Seeking Good Party Favor

At my one-year-old's birthday we gave away small board books. (she was born on Easter, so we gave Peter Rabbit books)They were a big enough hit that at a friend's birthday later that year, that mom gave away small board books about farm animals (they live on a farm). The other great one-year-old gift I have seen is wiffle balls. (you know the hard plastic balls with the holes in them?) At a little boy's birthday party, there were these three packs of colored balls (I think she got them at the dollar store). The little kids loved them because they could roll them around, but they are really easy for small kids to pick up because of the holes. Good luck.

Hi J.,

I also always like the no-candy party favor. In the past, I have given things like band aids (with characters) and mini sun screens (you find a lot of that stuff in the $1 section of the beauty section at Target), stickers etc. I have used brown bags, let my kids decorate them, stuff them with the band aids, sun screens (for older girls, the beauty section at Target has all these mini samples like lip gloss), mini toys and close the brown bag with a colorful ribbon. I have also done personalized goody bags (depending on the the kids' age, sometimes the guests are not the same age). Target has a lot of summer stuff like sand toys on sale, for example some beach balls are $1. I bought a bunch of those just a few weeks ago, and they are in primary colors :-)
Have a fun party!

My fave: let the kids decorate pots with markers and fill them with dirt and pick a plant to put in and take home!

For my daughter's first birthday we gave giant plush dasies with smiley faces to the 3 kids who were there and printed out a photo-magnet of her for all the thank you notes to the adults (all were close friends and family.) For her second birthday and also for my son's first birthday the favor was an inexpensive but cute baby dish (plus a spoon in my son's party) from the Kamei store in SF. For my son's second birthday it was a small toy and a cute basket with candy since there were only kids there who were bigger than him. For my daughter's third birthday it was a ball. For her fourth it was a balloon. Also a small resilient potted plant, a paintable plate or mug (covers favor and party activity - good for cold/wet times.) Some friends have given crayons, and one great friend had a very small party for her daughter and gave a sketchpad and pack of washable watercolors - that was a hit! Also you could check some stores for a cute cup or something that makes noise. My son loves personal fans. I'm sure he would want to give those but his party is going to have a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds, so there you go. :P Hope this helps and enjoy your zippity doo-dah's party!

We give the kids who attend my boys' parties a single, large-ish favor with a value of about $5-$7 each, depending upon the number of kids and the ages of them. (Notice I say value -- we try to get the stuff when it's on sale)

We've done beanie babies, blow pens, lift-the-flap books, pokemon and yu-gi-oh cards, t-shirts, movie tickets . . . Recently we've begun gift cards: Cold Stone, ITunes, Borders, Blockbuster . . . as our boys are now teens and pre-teens.

And the best thing is, these gifts almost never get tossed out by the other mothers!

Be sure to get one for the birthday child too -- they always want what they give away.

For your son's first birthday party, how about go with a ONE theme: Maybe a book about numbers for the kids? Gift certificate for ONE movie from Blockbuster? Book of world records (#1 folks in the world)? CD of #1 songs from your baby's first year?

I am always trying to give party favors without the candy, too! I also like having the bag for the goodies as something that can be used over and over. Here's what I did when my baby turned 1. An Elmo backpack, with a Sesame Street board book from the $1 section at Target, and a bag of freeze dried fruit (Costco). It cost less than $3 per favor. Kids from 1 year old to 4 years old enjoyed it. Since this party was in March, Target now no longer has those things in stock. You can check out the dollar store near you. I've also seen bubbles, balls, board books, sand toys, sun glasses, crayons and coloring book (Crayola crayons for toddler handswork pretty well), little maracas (I've seen them at Lakeshore. If there is one near you they are 20% off right now. Or they can be found at Target). A cd of the birthday child's favorite songs could be included.

Good luck!

My bestfriend and I both did the same party favor for our 1 year olds (Feb. 08) and got tons of compliments. We bought the $1 kid pails (blue for boys and yellow/hot pink) from Target and filled them with bubbles, playdough, fruit snacks, other toys etc... We also wrote the kids names on the pails and drew some simple designs on them and then used clear cellophane to wrap them up and tied them with a cute bow (Costco). We tied balloons to the top and also used them as centerpieces at the tables.

