Birthday Party Favors: Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em?
By Ali Divine Domesticity | Leave A Comment
By Ali Divine Domesticity | Leave A Comment
We keep birthdays simple at home, so love of all party favors caught me off guard. I pull the frosting-covered 5-year-old away from Jump Zone, only to discover he has a bag full of candy. And a whistle.
Excuse me, dear son, while I dispose of anything that is coated with lead paint or poses a choking hazard to little sister. Oops–that’s everything.
Moms, we’ve gotta stop the madness! Surely there are party favors which can do double-duty?
- Serve the food on personalized frisbees.
- Fill a big glass bowl with bouncy balls–instant centerpiece.
- Hang $1 plastic kites to brighten the picnic area.
- Decorate a paper crown to wear home.
- Bring a wrapped book to swap in lieu of gifts.
Do you have an eco-friendly or inexpensive alternative to the traditional bag ‘o junk? Dish!
FILED UNDER: Parties | TAGGED WITH birthday parties, birthday party treats, goody bags, party favors, treat bags
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Let’s start the ‘no plastc junk at birthday parties’ movement.
I see petitions in the future. We can sign up all the moms in the areas. Everyone has to promist not to hand out six pounds of candy, and 10 dollars with of plastic choking hazards!:)
I love the idea of using frisbees, but be warned that it may not work so well for some kids — err, picture food sailing past you on a frisbee. Yep, been there, seen that.
I really dislike all the garbage that goes into most goodie bags. At my daughter’s birthday party (a few years ago), we had the kids decorate their own bags (we used paper, but I would probably use cute little fabric totes now). Then we sent them on a treasure hunt to find their goodies (all useful or nutritious items). They loved it!
I too dislike all the cheapy toys. For my daughter’s first birthday this year, we made craft bags. I included several kinds and colors of paper, chenille stems, wiggly eyes, glue sticks a pencil and a few other things. It was great because the kids could create while their parents were talking. Plus, we already had most of the things here and it only cost me about $2 for 16 bags.
Love the idea of a book swap amongst the children! That’s practical and fun for everyone.
We too prefer the craft idea. I took my daughter and a few friends to the local craft store where they made a cute little craft to take home. That was it. No need for a goody bag when you get to take home your own decorative purse hanger! I don’t mind the plastic toys so much as all the CANDY!! It makes my other kids jealous and prolongs the sugar high for the rest of the day. Aughhh.
I too struggle with this topic and this is what I have tried:
For my 4 year olds party, we have a small bag with 4 (because she was 4) of her favorite cookies that we made together-and I could limit the sugar and use lots of good-for-you ingredients. Cheap and who does not like a cookie (esp with 1/2 the sugar!)?
When my youngest turned 3 I found “My First Chopsticks” (she is Chinese) and they were a huge hit with the kiddos because they could actually do it. Fun, useful and inexpensive.
Thanks for all the suggestions
I also hate all the cheap junk. We also seem to have a candy problem at our house. My husband and I eat the good stuff and the junk sits in the cupboard until I throw it away months later. We’ve tried the craft idea too and at our last birtday party the guests went home with a sand pail and shovel with a few small beach toys inside. We live a few miles from the beach so this is always practical, but with summer just around the corner others might be able to try it too! One last idea, my daughter went to a party where the kids all came home with a gift certificate for an ice cream cone at a local shop. I thought that was fun and we could use it when we liked!
I usually have enough helium balloons for each child to take one home. The other “gifts” might be something seasonal (valentine stickers) or a light stick. They always seem to be a big hit.
At my daughter’s sixth birthday, we had the kids decorate their own favor bags to use when we broke the pinata open. In the pinata, we had crayons, markers, pencils, erasers, and other useful items.
I hate those little candy bags that you get at every party, too! I love having a take-home that goes with the party theme. Last year my daughter had a *princess tea party* and I found little teacup tealight holders for the girls to take home. Also the craft idea is fun: one idea is to buy one of those cheap kits for mini foam frames for the kiddos to put together and decorate. Now that my son is getting of the party age, I’ve got to get creative w/boy ideas:) I love the ones that ya’ll are sharing here! Thanks!
