Simple Party Favor

Hi Jennifer,

Take a trip to Dollar Tree. They have 12 packs of mini bubbles in the wedding section. Also there are lots of pencils, erasers, crayons and packets of paper. Sometimes they carry bags of plastic toys or bouncy balls. The great thing about Dollar Tree is that everything is a buck.

I have used the bubbles as class giveaways for the holidays are my kids' school no longer allows sweets for treats.

Good luck.

We just did my daughter's 6th b-day party & had a water theme to it with both boys & girls, of all ages. We decided to do custom printed t-shirts for each of the kids with a design that matched the party. The kids loved them & the parents did too...& the great thing is that we spent about the same as we would have on a goodie bag with all the stuff that goes in them.

beach buckets, books, balls, bubbles, (hum lots of b's) coloring books jump rope. The fun is that they don't all have to be exactly the same. you can have some that appeal more to boys and some for girls and some in the middle.

Go to the dollar store. THey have things like hoola hoops, fun noodles, super soakers, jumpropes, stuff like that for $1 each. I've done this several times. Even did spray bottles filled with water one year. Kids loved it.

$2 gift certificates from Baskin Robbins. Just used it for my daughter's 4th birthday party; huge hit!!

I just gave balls away at my son's party that had both girls and everyone loved them! I bought sand pails w/attached shovel for $.99 each at Party City and then found Spiderman balls for $1 each that I put it in each pail. I wrote each child's name on their pail. It was a big hit!

Hi Jennifer. For my daughters' first birthday instead of candy bags we did sandpails that came with a shovel and put cheap bubbles in them. I think 5yr olds would love that too. In Hawaii i purchased them at Pricebusters for about $1.50 a piece so in the states (if that's where you are) you could probably find them at Dollar Tree or the dollar store for pretty cheap as well. The kids absolutely loved them and we had a sand box at her party so it worked out well. Good luck and have fun.

I just found the greatest things at Michael's Crafts. They had booklets of stickers for $1 -- Littlest Petshop, sealife and many other themes. My almost 5 year old loves stickers and Littlest petshop. They also had $1 crafts that she was very interested in. You could wrap one of these items in pretty paper for the party favor. I think 5 year olds would love it.

at our last two parties we have given Baskin Robbins $2 gift certificates as the party favor. It has been very well received as the kids then get a special treat but when timing is appropriate!

For my daughter's 6th birthday I bought a toy for each child at the 99 cent store. It is easier and much less expensive.

Hi Jennifer,

I have given gold fish to the kids for party favors. They loved them. I bought the gold fish bowl and a few colored rocks at the dollar tree. The gold fish came from Walmart. I also got light blue curly ribbon to decorate the outside of the fish bowl.

I have also given a baggie with grahm crackers, a hershey bar and a big marshamllow. I put pretty ribbon and attached a recipe for microwave smores.

Hope this helps, enjoy.
M.

We've done sidewalk chalk.

I got this idea from my friend and just used it at my own kid's party. She made placemats that went with the theme of the party- hers was "candyland"- she color copied the candyland board, laminated it, and had them all on the table. also we all got to take one home and I use that thing all the time, my daughter loves it and it is so easy to wipe off and clean.
So for my daughters "butterfly" party, we put colored butterfly cutouts on construction paper (I can't resist a craft) and laminated those. A color copy of something would have been much less time consuming, but they came out cute.
Tip, laminate them yourself at Lakeshore, much cheaper than taking them to Kinkos. Although Kinko's lamination is more heavy duty and likely to endure longer, it was so pricey it wasn't worth it.
have fun!

We ALWAYS give small books. This year we gave silly jokes that the kids LOVED sharing together. They usually cost us 3.95-4.95. and can be tailored to any age.

Playdough. You can buy a package of the mini containers at Target or you can make your own and put it in ziplock bags.

One successful idea I put together at Michael's:

solid, cloth bags of varying colors
markers for writing on cloth

The kids were able to decorate the bags any way they wanted and saw these bags being used for a long time--it was really sweet. It also kept them busy at the party and made them feel proud.

I did add some other practical additions for the bag (bubbles, air flyers?) and these were also immediately used at the party--it was fun!

