Birthday Games/Goodie Bag Ideas

We didn't do goodie bags and no one complained. We are always stuck with such wierd and useless stuff that it's just a waste of money. If you still feel the need, send them home with a large candy bar, a special cupcake they get to decorate (activity in itself) or a coloring book & crayons.

I don't do goodie bags...I think they are a silly trend. My kids don't need to go to a birthday party and leave with a gift. If you must...I like the idea of non-food items (like Halloween safety items), but really, you are just giving the parent more junk to keep track of...

Just my opinion...

~L.

M. -

Since it is so close to Halloween, how about getting mini pumpkins and letting them paint/decorate them? Not a game, but a fun activity. Or get bigger pumpkins with stems and some rings and do a ring toss? If you can't get ones with stems you could just get bigger rings that would go around the pumpkin. Instead of having a cake (at least for the kids), you could do cupcakes and do a cake walk (kind of like musical chairs where they walk around in a circle to music but when the music stops, whoever is on a pre-determined stop 'wins'. You could just do it as many times as you want and everyone wins at the end and they each get a cupcake.).

For goodie bags, what about small containers of playdoh? They have them packaged to give away right now for Halloween. The different Target stores often have packages of little pens and pads of paper. My daughter (3) loves to 'write' on those small pads of paper and it isn't a toy that will break in a week. Stickers are usually favorites of most kids as well.

Hope this helps-
J.

Target has a bunch of little Halloween things in their dollar section. They have those little tin buckets too. You could also pick up some crayons and little coloring books, that always keeps my 3 y\o busy. I like the pumpkin decorating idea though, I think that would last longer.

with halloween i would put a glow stick and a tooth brush and some kind of reflector in them that way they can use them as far as the game go my little one love the waddle game you use a ketchup packet put it betwean your knee and try to make it across the room to a bowl in a time limit and sack race or a scavenger hunt with clue with a prize hid at the end for the birthday child good luck have fun

Instead of games, I hired a clown for $100 and she was great. The kids (all ages) loved her, she brings a photographer and they provide you with a DVD movie of all the pictures. She also does balloon animals or hats and face painting included it the price. That kept all the kids pretty busy. Her name is Mar-E-Lynn the clown, I found her online. As far as goodie bags, I did curly straws, foam clown noses, small lollipops (the swirly kind you get at the circus) and whoopie cushions. Everything was really affordable at Orientaltrading.com. Good luck.

Games - pin the tail on barney; hot potatoe (or use a small, stuffed barney), egg toss (if outside) or hard boil before hand if inside, musical chairs.
Goodie bags - a halloween bucket in & of itself might be sufficient - maybe just throw in a few candies...

You can get inexpensive plastic cups from party & sometimes dollar stores in a Halloween theme and put a few candies in them. The cup is a prize in itself!

You could go to www.barney.com and they have some games and activities under parents at the bottom of the screen. It isn't alot but it is within a barney theme. I would also buy a barney CD. You might be able to find one at once upon a child. I think she would love that.

Hope I was of some help to you.

K.

We have done a pinata for my son's birthday party the last couple years and the kids LOVED it. IT was also good because it works for a range of ages! The pinatas they have now are the kind you just pull a string instead of hitting with a stick so it makes it safe for everyone too! Then you can put little things (Hobby Lobby has bubbles, magnifying glasses, etc. in their party section) or candy in it. We also put the little play dough containers in the goodie bags. Hope this helps...

For my son's 3rd birthday we did a craft where the kids made foam door hangers. I bought the foam letters, and a package of foam shapes, so they could put there names on them and decoarate them. It was nice because we had a big age range of kids and they all seamed to enjoy it. The dollar store is always good, they have puzzles and activity books. (coloring books, school work books, Puzzle books)

I did buckets for my sons first birthday and included applesauce, playdough, a little truck and stickers.

You could give each kid a pie sized pumpkin and let them decorate it with markers or stickers and have that be your activity and "goody bag".

We are having a party for my daughter this weekend and I am putting a princess notepad (that's the theame) and pencil in the bag and we are making bookmarks and bracelets. I hate it when k=my kids bring home junk and candy so I just decided to go with the craft idea.

Good morning M.,
A simple game for young children could be the "balloon" game. Blow up 1 large balloon for each child and have them bounce around on them until until 1 person is left. Lots of laughs. Another fun game is to have each child draw a picture of a house. Sounds easy until you blind fold them. ;)
As far as goodie bags are concerned, I always hit the dollar store and for kids this age find a coloring book with a box of crayons. With kids so into electronics these days it is nice to see them go back to actual creativity.
Have a great day.
Yo
www.travelwithyo.info

I have always used Party Express for our son. You can order 'Party Paks' and some of them include 8 gift bags/boxes that already include the toys/ candy for the kids. You still have to pack it all, but that was half the fun for getting ready for us anyway! It is online only, but it was worth it as EVERYTHING was there and I did not have to run around the town to get what I wanted for our Party Themes... (It even haves the candles and cake topper!)

Check it out here:
http://www.celebrateexpress.com/celebration/default.aspx?...#

Last year I purchased mini pumpkins and let the kids decorate them. They absolutely loved it. They painted, put hair on them with yarn, googly eyes etc... You can use basically anything. You can also purchase the Halloween candy necklaces that the kids can string themselves and then take home to eat. Game idea was pass the pumpkin like a hot potatoe. The kids wanted to play it over and over. I had kids ages 2 -8 playing and doing all the activities.

K.

My daughter will be one on oct 24 and her party is on the 26th. I am going to buy some small pumpkins and have the kids paint them. Also i will be doing a piniata with little toys and stuff in it. I am gonna buy a kids dance cd and we will dance also. Maybe do pin the donkey too. I dont want to do to much because i dont want to over stimulate her so she gets crabby. I am also buying one of those big cupcake molds to make her single cake and maybe have everyone decorate it for her. Good luck!

we did a barney party two years ago. I bought barney three boxes of 4 books from scolastics.com and everyone got one book. I don't know if the 6 and 7 year olds would like them though. My party was for mostly two and three year olds.