Seeking Advice on Party Favors for Kids

Give http://www.orientaltrading.com/ a try. They have lots of things for party favors at a resonable price. Kids love it.

1 mom found this helpful

I won't go on my rant about party favors, but I do urge you to consider any food allergies your guests might have. Filling a treat bag with food might seem like a good idea, but to some kids, it's just another reminder that they can't share in the big day. :D

I started going to decorated cookies for the "treats". It's just 1 cookie per kid, but I try to make it go along with the theme. For instance, my son had a Webkinz party, so I made round sugar cookies and used icing to put a W on it (for Webkinz). When my daughter was 5 she had a princess party, so we made star shaped cookies on a stick and iced them, added edible glitter for glitz, and put curly ribbon on the bottom of the package to make it look like a princess wand. For the Hannah Montana, you could either put HM for Hannah Montana or you could ice a microphone on them...just think white ball on top with a black rectangle bottom so it lookes like a microphone.

If you don't want to bake, my sister in law makes faboulous cookies as her business. She's in Louisiana, but she does ship the cookies out. Her contact info is Rachael M. ###-###-#### and her business name is Crescent City Cookies. She could probably make a microphone shaped cookie as opposed to the round cookie with a microphone iced on it (her cookies look soooo much better than mine, but I try to keep costs down by making them myself).

Good Luck!

Check out Dollar Tree dollar store. They have all kinds of fun stuff - maybe they'll have enough things to fit your budget. Or you can go bigger and have a treat bin and let them pick something out of that? Good luck!

Personally, as a mom of 3 kids, I hate it when my kids get favor bags filled with small toys & candy. The kids play with the little toys for about 5 minutes and then it always just ends up in the garbage as you mentioned. My middle son went to one party where the favor was a small, inexpensive kite. I thought it was great, simple. I think she may have gotten them at Walmart or Dollar Tree.

I know my kids tend to appreciate things they have made themselves, although give-a-ways at parties have become the norm, you can do anything you want. Maybe you could make one of the activites at the party, a simple craft like a picture frame out of craft sticks and foam shapes. You could snap photos of the kids with each other or your daughter for their frame and they end up with a memory of the party.

Or maybe you could bake or buy plain sugar cookies and have a table with icing & sprinkles that the kids can use to decorate them. There are tons of recipes online for icing made from powdered sugar & water, I'd stay away from the pre-made stuff though, it usually tastes awful. If you want to get fancy with colors or sprinkles, check out Michaels or JoAnns. My son's elementary school fair does this and it seems to be a hit with both boys & girls. You could line a table and floor with paper table cloths and just wrap it all up when they are done. You could probably do this for less than $20.

Good luck!

K.
Mom to 3, ages 7, 5 $ 3

I went to the dollar store this past summer and got water guns for my son's water birthday party (for the treat bag). Definitely check out the dollar store.

Try Michaels or Target. They have a $1 section in their store. I think that Target had Hannah Montana items in their $1 section this past week. Also, a party city or party warehouse should have items as well that come 6 in a bag. You can also try Sam Moons in Frisco. They have bows and barrets on a card. Like 12 or 15 of them and you can take those off and give each girl one or two. Not sure what you could find for the boys, boys. Also, maybe McDonalds, or Cinemark has $1 gift certificates?

Happy Birthday... fun times!
C.

at the dollar tree you can get glow sticks and such usually 4 to 6 in one dollar bag. We always give them and the kids love them.

Seems like I've seen Hannah Montanna themed note pads and pencils/pens at Target or Walmart. I like the sunglasses idea too. You could write each kid's name on the glasses with a sharpie if you want to personalize it. If you're just having one thing like that, you can put them in a basket by the door and the kids can grab one on their way out when they leave. We've done this for just about every party for both of mine (from rubber duckies for the 1-yr party to plastic necklaces and rings for a 4-yr-old party).
Or, if there will be any games or activities, the kids can basically "earn" their treat bag contents while they're at the party. You can get any sort of inexpensive goodies -- pencils, hi-bounce balls, sticker sheets, mini-flashlights, bubbles, something that goes with your theme, etc. and the kids all get something when they complete a game or activity. They stuff their bag as they go along through the party.
Or, if you're doing a craft, the craft is their take-home prize, and that's it.
Another idea is to use your decorations as the give-away. We went to one party that was beach-themed and they had beach balls everywhere, then each kid got to take home a beach ball. In fact, we thought it was such a great idea that we're copying it for my daughter's next party!

Give each of them a small candy bar and a small gift cert to a bookstore or used bookstore. I know my kids love to go shopping for new books and used books. The money you spend on the grab bag could go to a gift cert.

L.

