sage Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 My little girl is going to have a 4th birthday party later this year. I have no experiance with partys at all. Can anyone give me an idea as to how much to spend on party bags. Sage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Urgh - party bags are a total minefield.......my girls are older now,but I still remember the stress they caused If I were you,I would do just 2 little gifts (a packet of cress seeds is nice), & a sweetie of some sort - keep it simple & age appropriate. They are soon forgotten about by the recipients anyhow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 When my children were small, I made a stand against party bags, because one child too many said ' Oi, where's me party bag' on the way out, instead of 'Thank you for inviting me, I had a lovely time'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pips_pekins Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Urgh - party bags are a total minefield ... I would do just 2 little gifts (a packet of cress seeds is nice), & a sweetie of some sort - keep it simple & age appropriate.They are soon forgotten about by the recipients anyhow I totally agree with Cinnamon. Hope your little girl has a great 4th birthday. Post crossed with Egluntyne. I always did party bags and always got a 'thank you'. Interesting point though and I don't think that you have to provide party bags I just liked to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooks Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Bottles of bubbles always went down well with my lot and they take up room in the bag My son had a football party once so I went to a local supermarket and asked them if they had any older stock going cheap, turned out they had some footballs advertising a cereal (the kids wouldn't care, it's a football!) so I gave them money for their charity and got those. I did have trouble getting them to the car though Another year it was pirate party, yes i was a pirate too, I got some gold napkins and made swag bags out of them so marbles, coins, play rings for the girls, that sort of thing, but it really depends whether you have a theme, if not...bubbles! xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I don't have kids, so no idea of what the current party bag expectation is However thinking back to when I was a child, the one thing I remember really enjoying from my party bag was the obligatory slice of cake! I would think just a couple of inexpensive gifts and a slice of birthday cake would be perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Millihelen Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Cake is a good idea (and filler) - buy/make traybake style so it's easier to cut. A balloon Bubble mix is another good idea Little pack of sweeties (jelly tots or similar) Or even two packs! I have also often used pencils or crayons (just one or two), rubber, something noisy to blow. Supermarkets usually sell bags of plastic nonsense - I just bought the cheapest. Buy small bags - and try and make sure you get a couple of chunky bits in there to make them look full. Sorry if I sound cynical, but as Cinnamon said, most of the contents will be forgotten or dropped on the floor before they even get out of the door! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I got really tired of the grabby sorts too, and the party bags that came back home full of sweets I always encouraged Rosie to invite just a select few girls to her parties, the I bought some pretty gift bags and put things like sweet little hair slides, smellies and things in them, plus a slice of cake No sweeties as we don't really 'do' them. If any children haven't said thank you on their way out, I have always reminded them of their manners..... and not invited them again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Places like Poundland are a good place to look for little bits and bobs as is Lidl. We used to do balloons, a little packet of sweets and any novelty items that we could find. The best hit that we had was with rocket balloons they are great fun, but not if you have many ornaments Girls are quite easy, hair accessories, pens, rubbers, colouring books, boys are harder, we looked out for marbles, bouncy balls, stickers etc. I am so glad that mine are older now, we largely avoided the stupid expensive parties, but we had our share of drama, never again. Try to keep things small and simple with a few close friends rather than the whole class and you should be fine, and enlist as many adults as possible to keep you sane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I used to use both those shops for party bags. M&S, Superdrug and Boots all do good travel size ranges which are great for party bags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowberry Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 & when they all grow up, they can find partybag toys disguised as geocaching swag hidden in the woods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick wiggle Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 N'aww i cant believe my little Zoe is going to be 4 soon! Party bags! Asda do some great packs of party bag fillers, toys etc. Fun sized chocolate bars fill them up too and of course a slice of cake Where are you having the party? One of mine had a party at home and instead of putting a load of food on the table, i went to MacDonalds and asked if i could buy some of the Happy Meal boxes, they let me have a dozen FREE! I just filled them with a sandwich, sausage roll etc and the children loved it and they all sat on the floor with their own little box and ate it all up! No plates to clean up afterwards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sage Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 Morning CW Not booked anywhere as yet, I think it will be a church hall and I will do the food and hire a bouncy castle. You know what Zoes like, she wont eat chips nuggets or anything like that so the big soft play centres are out of the question Was thinking about 20 kids max and of cause George will get an invite Sage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looney Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 My son has been to two 4th birthday parties in the last week. The first party he left with a piece of cake wrapped in a napkin, a balloon on a stick and a book (wrapped up as a present to open when he got home) The second party he left with a piece of cake in a napkin and a little stationery set (little notepad, rubber, pencil - from wilkos) again it was wrapped so he could open it when he got home. He loved both! