Kid’s birthday parties have almost become a status symbol among parents today. It seems like the more expensive and elaborate the party is, the cooler your kid is. Of course, we all want our kid to be popular so we try our hardest to make sure each birthday party is a huge success. Many people, myself included, do not have a bottomless pocketbook to turn to in these situations. I have always relied on my creativity, not my check book, when it came to my kids’ parties!
The pint sized guests are so pumped to be at your child’s party. I mean not many kids would turn away free cake and ice cream! However, secretly every child that goes to a birthday party is really thinking about one thing and one thing only. That thought is “What will be in my goodie bag?” Sure kids like the typical plastic bag filled with candy and small toys. But I know that as a parent I prefer my kids to come home with something other than that bag full of candy and small toys. I have so many small toys that I trip on already, and now I have even more to pick up!
Forget the Candy! I know, you all probably are thinking I am crazy. What good is a goodie bag without any candy? I think it can be fantastic without candy. Well, sort of without candy! Just stay away from the candy aisle in your grocery store. I like to make my own sweet treats for the goodie bags! You can easily make some sugar cookies and decorate them in a birthday motif, or with each child’s name. It is also very easy and fairly inexpensive to make your own candy suckers. You can buy an inexpensive sucker mold at any craft shop. Easy melt some chocolate and fill the molds and let them set. Voila! You have a much cheaper and more inventive sweet treat for those goodie bags!
Stick with a Theme I love having themed parties for my kids. It really helps me get my creative juices flowing. Here are a few examples of favors to go along with different themes.
Beach Party – sand buckets, shovels, sunglasses, sun visors, beach balls (all of these favors were found at the dollar store and I wrote the kids names on them with a paint pen) Simple, fun, went with the party, and it is personalized! Personalized items are super popular right now!
Princess Party – magic wands (buy or make your own), tiaras (buy or make your own)
Garden or flower party – flower pots, seeds, watering cans ( all super cheap and fun to work on at home!)
Makeover party/slumber party – hair bows, nail polish, lip gloss
Car party – matchbox cars, or other inexpensive wheeled toys
All of these favors are very inexpensive. Many can be purchased in sets where you buy several of the same item for only a few dollars. You can then easily personalize the favors with puff paint, or a paint pen. You can even group together several items into a favor bag for even more bang for your buck!
Party Favors that Keep on Giving At the beginning of this article I promised you some useful party favors. These gifts are the useful favors. They may not be as inexpensive as many that are listed above, but they are wonderful ideas for a slightly larger pocketbook. They are still not super expensive, but they are not always cheap either. Magazine subscriptions, and books. These are great gifts. You could even choose to just give one magazine instead of the entire subscription. For the subscription you would need to have each child’s address and make a nifty note telling them what their favor is going to be. Kids love getting something for themselves in the mail. It is so much fun to watch their faces light up when they see mail with their own name on it! Books really do keep on giving as every time the child opens the book to read or look at it, they are expanding their imagination and learning the love of reading.
Any favors you choose will be greatly appreciated by your guests, however, if you take a moment and get more creative with your party favors, I think you will see how much fun it can be for you, your child, and all the guests at your parties too!