I am a goodie bag fiend. I love to put together creative and fun little gifts that my kiddo gets to hand out to her guests. However, I usually go way overboard.
This past year I decided to change that. We had her party outside, at the free splash park, so I was determined to create low cost and eco-friendly bags.
I went to the Dollar Spot at Target and found cute little striped shoulder bags. (You could also get little canvas bags or backpacks from Oriental Trading company.) I then got one Kite that came in a neat key chain case, one jump rope, and one splash ball (a ball meant for soaking and throwing).
Everyone got their goodies bags at the start of the party. Then they got to run around at the party flying kites, jumping rope, and throwing splash balls at each other. It was cheap, fun, and there was nothing to throw out.
http://www.lawandmotherhood.com
Can’t stand the plastic cheap stuff that is usually lost by the time we get home or breaks instantly. And candy just means I end up saying no to something he was given as a gift. I like to put consumable gifts in the bags. Last year we did a small coloring book, crayons and a mini can of play dough. A snack pack of crackers works well in lieu of candy
I was able to buy everything at dollar stores and kept it under $2 per kid.
Bubbles and sidewalk chalk work well too!
Thanks for all the great ideas!
I should say that my son LOVES the cheap plastic toys in goodie bags and would be distressed if he knew I were writing this : )
My mom always handed out bubbles. That was our perennial party favor. We have GREAT photos from summer birthday parties of us blowing bubbles with friends.
Oh my, I hadn’t thought of the flying frisbee full of lunch…but I bet my kids would. I thought that idea was genius.
My daughter has (twice) given mugs as party favors. In first grade she had a Tea Party and we got those mugs that have a little coloring page inside. They decorated their mug, used it at the party (I prewashed the parts) and took it home after. Her most recent party, the girls are older, and they got coffee mugs with a packet of hot chocolate mix and a candy cane inside. They used the mugs at breakfast after the sleepover and then took them home.
For my DD’s Valentine’s Party at school (just 10 kids), I made a triple batch of homemade playdoh, the kind that uses jello to make it colored and smelly. I packaged a chunk of playdoh in a bag, tied a couple cookie cutters on. Big hit
Homemade playdoh rocks!
We’ve had large b-day parties with ALL the playgroup kiddos and I have tried to be enviro friendly and frugal. Less bounty than at some other parties, but I do serve a meal for kids + parents. But now with two kids perennial bubbles sounds great!
Age 2–blowup beach balls bought on clearance (35 cents ea) as decor (hang from ceiling on fishing line), toys (so many sharing wasn’t an issue) and favors. Two years later some balls in still in use at friends’ houses.
Age 3–decorated Easter basket & hunted eggs: plain white takeout food boxes (bulk from SmartnFinal), markers & gluesticks for pictures of toys & Easter goodies cut from the sales flyers. Plastic eggs filled with raisins & dry cereal also made a good snack.
Age 4 in a few weeks–ds and many friends love playing knights so intending to cut out shield shapes from cardboard and having kids decorate to play with during party and then take home too. “Once there was a knight, and you can be one too!” / devised by Gregg Reyes ; written by Judy Hindley ; illustrated by Robert Bartelt is a great book we found at our library.
Sorry so long!
We try to think of things that’ll be functional and practical. We also hate all that candy (well, ok, we hate giving it to our child but will easily consume it ourselves!) that people seem to need to add to the packages. With that said, there’s tons of favors out there that are totally useful and welcomed. For instance, I’ve seen laminated luggage tags that can be attached to diaper bags, little plastic food trays that can be used at dinner time, bubbles, and such. We give out little graham cracker goldfish from pepperidge farm. Those are great! But I know how you feel. From my practical standpoint, all that extra junk just doesn’t make sense to me.