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 My wife and I've never done party bags, but instead - just like several other posters here - given a slice of cake and a toy. In our time, we've learnt the following lessons: Unless you want to bankrupt yourself, you need to set a fairly low budget per child. Given that, your choice is between one reasonable gift or several VERY cheap ones. We prefer quality over quantity. Kids love almost anything that's a novelty, so there are few bad gifts. However, the kids' parents have to live with the choice too, so may take exception to toy weapons, things that make electronic sounds, small musical instruments or messy or sticky toys. Moreover, they'll have to find a home for yet another toy, so something that either packs down small or only has a fairly short life will be appreciated, especially if they don't have masses of storage space at home. A fair number of the kids at this party are likely to be invited to your child's next one too. If you try to impress, it'll be more difficult to maintain next year. Some of our more successful choices have involved frisbees, zipaway kites and those little aeroplane kits you make and then throw around the room. And, as has also already been mentioned, as soon as was feasible we gave both our kids the choice of a basic two hour village hall party for their whole class or something more special for a select few guests (a day out at a farm park followed by a pizza/pasta meal at Ask, for instance). The latter, surprisingly, was cheaper than the former, feels much more special and then there are only half a dozen kids to buy a token prezzie for. Thankfully, given that choice, our kids have always opted for the day out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Fortunately our childre are anti-social like us therefore they worked out at about 10 years old that if they had a couple of their best friends round for birthday tea, rather than an elaborate party they would get more of what they wanted for their birthday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clucker1 Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Sorry to put a dampner on your party, but small is BEAUTIFUL. Some parents invite the whole class, which when they are in their early years of school is 30. As an ex teacher, Brownie leader etc, this is too many children for the party child/hostess to enjoy themselves without tears. There is a recommendation of 1 child per year they are born plus 1. My children have always had the maximum of 10 normally less at a party, just their close friends or who they regularly play with. My daughter always loved all the trash that was in the party bags she received whereas my son who really wants nothing from life in terms of presents would be very happy to receive a piece of cake and a ball. For my son I have always done wood chips/paper in a box with the presents wrapped in tissue (pretty and cheap) as a lucky dip with a tray for the cake by the front door with someone (party boy/girl) handing it out as they depart. Hope this helps, enjoy....they grow up so quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 When my children were small, I made a stand against party bags, because one child too many said ' Oi, where's me party bag' on the way out, instead of 'Thank you for inviting me, I had a lovely time'. Same here You could just have a bowl of sweets, bubbles and an optional slice of birthday cake as they leave. Mine rarely ate the birthday cake after it had been squashed into a party bag in a soggy napkin. If you do go for party bags though, pencils or pens, bubbles, small packs of haribos or those sweetie necklaces, hairbands and something noisy that irritates your parents always goes down well The other thing that is quite cheap and are fun are those fortune telling fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 I hate the plastic tat that gets sold as party bag fillers so I usually got packs of age appropriate books from the book people and give them some sweets, cake and a book(books worked out abut £1 each). I did packets of seeds aimed at children once but no idea if any got planted My boys are past party bag age now but we made fudge when my younger son had friends over for his birthday and they went home with some of the fudge they had made but not yet eaten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubereglu Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Thinking back to when I was younger and we had parties at our house-nothing stupidly expensive-literally a few friends round for tea, a game of pass the parcel and twister etc. Occassionally we'd do making themed parties and made homemade pizza together a few times and mask making I seem to remember too. For party bags we used to buy a big bag of funsize sweets and split them between the bags, coloured biros, bouncy balls, bubbles and a slice of homemade birthday cake-that was the bit which always went down best, as generally I'd see my friends the next day and it would be in their lunchbox! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAJ Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Cake, ballon, little sweet and a little cheap present were the only things I put in party bags - 2 exceptions. One year we took 8 of them to Cadburyworld - as DD birthday is just before Christmas I gave them empty bags to collect the free chocolate as they went round, Father Christmas even gave them all presents so they all came back with full bags and were very happy. Another year doing a party at home we actually bought in McDs kids meals so at £1.99 each it saved all the cooking and mess, plus it gave them the toy to take home, so that worked well. Tracy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubababe Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 We did a combined pirate themed 1st/3rd birthday party for the boys & I had a 'business' bar-b-q. I had lots of different things to put into the party bags, ballons, pencils, notebooks, puzzle books & forgot to do the party bags Luckily the boys want a pirate party this year so I'm all prepared Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shirl Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 I'm another one that buys a pack of books from the book people and then wraps them as presents for the children. That and a piece of cake is more than enough to say thank you for coming to the party. Since the first year I did it I noticed more parents following suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan08 Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Another vote for the packs of books from the book people, really good value, with a fun size milky way. My son didnt like cake so I always got to eat it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Oooh, fortune telling fish! There were brill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