For my son's 1st Birthday I gave out little boxes that contained a toy rolling pin, small containers of play dough, a fun shaped cookie cutter, and a snack size bag of cookies. The little one's would of course be supervised when playing with the play dough. I later heard from parents that the kids really liked the favors.

-L., Mom of Diego 2

Hi J.,

For my son's first birthday I bought a bunch of those wood placks that are cut out like cars, trucks, boats and trains. Then, I left glitter glue pens and colored markers on the table so that the kids could decorate their own plack and take it home. It gave them something to do as there is usually not a lot of activity from a one-year-old and they had a favor all their own to take home. Even the girls liked doing it.

I also used washable markers so that it was safe for the younger kids.

Another thing to check out is this website. They have the cutest crayon dots and the girl will customize the crayon dots to match your theme. (red, yellow, blue) I have some and kids of all ages love the form and there is no paper for the little ones to eat.

http://www.butterfly81.etsy.com

D.

For my son's 2nd birthday party we got a bunch of plastic Kazoos and clackers (you could also use matchbox cars, bubbles, lipgloss whatever). We tied them to thend of balloon strings and used them as ballon weights to hold the ballons on the tables during the party.

Then at the end of the party, we lined the balloons up at the door and each kid took one home (ballon and attached toy).

My friends were thankful not to have to argue about candy with their 1, 2, and 3 year olds, and I was happy to have the decorations taken away with the guests :-)

This year I did something a little different - I got some reusable canvas bags with drawstring tops and used fabric markers to put each childs name on it - nothing to bday themed so they can use them for whatever. They were just the right size for them to use later. We put in some organic fruit snacks instead of the normal candy and found some little fun things - little notebooks/crayons, bubbles etc. Stuff that won't just fall apart when it's taken out. I've also put little stuffed animals in when he was little, I try to do something personalized each year to keep it interesting.

I passed out $2 gift certificates to Baskin Robbins one year. The parents and kids loved it.

For my daughters "Elmo Themed" 2nd birthday last December we rented a bounce house. Since the weather was cool (and I didn't want to give junk) I gave out slippers in place of the goodie bags. We found toddler slippers with Elmo's head on them at Target and KMart, and for some older kids...and ME...I found some Elmo slipper socks. Since shoes have to be taken off in the bounce house it seemed appropriate, but fun and useful too. I got them on sale and only spent like $4 per person. Character slippers can be fun and much more useful than candy!

For my middle guy's 3rd b-day in June, I put a bunch of his favorite songs onto cds for favors (kind of like wedding favors). As you can imagine, it was an eclectic bunch of songs, ranging from Springsteen to Elmo, but totally fun! I can't tell you the number of parents who were appreciative of the gift (no candy or toys that break by the end of the day), and it was so cheap for us to do! I spent the money only on the blank discs, printed out a playlist, taped it onto a cd envelope and put a "thank you for coming" note on a label and placed that label on the cd. All in all, it was less than $1 per child and we have our own personal token from his party!

Hi,
Ikea has some cute mini stuffed animals, I think they were 50 cents each. I got two for each kid, and some stickers, and put them in fun bags. The older kids liked them, and the babies liked them.

HTH,
L.

I always try to search the $1 store for things. I've given out kites, puzzles, dolls etc.., Last year, my daughters rec'd a book as their party favor and I thought that was a great idea!

-S.

Hi J.... I found that going to a $1 dollar store or a 99 cent store is what's best when doing party stuff, especially for alot of kids, you will save lots of money. What i did for my sons b-day ( 4 years old..but it can work for any age).. i baught all the toys and learning stuff from the dollar store. I foudn place mats, puzzles, wonderful books, play doe ect. They had very few candy in there party bags ( which the party bags were actually b-day gift bags that you put presents in. They were bigger to fit everything). This time around i wanted to give them something they can use for many years. I baughts so many boy toys, so many girl toys then I also baught nuetral toys too and kept my sons super hero theme with the party but also included girl stuff too so they wouldn't feel left out. All of this i found at the dollar store. Hopefully this will give you some idea.