I buy these cute Audubon Society birds for gifts ALL the time. Every child who gets one loves it! They are about $7 each. They are plush birds that are meant to look like real birds, and they also give the accurate bird call when squeezed. It's fun to pick one that lives in your area because the kids will notice the bird is the same as their plush bird (or it's fun to pick one that is unseen in the region for something exotic.) Also, the bird call is not super annoying for parents! Here's the link: http://www.wildrepublic.com/brands-audubon.html

Bubbles, those little containers of playdoh, stickers, tattoos, etc.

check out the $1 section at Target. they usually have a lot of cute little things for kids.

* tiny puzzle?
*tiny drawing book with color pencils. ( i saw that at the dollar section at Target)
*key chains

go to:
www.orientaltrading.com

Lots of ideas/prices/bulk rates for any kind of party.

Hey Jennifer ~
I used to give a book. The kids always loved it.
Have fun,
J.

I attended a birthday party with my twin girls (2-1/2), and they were each given a glitterbug book; they were $1 each & they love them!!! I think finding a special book, maybe even theme related to your party would be a fantastic gift!! You can always give them a plastic jar of bubbles with a thank you note sticker on the bottle that just says thank you for coming - you can put a picture of your child on the sticker also if you are creative with your computer. If you do a pinata you can buy inexepensive bags of trinkets that fall from the pinata rather than candy. have fun!

bouncy balls are a hit w/boys & girls....the one's you get in the grocery store for $1.00

or you could buy boxes of 4-square balls (3 to a box) from target

Jennifer,
I love doing kid birthday parties! I've thrown over 30 of them between 3 kids. I always start with a theme and build from that. Does your party have a theme?
C.

Hi Jennifer-
You could get bubble wands for each of the kids. They come in all different colors and I think they only cost $1 each at Walmart. Good luck and have fun!
D.

Hi Jennifer,

I like to give out coloring books or reading books. You can find books at Target in the $1.00 bin or $0.99 stores (coloring books are easy to find at these places too.) Barnes & Noble also has books for $3.50ea and if you order at least 20, they'll give you a 20% discount. Have a fun party!

C.

Bubbles, playdoh, squirt guns (it's summertime - well almost), stickers

My 4 yo granddaughter loves those things!

What about scented bubbles or playdough? They both come in big packs and are relatively inexpensive. I personally hate those goodie bags...the candy and little junk that just gets thrown away! They are expensive and a waste of money! Good luck with finding something that will work for your party! :-)

Beach balls, hula hoops, sand bucket and shovel, fun noodles, inflatable rafts. All available at dollar stores. Aren't summer birthdays great? Lots of inexpensive water oriented options!

I used to make up little "treasure chests" from papier mache and fill them with colored plastic gems (from Michael's crafts) and some unmeltable candy (you can leave out the candy, kids love the gems alone). One of the party games was a treasure hunt and everyone got to unearth their own treasure from the sand.

Have fun!

Hello Jennifer,

What I did for my daughters 5th B-day party was instead of a bag of junk to throw away, I bought small puzzles in favorite topics. This is a unisex toy, inexpensive, you don't need a "bag" to put it in, they wound up with a gift instead of a bag! All the parents were happy because it was a learning "fun" thing without any sugar... just a thought!

Good luck,

M.

Hi,

I just had a party for my daughter and didn't do goody bags either. I went to the 99 cent store and Dollar Tree store and purchased little unisex toys for each child. There are lots of summer toys out as well as bug kits, Mickey Mouse stationery items, etc. I just wrapped each of them up and the kids got to pick one out before they left. It was great, the kids loved it, there was no candy or little tiny toys that they'd lose in the car. Good luck with the party!

How about a ball? Beach ball shape, but the sturdier ones.

They have a bunch of $1-$2 small craft kits at Michaels right now.

Or since summer is coming up, maybe a $1 sand bucket with some small pool/beach toys?

My girlfriend did a "Mad Science" party for her daughters 4th or 5th birthday and gave out Kids Science books. I loved the book so much, I bought the whole collection.

We usually go to one of the big party stores and just see what they have that we can give to all the kids.

any sort of arts and craft thing; markers and coloring book, playdough, paint and paper, a little kit, there are sooo many cute little things at the dollar tree or 99c only store

The kids can decorate a picture frame and take it home with them as a favor. You could even send them a picture of the party to go in it when you send the thank you card.