My daughter is turning 4 this weekend. We are having a scavenger hunt in the park for the older kids (3-5). They will each have a bag and will collect an item at each "station" - their treasure bag will be their party favor bag. There are going to be many siblings there - 7 under 1 and 2 that are 18 months. Do I have party favor bags for them too? Most of the treasure items are not for little ones (mini play-dohs, mardi gras-style beads, stickers, etc). One year olds are just not as aware that there is something they get to bring home (but 18 mo could be) so I don't know if I'm wasting my money - or is it an etiquette thing? Will parents be upset?
You ladies are the most creative, thoughtful bunch. I'm looking forward to seeing what you all have to say! Thanks!
I didn't have time to read all the other answers so I hope I'm not repeating, but I always liked to have something even for the little ones. The 18 month kiddos might feel left out. I always would put inexpensive bouncy balls ( big ones that cant fit in their mouths ) or bubbles are always a hit. Even if they cant blow them little ones from the time they can crawl seem to love bubbles. Good luck.
I would recommend stickers or mini-coloring activity books for them to color in for the little ones. Even if they don't color well they all love to scribble on the pictures. If you go to a party supply store and look the party favors, that have all kinds of themees, you may even get more ideas...
I would also include the 1 year olds, even if it is just a sticker or jumbo crayons, even that that age they ofetn see that others "have" and they do not (at least my daughter noticed things like that).
Good luck!
i always have them for everyone. the littles dont know the difference, but i think its good that thier older sibs etc see that they count too, and some parents might even be offended. really, its just nice. if you go to target or wherever, they have those 3 packs of those fat crayons for babies, the ones with little animals shaped like a ball or something, i gave one of those to each baby one year, i gave cute little bibs another year, once i gave those balls with the sparkles inside, they had them in 4 packs in the favor aisle at target, smaller ones, like 2 inches across. one year i gave little stacking cup kits from ikea, once little rattly bracelets. a friend of mine gave a pack of those gerber graduates snack things to each baby one year, it was perfect. just a side note, maybe im a party pooper but i cannot stand when my kids are handed a bag of candy as we walk out the door of someplace amid the leaving a party chaos that i then have to take away or at the very least inspect before we get into the car because they are filled with little choking hazards and allergy peanut things etc and i have smaller kids. i hate having to be the bad guy. i love getting a gift that i can see is safe, or getting it a little earlier so i have a minute. we always do a pinata, which i hate, because my kids beg me, so we do it early, give each kid a ziplock to put their loot in, write their name on it with a sharpie, and give it to mom to hold or stash. your scavenger hunt would work perfectly like that. anyway--- happy partying! i love the scavenger hunt idea, i think im gonna use it this summer, perfect!
I did mini rubber duckies and crayons for my daughters first birthday.
A few years ago I went to a summer time birthday party for a 1 year old, and most of the kids were under 2, but the mom still had some kind of take-home goody for each kid. For the littlest ones she got those little packs of sand toys - little plastic pail, shovel, etc. I know they have those at every store with summertime stuff and they aren't expensive. My son was about 18 months at the time, and he loved getting a few little brightly colored plastic toys he could use in the bath or outside playing in the dirt.
At the same time, though, we had a couple of 18 month old siblings at my son's fifth birthday party last year and I didn't get special goody bags for them. They didn't even notice that the older kids were getting things to take home, and their parents weren't concerned about them not getting something.
So I think if you want to include everyone you could get something for the babies, but if you're tight on money I wouldn't worry about it.
We have always provided goodie bags for all the kids who attended our kids parties regardless of age.
We usually put a bouncy ball in (for the really little kids, we got whiffle balls because they're bigger and don't fit into mouths), matchbox cars, and various other trinkets. We altered the bags based upon infants but not toddlers. Our son will be 4 in a few weeks, and we're going to do balls, matchbox cars, a pack of baseball cards, and a handful of candy for our goodie bags.
I love the scavenger hunt idea for the party - we've been wracking our brains trying to figure out what to do for him.
I wouldn't have anything extra for siblings that young. My son is 2 1/2 and if he went to a party with his siblings he still wouldn't notice them getting a goody bag and him not.
If you really want to you could buy some snack size bags of Goldfish to give to the ones that are possibly old enough to notice.
Good luck,
K.
How about an inexpensive book or bubbles for the little ones.
Updated
How about an inexpensive book or bubbles for the little ones.
I think it would be nice to have the goodie bags for the little ones.
Bright Baby makes a pack of 9 small board books that you can split up and give to them (and they are inexpensive)
I second the snacks, always easy! For my sons 1st b-day I gave maracas and tambourines (i think party city would prob have them) all little ones love noise makers!!
My girls and I attended a party with little ones and their favor bags were more or less goody bags. The hostess gave each child a baggie of Cheerios, Goldfish, maybe a Nilla Wafer or two...small bites for the younger kids and it was great! Best of all, nothing was wasted.