Good Luck
C.

9-27-08
Hi J.,
I hope this is not too late.. but i was driving home from work the other day and thought about you asking for party favors.. on 19th and SOuth Vaness.. on the Corner I saw a store that said "Alex's Creations".. i think.. and it said Party Favors.. I never been inside..i think the address is 789 or 798 South Vaness at 19th St. If its' not too late. you can check it out..

Best,
C. Z

One year, I gave $3 gift certificates to Baskins-Robbins. (I stole this idea from another mom) :)

Dear J.,

For my daughter's first birthday, the giveaways were bath toys and items with a rubber ducky theme. The items included a rubber ducky, brightly colored buff puff, a soap in the shape of a duck, a sheet of stickers and a bottle of bubbles. These items worked because they are gender neutral. A good place to shop for unique rubber ducks is Oriental Trading Co.:

www.orientaltrading.com

I found the soap at another site:

http://tabenterprises.com/

Good luck!
J.

nak

Try http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/shared/sharedFlowContro...

lots of fun stuff!

how about something like foamie visors that the kids can decorate with stickers? (Michaels recently had them on sale for 50 cents each)

Since you are doing primary colors why not give out play-doh or water color paints?

Try to think of each child that will attend. You can go to the dollar tree, and get little books, color crayons, jump ropes, cars etc. It all depends on the age and sex of each child. Their interest can also be a help if you can find it out. I have always tried to may my children's parties unique in a way that each birthday brought a special memory. Not ah just another birthday. I realize that your child is going to be one but they are your memories as well.

Bubbles, either the ones you blow or the battery powered ones (these are great for younger kids 18m and up since they just press a button, adults get a kick out of them too.) Little stuffed animals, balls, or the 12m+ soft vehicles alittle larger then a matchbox car and meant for little kids also they come in multi-packs.

I went to a party years ago where the party favor was a bucket and a digger. The party was at a park. This year we had a beach party for my daughter and I gave everybody buckets and shovels and we all built a sand castle together. Everybody - kids and parents - seemed to have liked the idea.

I now have teenagers, but some things I used to get for their partys when they were little were sippy cups, books, bubbles, home made recorded CDs, coloring books and crayons.... Hope that helps!

Hi there!

I despise when my 2 year old son gets junky toys and candy as a party favor.(I'd rather him not have one at all!) I think a good party favor for kids of all ages are fun cups. A friends daughters favors were the fun themed cups (girls were pink and girly, boys were spiderman and baseball shaped) with the push up lid (like the adult water bottles), that works for kids who are old enough to not spill it themselves, or even young kids who can be supervised. Perfect for water! The good thing about them is you can pass them out, and you don't need bags or anything like that. Maybe you can get creative and personalize them and find plain colored ones and get colored markers and write their names on it. Hope your party turns out wonderful!

Kids love plants! You could get those 6 section flowering or herb plants and split them up once each, or you could give seed packets.

I saw that someone already posted doing a cd. I have a suggestion for a variation of this. For my daughters birthday this year we did a cd with kids songs and some kid friendly adult songs (Jimmy Buffett, Paul Simon, Beatles, etc.). As far as I can tell, most of the cheapy little goodie bag things rarely make it from the car. I still get compliments on the cd from both parents and the kids!.

For my son's first b-day it was a tropical theme (summer party!) and I got these cups with tropical flowers on them... instead of plastic goodie bags. this way the container is reusable. Then I put a silly straw, stickers, removable tattoos... bouncy ball, this kind of thing.

Kudos to you for trying to fill your goody bags with something besides disposable, sugary stuff. Here are some ideas that may work for you, depending on how many kids you expect to come, and your budget: We have made CDs with our son's favorite music to give out. We have also given out inexpensive bookmarks; sugar free gum; and small gift cards ($3) for places like Jamba Juice. Good luck!

