Party bags and no inspiration of what to put in them

[Frangipanipie]

7yr old’s party this weekend and trying to work out party bags. She would like the usual ‘tat’, I don’t really want to buy plastic nik nacks because they get used once and that’s it. She has been to parties where she gets a book and a cupcake but all the children looked a bit disheartened at the books at the end. Ideas gratefully received please!

Mason jar’s drinking cup with lid from home bargains and fill with sweets. No need to put in a bag, no waste at all.

Sorry that made no grammatical sense but hopefully you get the idea.

Whatever is cute and cheap in home bargain
yoyos
mini bubbles
lip balm
face glitter or tattoos
lollipops
mini Haribo
erasers
pencils

I’ve bought a box of little bags of rainbow drops and a box of lollies direct from the swizzles website, works out 10p per item and the dates are a year or so, so I can use them over the next couple of parties for two children. I got bouncy balls and tattoos from Baker Ross, and then bendy pencils/whistles/bubbles/self-inking stampers/jumping frogs/stickers/mini slinkies/fidget poppers are easily bought in bulk from eBay, or Ali Express if you’re able to wait a couple of weeks for delivery.

One year I bought bird house kits from baker Ross, they built them during the party then took them home, another year make your own bag. Just sweets and cake added

£5 Amazon voucher has me howling! Slice of cake, some sweets, balloon and a cheap toy from somewhere like Tiger will be fine!

At 7 honestly I wouldn’t bother. Didn’t when my ds had his 7th recently. They all went home with a slice of cake.

Books! You can get 10 for £10 from The Works

We get books from Books2Door (previously from The Book People) and the children always like them and I've had great comments from parents. We did them lucky dip style when the children were younger. Now we get them to choose so they don't take one they already have.
Also seeds (we got the Mr Men seeds and chose ones that can be grown indoors/in pots) and from a Pinterest style post my DD chose wooden stick coloured pencils.
Previously we got Lego soap from Etsy and my DD made Fimo medals one year, which she personalised (her idea!), and we made rainbow soap (sounds WAY more complicated than it really is).

Stationery: novelty eraser from a multi pack, novelty pencil, highlighter and gel pen ( from multi packs) mini notebook, toy such as bouncy ball, mini cake, chocolate bar, sweets.

Morrisons used to do 50p bubble wands.

Bouncy putty is one of my kids favourites.(loads on Amazon - in the tubs keep it longer).

Plain white T. Spray their name on it with fabric paint

£5 Amazon voucher? Jeepers.

You get a piece of cake and a cheery 'thank you for coming' at my parties.

We have the same kind of budget, last party for DD we collected stuff from The works/B&M/Home bargains over a few weeks whenever we were there. We were looking at discounted/clearance toys and made up a lucky dip bucket. Every kid took a pick on their way out and had a slice of cake in a napkin to go with it.

Things that have always gone down well here for my DD's. Not all in one bag just ideas.
Lip balm
Sheet of tattoo's
Nice Pen and little note book
Cute little Gummy sweets like those little burgers in Mollies.
Fun keyring
I used to collect as I saw bits reduced in Accessorize and often got little packs I could spit of pretty hair grips or lip balms.
Parents may like books or seeds but children want a little bag of things to rummage through.

Best party bags I ever did included vintage superhero comics. I found a pile of them in a secondhand book shop at 50p each.

Stickers, temp tattoos and sweets are good.

Cake and a balloon.

Happy kids and thankful parents who will realise they don't need to fill bags full
of tat either.

Just do a sweet cone.

Lip balms, bath bombs (we usually get a tub of the smaller ones to share), fun socks (again, multipack and split them up), hair accessories, cool pens/stationery, chocolates...

Multipacks of colourful/themed socks split up into one pair per party bag?

Socks 🤣
Seriously. Maybe for 2 year olds who get excited about anything and everything.
But really.... I am just laughing at the thought of a 7 year olds face when they've gone to a party and get given a pair of socks.

My DD is 8 and is very excited at novelty socks. She even spotted the same pair she has on another girl at Brownies and got excited about that!

@drspouse ok....maybe I was wrong 🤣
Kids do like random things really don't they?

I just spotted a set of 7 invisible ink pens on Amazon Prime Day. I'm going to get some for stocking fillers but they look like great party bag fodder.

@Needmorelego indeed they do. We vetoed leopard print pants for a 7 year old but agreed to animal print (leopard plus zebra) print socks and she was THRILLED.

I think novelty socks is a good party bag item!