Well my goal lately is to be practical because of the economy. Candy is always the easy way to go. But lately my daughter has received a book with a nice colored sticker that says thanks for coming to my party. A small pencil bag full of themed pencils, erasers and markers like Hannah Montana. We have even rec'd a CD with kiddy music in a simple plastic CD sleeve with a label. I always try and think about what are my kids always needing or looking for.. Mine love the pencils with the lead, and also they like the little rubber things you slide on the pencils. Erasers... they are always using up erasers.. Instead of candy you can do mini bags of popcorn or hannah montana fruit snacks. Walgreens has sugar free Hannah gum and you can just get plain gum for the boys.. You can easily create a label on your computer and add your daughter's picture and say Thanks for coming to my party to put on the pop corn bag.. Hope this helps a little..

Boxes of animal crackers (generic or specific) always are fun, do not require further wrapping, and have a handle for easy take-along! ... latest ones I got to include with grandkids goody bags were little cars! and the bags of Teddy Grahams come in different flavors, too. Also: Kashi trail mix type bars ... some come without nuts or chocolatge to respond to the allergy problem.

I haven't read the other responses yet so this might have already been said but you could make a mix CD of Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus music. Good luck!

Hello B.,

It's hard to come up w/ a good idea for party favors and not spend a fortune. Lately, I've tried finding something a the dollar store. Like checkers, puzzles, etc. I might put a couple of pieces of candy/chocolate kisses but no more than that. I've found for my son's party some pokemon and uno cards at a "almost Dollar Store" well, theyre' 1.50 now. I try to get the most bang for my buck. Last time I did tannagram puzzles + 3 pixie sticks and some spin tops. So I spent just over $2 per bag. good luck! ~C.~

When my daughter was young, her friends loved anything they would make themselves. My daughter's birthday is near Halloween. One year I bought 8 of those little pumpkins, one for each little girl, and the girls got to decorate them. I had paints, glitter, construction paper and glue, etc. They loved it and they got to take them home! I was a really broke single mom back then and couldn't afford much more. It was a hit!
I love the music CD idea someone else suggested. I have done this for other parties, too. Everyone loves them!
Best Wishes, B. P.S. I am a party planner. If you need any professional planning help, please call me at ###-###-####....Or write me at ____@____.com.

I would check the $1 bins at Target and Jo Ann's. I did get a big plastic microphone for my daughter at target in the toy section for $1. It echos what is said into it, so it sounds like a microphone. I know Jo Ann's has little picture frames and pencils for both girls and boys.

You could get some pencils or erasers to go with the theme. I'm sure they have those at Party City. Or, since there are boys invited, just colored ones like purple for girls and black for boys? At one party my son went to, they got a bag of chips in their party favor instead of candy. If you won't have lots of snacks at the party, some goldfish crackers or cheese its in those little bags would be good. YOu could also get little things of play dough. Maybe some sunglasses for each kid.

Mini bubbles-like the kind you get at weddings-are super cheap and fun.

I think the popcorn or caramel apples is a great idea. I feel pretty much the same way regarding gift bags. They tend to be junky and just end up in our landfills. You can google alternatives to gift bags for more ideas. At my son's last party, we gave a small bag of home made cookies to our guests. My son and I made them together so it was a joint effort. The kids were happy with it.

The thing with the cd is, some parents might take issue with the copyright thing (I have a friend whose husband is in the music business who rails on things like this). Otherwise, that might be good too.

Here's what I did for my son's 5th birthday party: took a clear party bag (20 for 98cents at Wal-Mart, in the party section) and inside I put: one granola bar, one sheet of stickers, and one Kool-Aid squeezer. Then I tied a helium filled latex balloon onto it. The bag served as a weight for the balloon, the balloons served as a decoration, and all the stuff was taken away at the end of the party, so no mess for me to clean up. It really worked out well, and it was very low cost. Hope that helps!

Target has tons of Hannah Montana and Camp Rock stocking stuffers on clearance right now. You could get HM stuff for the girls and CR stuff for the boys. I've also seen Hannah Montana stationary kits at the Dollar Tree that have several sheets of stationary along with some stamps and stickers or markers.

Someone already said Michael's but I just want to second the motion. They have a ton of fun craft-type things that are nice quality but very inexpensive.

How about bubbles? They are pretty inexpensive and most kids love them.

Oriental Trading ... I just finished my two boys birthday. We had a hot air balloon theme. We had several balloon items, airplanes, puzzles, activity books. They ship pretty quick. I ordered on Sunday and recieved it on Friday. Think outside the box. You might look for music items. Good Luck.

I like your idea. I have done McDonald gift cards or gift card to an ice cream place. I do about $3-$5 per kid depending on how many kids are coming. You would spend that much per kid anyways. Hope this helps!

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A. J
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