Hi J., I have four kids under nine and I know how you feel about all the junk and candy. My current favorite thing to do for a party favor is to but Ice cream cone gift certificates and put them in an envelope that the kids decorate. The mothers of the guests LOVE it. Enjoy, K.:)

bubbles, punch balls in prize bags and raisins, craisins, fruit snacks, frozen grapes, on a kids table for them to snack on worked at mine.

Hi There,

In the past I have done.... sand buckets/toys, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, $ store has cool rubber cars perfect for tots, hotwheels, small balls to kick around. Hope this helps.

Good Luck,
Dani

Hi J.,
I loved planning birthday parties for my three children as they were growing up. I always tried to incorporate activities to "fill" baskets as the way to get small treats and toys. I used to purchase the toys at a shop off of Blossom Hill - Affordable Treasures. We did scavenger hunts to find prizes, which you can tailor to all ages. I used to make origami baskets out of wallpaper samples from wallpaper sample books and then each child would have their own to fill. As the kids get older, you can teach them to make their on basket (chosing their pattern from wallpaper book) as part of the party activities. For younger kids, you can have them use multiple age appropriate media to decorate their own treat bag, just using a sandwich paper bag. One year we did a Candyland theme party with bright construction paper as the path and the stations each had themes from Candyland Board Game with a prize/treat at each station, ending up at the Candy Castle, which was made of out boxes (large grocery boxes that would have been recycled) all dectorated to resemble the Candy Castle which made a fun place for the kids to play at end of game. Hope you enjoy the party planning and you and the kids have a memorable BD party! :o)

Hi J.,

One time I went to the dollar section at Target and got everyone bags of sand toys (I think there was a bucket, shovel and toy in each bag - all for a DOLLAR!) - these were a big hit. And this past year I ordered beach balls with animals inside from the Oriental Trading Company. After the party (where the balls were played with), each child got to choose which ball they wanted to take with them. Again, a big hit.

Good luck!

Depending on the ages of children you have attending the party and how many you've invited, you can do individualized party bags. For my son's goody bags, I bought plastic take- out boxes from a craft store and decorated the outside with stickers and put names on them with a Sharpie. I stuffed the goody boxes with things that were age appropriate. I had a 9 month old attend the party and she received raisins, animal crackers, and bubbles. For a 3 year old child, I gave stickers, bubbles, crayons. I know it is kind of hard to do special goody bags for each child but if you only have a few in attendance then it won't be too difficult.

My kids love punchy balls (ages 5,3 and 1)

The best ones I have recieved so far are balls and bubbles. My guy love them and they are great for range of ages. Small pails and shovels with juice boxes, and things in them are great too.

You could either have the kids do a craft- we were at a party a year ago and they had alot of those foam boards in different shapes and then alot of other foam cutouts to decorate with. We chose a Castle and did a princess theme and with letters put our daughters name on it (she was 2 months old).

For another party recently we bought chocolate bars (in bulk at Costco) and prnted our own labels, you could put your sons picture on it.

hi there -- you've got a lot of responses already -- and i havent read through all of them. you can try this website, http://www.orientaltrading.com/ -- my son is turning one in september too - and i got a bunch of great things from there ;O)

age appropriate book, or a photo of all the babies at the party

go to 99 cents only or dollar tree, they have awsome stuff like coloring/reading books, stickers/ bubbles, kid cups and plate sets, 99cents only has a section of Disney stationary too, and they carry these really neat kids gift bags. if the babies need theings there is a baby toy and gift section as well....

good luck & have fun!

Csrol

J.,

I recently took my daughter to a 1 year old birthday party. The theme was Elmo. The party favors included a bag of two pieces of candy and a Sesame Street book. My friend purchased them from a local Dollar Store. I thought it was a nice favor, considering that the average age of attendants (the kids) was 1 year old. Just an idea, hope it helps.

You could have them create foam art frames or door hangers (have older kids or parents help the younger kids). The frame can be used for a picture that you send with your thank you card. Also miracle bubbles and the larger squirt guns were popular for my son's party. Jump ropes for girls - the nicer ones with bubbles. The bounce balls at Walmart were $2 last time I was there - that would probably be a hit.