I have never been a fan of the plastic junk OR the balloon to take home idea. I hate balloons b/c if you don’t get two, they fight…and if they get two they pop and that is just ugh. So this year for my daughters 6th birthday party I am going to give out hula hoops! I feel this will give them something they can DO at home and encourage exercise, right? I am loving reading all the other ideas tho!
love the hula hoops idea! jump ropes would be another good one! my son has a summer birthday so at the end of the summer, I stock up on clearanced splash balls and supersoakers to give as a goodie bag (less than $5 is my limit!)
another thing I usually do is a gift certificate for the local ice cream place or fast food restaurant.
I thought birthday parties were to celebrate and make much of the birthday child. Getting to play with friends, have cake and ice cream and play games should be fun for those invited and that should be enough. Why not just stop giving party favors altogether? I think they are a fairly recent innovation at children’s parties as are these new megaparties with ponies, clowns, blow-up jumpzones, fairy princesses, and on and on. Let kids entertain themselves and be kids. I DO love the ideas for frugal favors that I am reading here, so if you have to give a favor these are great, creative suggestions.
I am a big believer in party favors. I think it is important for the birthday child to be hospitable and reciprocate the generosity of their friends. Yes, it is a special day for the birthday child, but it shouldn’t be all about ME! (Who hasn’t seen the out-of-control birthday child?) I like the idea of a craft, especially for the older children, and then this is the favor that can be brought home. My sister had the supplies ready for each girl to make a ribbon bulletin board at her daughter’s party. (age 10) Bit hit! Another idea, for younger children, is just a good old-fashiioned at-home party with all the traditional games–Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Drop the Clothespins in Jar, relay races etc. Kids still love these games, and they are almost a novelty today! Have a prize for the game winners as the favor. Just be sure there are enough prizes for everyone, (one prize per guest) and those who didn’t win one in a game, draw from the grab bag.
Hate the bag o’junk from parties!
I’ve mentally filed away an idea I read somewhere– for girls, at least– have the kids make lip gloss as a party activity, then each girl takes hers home as a favor. Party activity plus favor all in one.
I have to say I am totally encouraged to see other moms hate candy and junk. Less is more!! and it’s more to teach our children not to be entertained and soothed by momentary and trite forms of satisfaction…am I getting too philosophical?
I’m with Mona – we don’t do party favors/bags at all. We typically have an all-ages party centered around a meal and just playing together. I’m still trying to figure a polite way to reduce the whole presents overload problem – we already have more stuff than we need. For an interesting perspective on our “consumptive habits”, check out http://www.storyofstuff.com
What about having each child decorate a T-shirt?
We had a treasure hunt at the last party we had, pirate themed. I did get some plastic junk, dollar tree pirate costumes. We put them all in a bag and everyone reached in and grabbed one thing and they had to wear that during the treasure hunt. It was fun to see them running around with hooks, eye patches and big hoop earrings (even the boys). Then, they all drew a 3 part pirate name such as Long Blackeye Jones (all mixed up so it was funnier). For the prizes for the treasure hunt, we did have some chocolate coins.
http://homeschoolhome.blogspot.com
This discussion serves as a reminder for me to not put too much weight on the choices of other moms and families. For every item that, to me, spoke of nutritional meltdown it’s obvious that no mom plotted to ruin the dinners of kids all over town. No one who offered beaded necklaces to her child’s guests did so only out of the desire to clog the playrooms of the citizenry. (Is there a mom out there who, upon reading these comments, would confess to really liking pinata candy mix and American Idol handclappers?)
There have been some great ideas (and explanations of same) on the idea of goodie bags and it’s clear that most of us do what we do for a reason, even if that reason isn’t well-understood or appreciated by our peers. I should work harder at recognizing that the mothers of my acquaintance (who, after all, are the ones planning the parties attended by my kids) have their reasons for having (or not) goodie bags/guest gifts consisting of Item X (or not), and even if those reasons aren’t clear to me, accepting the offering with grace is probably the best course of action.
I am not a favors person myself. I didn’t do favors at my wedding. But, I understand the desire to give a favor…How about school supplies…fun pencils, scrapbook scissors,rulers,highlighters, cheap calculators. Seems to me one could stock up when these things are super cheap at back to school time and save them for later.
