Children's activity bags at weddings

[RooTwo]

Hello,
Just thinking of good things to put in the little bags I am planning for all the kids who are coming to our wedding, and would welcome any good suggestions! There will be 25-odd kids, most of whom will be aged 3-5, with a few 7 year olds and then a few 2 year olds. I'd like to have these little activity/goody bags for them for when they arrive at the reception after the ceremony (about 4pm) and am trying to think of cheapish things that will keep them occupied for as long as poss! The wedding is in July and we will mostly be outside in a big garden. So far just thinking bubbles/colouring in sheets and pens - that sort of stuff. Any more interesting or original ideas would be most welcome ...

[TheMonster]

Bubbles certainly! Nothing noisy - no whistles or anything because they will drive you mad.
It's a great idea btw.
How about party bag things?

[neverontime]

how about those windmill type things? my 2 love playing with them. or little bouncy balls in luminous colours. or sets of cars.

[RooTwo]

Yes def no noisy things! Went to a party recently where all the kids got whistles and they loved it but drove us all completely bonkers of course ...
Thinking stickers and stuff too, so that they could decorate their own party bags (will just get plain white ones)

[CMOTdibbler]

No pens, just crayons or pencils (less chance of making a mess on posh clothes), colouring, stickers, yo yos, dot to dot books for the older ones.
Don't do what my sil did and put in cars and planes (cue the urge to run round zooming) or sweets (quite enough sugar ingested !)

If you will be outside and there is room for them to play, ask parents to bring some outside toys with them to occupy them

[supadupapupascupa]

just as another idea....

we bought loads of really cheap games (kerplunk, connect4, guess who, jenga etc) and left them outside at ours primarily for the kids. The adults loved playing the kids at them and really mixed people up. It was mentioned by many guests how smashing the games were :-)

[RooTwo]

Thanks all, and I really like the Kerplunk etc idea, Supadupa!

[Iggly]

You can get cheap stickers from sainsburys plus cheap notebooks and pens. Plus 99p stores do colouring in books. Bubbles, def a good idea. I wouldn't give bouncy balls - could be carnage!

[TheMonster]

The games are a brilliant idea! The supermarkets have their own brand versions of connect 4 and the suchlike, and some even have giant versions for the garden.

[TabithaTwitchet]

A wedding I went to had several second-hand story books from local charity shop in the bags, think they were tailored to each child. Kept DD totally occupied, and a v cheap option too.

[CroissantNeuf]

Those books with 'press-out' figures that you dress with the 'press out' clothes (IYSWIM?) -DD loved those when she was younger.

[bigbadbarry]

My cousin had books for all the kids at her wedding, can't remember what they were called but basically a wedding activity book - so there was a page to draw the bride, write what sort of flowers she had, what was for dinner, draw a picture of me in my
special wedding outit, a pocket to collect confetti...my 6 year old loved it

[LoopyLoopsBettyBoops]

I got a bit over enthusiastic with co-ordinating our wedding, but I did something that went down very nicely.

Our theme was yellow. I got yellow organza bags, and in them put yellow disposable cameras, with a pen and a list of things for them to take pictures of (ie. the rings, the best hat, best shoes, someone crying, someone laughing, people at your table etc). I put a sticker on each camera with the child's name on, and collected them at the end. A Once developed, the 'winning' child (Actually, all of them) were sent a prize.

Also, in out mixed favour things were bubble rings from Tesco - really cheap (50p for 4 I think) tiny little bubble sets in the shape of an engagement ring. Perfect. :)

[chrisrobin]

Play-dough maybe or plasticine,
Lovely idea, btw my boys would think it was fab getting party bags!

[pantaloons]

Agree with all of the above and I don't really have any more ideas, but as an aside, we attended my sisters wedding a couple of years ago with 2 under 3's. She did them both lovely gift bags and left them in the reception room. If I had realised they were there I might have sneaked in and got them whilst the photos were being taken. It took 2 hours, I never thought to take anything with me and they were very bored. Just some books or maybe a disposable camera or 2 would make the time it takes to do the photographs pass a bit more calmly for parents and everyone close by!

[dcb]

What a lovely idea. Refreshing to hear people welcoming kids to their wedding.

[RooTwo]

What a lot of really wonderful ideas - thank you! Dcb we have two little ones ourselves and most of our friends have a couple too so there was never really any option about the children being there or not ... will be lovely to have them though!

[MumGoneCrazy]

If you search party bag fillers on Ebay it comes up with loads of great stuff

25 mini activity books with stickers

20 stacker crayons

and lots of other listings including packs of 100 assorted party bag fillers for £12.99

[vouvrey]

Could you get a small sandpit to put in the garden for the day?

[lostinindia]

I did something similar at our DD naming ceremony. Rather than individual bags I had one biggish box with a mix of party bag stuff. All the things already mentioned - bubbles, dot to dot books, colouring books, bouncy balls etc. I then put a small basket on each table with a few bits in on each table and pointed to where the box with more toys was.

At our next naming ceremony I'll be including a few of DS & DD toys and some books. Maybe 3 or more ride on toys for outside if the weather is good. And a cheap toy pram which always seems to be a hit.

[pommedechocolat]

Bouncy balls, bubbles, puzzles, colouring books, magic trick sets, disposable cameras, bracelets/necklaces, fans and wands for girls and toy cars and planes for boys. Books. Curly straws for their drinks.
Toys R us have good options as well.
I did it at my wedding and it went down a storm.

[TheMonster]

Tan71 have you joined MN especially for the free advertising?

[Tan71]

BodyOfEeyore - no not at all, joined MN ages ago. Being a mum at home and having started my own small business, genuinely wanted to help - huge apologies to anyone I have annoyed or offended, it wasn't meant :(

[ifitsnotanarse]

I had crayons and colouring books to keep the kids occupied during the dinner/speeches but forgot to actually take them out of the bag . We also had bubbles which I did manage to hand out. Kept them busy after the ceremony.

[loveulotslikejellytots]

I got plain sparkly gift bags for my wedding and filled them up with bits from the pound shop. Bubbles, slinky (which most of them had never seen before!! ), pencils, colouring book, disposable camera, small cuddly toy, sticker book, found those little polystyrene areoplanes in the pound shop too, a couple of balloons for the older ones to blow up and play with, skipping rope (big garden where we had reception), rubix cube etc.

Kept them all happy and amused!