I totally agree with you about the candy and junk. My daughter just had her 8th birthday and the favors were they decorated their own goody bags, they decorated their own flip flops and I put a journal, pen and bubble gum in with their flip flops. All things they can use, no candy or junk toys. Michaels is a great place for craft ideas.

I bet someone already mentioned this, but I didn't read all the responses, sorry if it's a repeat...the best party favor I have seen is a mesh bag with sand toys in it, and the one we have is great primary colors. I am sure you can find them very cheap!

Two fo our favorites have been musical intstruments. You can find toddler and preschool sets at toy stores or teacher supply stores. Each child has something unique and it's a lot of fun all the way up to about age 8 and another one especially for summer birthdays is sand toys.

Well I myself am planning a party for my son who will be one in august. I am doing the party bag thing but i'll be placing mini play dough tubs, bouncy balls (at a good size), bubbles, crayons, a writing pad, and individually wrapped cookie bags. I've also done the juice box with the handy-snacks, and apple snacks one year as well. I always find myself going to the nearest 99 cent store for goodies. They usually are cost effective & have great treats.

Water guns or some type of bubbles are perfect for the summer :)

My friend made wrappers that said, "I am ONE today!" and wrapped them around a box of colored markers, for each guest. She also took brightly colored wash cloths and folded them into animal shapes.

J.,
I baked mini cupcakes, put them in little boxes (there's similar to mini Chinese take out boxes) all in bright colors with a few stickers on there. You could also do a few whole wheat cookies... something simple you can bake. This way they kids get to take something home and it's fairly inexpensive.
Good luck.

I love working with a theme. Your theme is primary colors, so create a gift bag based on that....primary color crayons (big chunky ones for younger kids and thinner ones for older), coloring book (again age appropriate), and pad of blank paper to create their own designs.

You might want to make mini art kits: colors, paper, scissors, glue sticks, etc.

Have fun with it!
STephanie

If you plan on opening presents in front of everyone, I would wrap a small present for each guest as their favor and hand it to them when you start the gifts. Like suggested purchase items at the dollar store. Kids love books, coloring books, bubbles, puzzles, and the discount stores are full of them. Plus it provides other entertainment while your little one attemps to open all his gifts.

I would suggest checking out orientaltrading.com. They have lots of fun party favors that aren't candy. Good luck!

Very good of you to not pass out too much candy and junk. This year I got little flashlights for the kids (all around 5 or 6). One year I gave them each a bandana (horse themed party). I like the cup idea too. We have a Pinata every year and I put packets of goldfish and teddy grahams in it. I think they are now called 100 calorie snack packs. Some of them get a little beaten up but the kids don't mind :-) and my daughter thinks that's what should be in the pinata. One year I also put in a bunch of plastic toys we had received from other parties because I felt there should be more. Kind of mean to pass it on, and it didn't really add anything to the kids enjoyment. They were fine this year with the snack packs and flashlights.

Try bubbles, sidewalk chalk or play dough
$tree is great for these.

what I've done is I got buckets from Target ($1) and then got stickers and glitter glue and let the kids decorate them. older can use glue and the younger can do stickers and then I put granola bars, wheat thins all the packaged stuff for kids and then when they left I gave them a few of them and put it the bucket and that was the favor. anything left over you can use for your kids...food too. :-) Also I bought sun hats, also at Targe for a buck, and then got fabric paint and more stickers and they can decorate them however let them dry and take them home. I didnt give snacksfor this one but you can if you like. I've also seen play sunglasses that you can decorate with stuff and the kids love them.

good luck

I had 1yr pics taken at one of those cheapie places & fortune cookies (you can have the fortune personalized) and passed those out. My dd is now 5 but if I remember correctly i paid about $25 for 150 cookies. Oh yeah they came in regular (vanilla) & chocolate.

