bubbles are always a HIT and they can be inexpensive too.

LA,
There are some great ideas in the responses you received, I'm going to use them in the future!

My daughter's 2nd bday party is this weekend and here is what I'm giving: a balloon (doubles as decoration for the party), a bottle of Elmo liquid hand soap (all the kids are around 2 and they all love to wash their hands) and a cookie in the shape of a dog bone (the theme of the party is dogs). I didn't want to give junk or a lot of candy, since I don't like getting that stuff, so I opted for a smaller goody bag with fewer things in it.

We've also received a ball (we loved that) bubble bath, finger puppets, and teddy grahams in individual bags in goody bags, and I appreciated those gifts!

Best of luck, there are some great ideas in here.

Hi LA,
I also HATE the little junky things that are in kids goody bags. I put in a bag of microwave popcorn. I buy the big box of it at Costco. I put in a juice pouch (Costco again)
Then I will put in Hershey Kisses or Little Debbie snack cakes. It just depends what is on sale. Most parents are happy since it is not junk. And the kids just love getting stuff. The one thing that I do pay attention to is making sure none of the products contain RED DYE 40. Many kids are allergic to it(mine included)