Nowadays you can get personalized pencils pretty inexpensively. My students love pencils and stickers.
Another thought for older kids is the tie dye party. The favor is a t-shirt it is also the party entertainment.
and even if those reasons aren’t clear to me, accepting the offering with grace is probably the best course of action.
As usual Marsha has a kind and gracious way of reminding us to understand one another!
I didn’t mean to imply that we should refuse goodie bags, only that we as moms should question the whole convention–and if necessary–come up with some useful alternatives.
And y’all have surprised me with your creativity and deal-finding! Great ideas here!
I hate all the party favors, too. It is just more junk to keep clean or throw away. Heaven knows, we have PLENTY of toys as it is in our house. When my twins turned 4 last year, I included “no gifts please on the invitations.” They still got gifts from my husband and me and from grandparents but that was all. This year I am debating having people bring a gift to donate to charity or no gifts again. I am trying to instill in the children that the party is to have fun playing with friends and celebrate being a year older rather than focusing on the gifts. For goodie bags, I usually try to find an inexpensive age appropriate book to give out. I do like the frisbee idea, without the flying lunch.
The best goodie bag gift we got was cereal bowl with the straw built into it. Since we do not eat a lot of ceral, we only have the 2 (one for each child) from that party and they have lasted for a couple of years so far.
BTW, I am LOVING this site. I will be back often.
Of course we’ve got an alternative! We’re Dutch! Frugalty is our middle name.. or even our first..
When my daughter has a birthday, I always make cute little things out of candy or cupcakes.. for example a flower:
One lollypop (stem + heart)
two pieces of cut out paper (the leaves)
marshmallows (on the lollypop stick)
Then put them in a seethrough plastic cup filled with coloured manna / rice krispies (soil)
Done. They cost about 30 cents each..
If you want you can wrap them all pretty in cellophane and ribbon..
greetings from the netherlands! (where it’s unusual to even give favours!)
I did my first kid party last year. I limited the number of friends invited. I made wacky cake cupcakes and cream cheese frosting, bought sprinkle, m&m’s and stuff and let the kid decorate their own cupcakes. I also bought picture mattes, stickers, glitter glue, and foam bugs and let each kid decorate their own picture frame. We took a picture of each kid with the birthday girl and framed with their own picture frame. Put a magnet on the back viola. Then they just ran around the back yard and played with balls and stuff. Easy and fun.
We haven’t had any friend birthday parties in quite a while (mostly summer birthdays in our house), but one of the last times we did, I picked out fun school supply items that were on sale for back to school time, and put them all in a bucket, and also printed up coloring pages from online and put them in a “book” (stapled along the edge) with a cover that I made of the date and whose birthday it was.
My now 11 yo DD had a Spa Party for her 10th birthday (we only celebrate a child’s 5th, 10th, 13th, 16th yr birthday with parties with friends). We borrowed foot spas from my sil’s and the girls gave each other pedicures and manicures. I bought a mud mask in a tube for them to do facials too (just make sure no one is allergic or breaks out)got it for a $1 at the dollar store.
For gifts- each girl took home a tiny bag with a packet of foot soak and foot cream, a tiny bottle of nail polish and an emery board. I purchased the single use packets and nail polish at Wal-mart for 88 cents each and the emery boards were bought in a pack at the dollar store for a buck. Each goodie bag ended up costing less than $3.
hate the bags of candy. I always let my children choose one favorite and then throw the rest away.
WE just came from a party this weekend and the bags were great. Stickers, jump ropes, little tubs of playdough, bubbles(Hours of fun from that one) and the older boys got a tub of noise putty too. (Lots of fart sounds in my house, but they love it and I don’t mind as long as they don’t take it to church lol). And not a candy in sight.
FOr my 4 year old’s last party I bought a lot of beads and necklace string and the girls made their own necklaces for the activity, which they got to take home as favors. It was very inexpensive, I go cute pendants and beads at Big Lots, and they had a lot of fun. I filled a muffin tin with all of the different types of beads to keep things organized.