J.,

I totally understand not wanting to give candy and junk as party favors. For my son's 1st birthday I gave out books. I wrote inside them Thanking them for coming and signed my son's name. My girlfriends appreciated the books also. We look back and still have the book that we gave out. I kept with the theme of the party. Which was Curious George. They aren't very expensive.

Good Luck,

A.

We went to a first B-day party recently, and the favors were inexpensive children's books wrapped in pretty ribbons (girl party). I thought it was a wonderful favor!

J.

I just attended a "pool party" for my friends grandson and she bought little "thermoses" you know' the insulated re-useable drinkers like for camping. These ones had handles and came in different summertime colors hot pink,lime green,etc. Anyways, she stuffed 'em with little toys like clackers (they werent the loud ones) and little dinosaurs, the kids loved em and we could re-use the thermos for school or trips!

Hi J.,

You've gotten some really good responses so far...here is what I did.

Since I had a pinata for all four of the kids I didn't want to give out party favors with more candy. So I followed the themes for each one. For my daughter's first birthday I gave out Tweety plastic cups with a bracelet and fruit snacks. For my older boys' first birthdays I gave mini waterbottles and cds. For the waterbottles I peeled the label and replaced it with a label with each of their pictures and a little note saying thanks. For the cds I put fun songs including the Happy Birthday song and put a picture of them on the label. For the boys I also put sports fonts on the labels as well. For my youngest we went to the waterslides. His goodies bags included sunscreen, goggles and a watergun. I bought the travel sized containers and filled them with sunscreen. I printed out his picture on a label and put that on the bottle of sunscreen.

Hope this helps...good luck and Happy Birthday to your little one!

I'm not sure how much you want to spend on each package but you could buy a package of Gymboree bubbles for everyone. (our site sells them for $6.50/set but we do offer a 10% discount for birthday parties). They're great bubbles and kids of all ages love them. If you're near Lafayette, Oakland or El Cerrito and are interested, let me know. You can reach me at ____@____.com a fun party and congratulations on the 1st year!

J. Freeman

we found some mini or travel magna doodles for about $5 a piece (target, toys'r'us. By the time we had got candy and disposable cheap toys we figured we would spend more than that on the bags we would have made. Good luck!

I remember having a difficult time finding appropriate party favors for a one year old b-day party. I remember giving rubber duckies, bubbles, small chunky board books (They came as a set at Borders, so I separated them.) I think I may have even given each child a pair of cute baby socks. The party favors varied for the older kids. Hope this helps.

I didn't read through all your responses, so someone might have already given this one, but fro my nephews 1st birthday party they made a CD of all his favorite "kid" music. My kids loved listening to "Sammy's CD" for many years.

I just threw my son his first birthday party and I got lots of great deals on things at the Dollar store in Rohnert Park. I got coloring books, crayons, bubbles, books, etc. for the goody bags. They have great stuff for cheap!

I went to Party America or Party Store and they have tons of cheap cute toys and stickers and tattoos, And cute Pinatas that you pull a string to open, so you don't deal with kids hitting others with a stick!!! All kins of party favors!!! With all kinds of themes!!!

Love, G.. :0)
http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

Somebody told me a cute idea about giving books as party favors. I went to the dollar store and bought a bunch, arranged them in a cute basket and handed them out at my daughter's 2nd bday party. The kids were excited to get a new book, the parents were excited that it wasn't candy or a cheap toy (even thought the books WERE cheap!).

For our son's 1st birthday I gave all the kids (ages 6mos - 6 years) a "bath" bag filled with sample sizes of California Baby Organic Bubble Bath (on Amazon $20 for 7), bath crayons, foam bath letters, and water squirts all tied up in a terry washcloth. It was appropriate for most ages, and it's something everyone uses!

The $1 store usually has great things for party favors. Be wary of the toys though, many have small parts that are not suitable for children under 3. Try a coloring book and a small pack of crayons. Maybe you can bake oatmeal raisin cookies and put in a cute bag with a ribbon as a treat instead of candy. Also check out www.orientaltrading.com You can buy a bunch of stuff for kids parties at reasonable prices. You can get very creative with what they have to offer.

Have fun!