FOr older boys we’ve done leather work. They each get a pattern for a pouch or a gun holster or a sword scabbard and they punch the holes themselves and sew it together. It’s cool because it’s LEATHER, so it’s okay if they are sewing
We can get leather pretty cheap at a store near here so it works, and takes up most of the party too.
Oh wow, yeah I am SO on board with hating the little plastic crap… it just ends up at the bottom of the toy box or the trash! For my daughter’s first birthday party, we had a garden themed party, and for favors I got little tiny tin buckets and in each one I put a packet of seeds and a butterfly fingerpuppet. For her second birtday party, we had kiddie pools and sprinklers in the backyard. The favors were beach balls – I just had a ton all over the yard, and the kids all got to take one home. They had a blast.
What GREAT ideas here! And just in time for my son’s 4th bday next month!
We were at a party last month where they gave each kid a few pieces of candy (that would actually be eaten by young kids), a full-sized plastic bouncy ball (you know the kind – swirled colors on the outside), play-dough and a plastic recorder (think instrument you played in middle school). They were real things my kids have played with ever since!
I love the idea of having the kids make something. Keeps them busy AND serves the purpose of a goodie bag item!
Hmm…we had a tea-party once, and Mom sent everyone home with floral stationary. Another year, we decorated cupcakes with candy, to look like animals. The kids took those home as their favors. For other parties, Mom would order craft kits and we’d put them together as an activity, and the kids would take them home.
For my daughter’s 4th birthday, she wanted a princess tea party. We made fairy wands and decorated princess crowns for each of the girls to take home. We also went to Goodwill and picked up a random assortment of tea cups to not only use at the party (instead of my china), but to send home with each girl. The guests were thrilled! We even heard back from a mom a few weeks later that her daughter had insisted on using her tea cup every single day since the party.
As my children have for the most part never opened a bag of party favors given to them at a birthday party and have thrown 99% of the bags away, I am not for the party bags. One year I felt particularly pressured to do something so I bought a Snicker’s bar and wrapped a cute homemade little card to it with ribbon that was the Thank You Note for coming to the party. This to some people, and even myself at times, seems a little like cheating, sending the note with them on the way out the door. But I have to say that it was a great year, no follow up thank you cards to send.
Ok, I am guilty of NOT keeping things simple, but I do try to incorporate some type of craft or project the kids can take with them. For DD’s party this weekend the kids will get to decorate pumpkins, tiaras and princess wands that I am making. In their goody bag (yes, I gave in!), there will be a bookmark we made (DD is a book nut), a pencil, and a glow-stick. I figure there will be room for everything but the pumpkins in the bag.
We recently went to a party where the activity was to tie-dye T-shirts…that was fun too!
When my son turned one we had a music themed party. I gave out egg shakers as the favor. They were under 5 dollars a piece and his little friends still play with them. If you think about it you wind up spending about 5 dollars on those junk filled bags. I think its so much nicer to give one meaningful favor that a bunch of junk that is going to sit in a landfill somewhere.
I have never ever thrown a big party for my two sons in the first place..lol I allow them to have one special friend and then they decide waht to do. They both took their friends to a small fun park. I honestly dont see anything wrong with giving out some candy or little bags but thats me. My kids have gone to parties and came home with small bottles full of candy and there was no meltdown about limiting it..maybe thats because they were older by then and understood that one piece was enough. It seems like birthdays have changed alot aswell. I’m only 33 but the birthdays these days are so far advanced..lol I had one big party and we all did goofy games like sitting on balloons and whoever popped the first one was able to stick their hand in a big brown bag and pick a prize out..we all had a blast with that..lol
I totally agree! I actually wrote a post on this very same topic over on the Healthy Living Channel. It is titled “Think outside the goody bag.” I gave examples on items my friends and I have given at birthday parties rather than the “tradition” goody bag items. I still don’t understand why we have to give a present to someone coming to a party anyway but that is a different issue….