Party Bags

[monpetitlapin]

Hi I'm doing my first birthday party for DC3 (turning 4) soon. He's got 30 guests coming from nursery, a range of 3-4 year olds, some just turned 3, some nearly 5, as they are all in a class of two year groups combined and we invited the whole class.
What sort of things do you put in party bags these days and where do you get the fillers from? DC3's suggestion was Hot Wheels cars.
I'm tempted to just drop a couple of Lotus Biscoffs in each bag and leave it at that! 🤣
There will be cake as well.
We've only been to one party so far and it was a very (beautifully) elaborate and cosy affair for a handful of children!

The main purpose of a party bag is to indicate that the party is over. 😊

Lots of people will come along with elaborate ideas but honestly, I would do a piece of cake and a bag of sweets if you're feeling generous. Better for the environment and far cheaper.

you could do a sweetcorn or a book from the works

but if you want to do a party bag- you can buy pre filled bag contents from eBay or Amazon. Basically small pad and a pencil, bouncy ball, bag of sweets, perhaps a key ring or puzzle.

Sweetcone

Ideas for a range of girls and boys

Dinosaur/animal little bath bombs
Little bubbles
Tattoos
Stickers
Sweets
Reusable straws

A book and cake is easy enough. You can get books for that age for around a pound from Card Factory or buy a large pack online. They are well received at that age by the kids and parents.

Asda had a good supply of bits for party bags when I was looking last week.

Tbh I think hot wheels cars or similar is absolutely ideal.
There’s this sort of multipack on Amazon, works out v cheap: 36 Piece Die Cast Metal Toy Cars Diecast Mini Racing Vehicles for Kids, Convertibles, F1, Sports Cars, Model Collector Cars Gift Playset https://amzn.eu/d/3KTOcHq

and it looks like about £1 per car if you went for actual hot wheels in a big pack.

Mine also liked mini squishy toys, or those polystyrene dinosaur / aeroplane fliers. Books also good but tbh they liked toys and sweets. Mine didn’t bother with notepads but I’d have loved them. They also liked slap bands. Wholly uninterested in seed packets and despite wholesome-points, you’re basically giving parents a job which is a bit annoying.

At that age I always did seeds (usually cress) a cardboard planter pot (super cheap in the pound shop - 10 for £1 if I remember rightly), a cotton wool ball in the pot so all ready to plant. For a smaller number I used to add crayons, googly eyes etc to decorate to pot but for whole class parties they went without! I then added cake or a mini haribo bag.

I'm glad you corrected the sweetcorn. I really thought mumsnet had reached peak 🤪 crazy 😂

I was just thinking ds would have been delighted with sweetcorn!

Baker Ross website is great for this kind of stuff.

At that age they're just happy to get given a bag so you really can go as minimal as you like.

Things that always went down well for us are

• bouncy ball
• balloon especially if it's funny shaped or interestingly coloured
• slice of cake of course
• bag of haribo or suitable alternative if any dietary requirements. Some haribo isn't vegetarian
• those polystyrene gliders they assemble
• fake tattoos
• stickers
• the bouncer/pop up things that have a spring and a sucker that you push onto the table and after a few seconds they ping up into the air.
• the sticky men that flip flop down a window and end up covered in so much grime you feel embarrassed about the state of your home.

Yes I was trying to visualise handing out sweetcorn cobs to 3 and 4 year olds and wondering how much of it would end up on the floor. 🤣

Haha! Might try that next time, everyone leaves with a tin!

Don’t do all those plastic bits, so wasteful. Just do a seed packet or small book, and piece of cake. I wish party bags wouldn’t exist!

Fab suggestions everyone! I've found 24 cheap mini colouring books for about £4 on Amazon which are made from recycled paper and I thought that might go down well. I might have a look for some bouncy balls as well as I remember what it was like to be a small child who got a bouncy ball, it was hours of fun.

@Talipesmum Ooooh those cars are a great price and DS is obsessed with Hot Wheels size cars so if (worst case scenario) half the kids don't turn up, we won't be left with a load of stuff that will sit around for the next party as he would ensure every car was very loved and played with.

I wasn't sure about sweets as I was a bit worried about the sugar overload but maybe I'm being silly, it is a party after all!

Those fruit roll ups from supermarkets go down well at that age

Always just done sweet cones. Always gone down well

@Peony654 I see where you're coming from. I started the thread because I didn't want to give out things that the attendees wouldn't want/use. We're doing paper bags not plastic, and then I was thinking of adding two or three decent (but not too expensive) items that the children will get some value out of, which is why I think the diecast metal cars mentioned upthread would be ideal.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers oh great shout. When I was little it was always Parma Violets or Love Hearts but I wasn't sure what they sold these days as we've been living abroad until fairly recently and DS is very limited on the amount of sugar he can have so we tend to avoid the sweet aisle, so I don't really know what's available now. Will investigate.

Ds is 5 soon and I just did the party bags.

Packet of seeds
Bluey book
Plastic toy animal (but a decent one, not a crappy one that breaks instantly)
Crayons
Stickers

Under 3s
Packet of seeds
Cocomelon book
Animal
Wooden spinning top

Will add slices of cake to each bag on the day too

No cobs 😂. It was definitely full cobs. You know, instead of seeds and shit

Oh, sorry seed brigade 😂🙊

Amazon sell mini torch keyrings, they've been a firm favourite with mine!

I think many on this site way overthink party bags.

Don't bother with tat that will be binned. Don't bother with books or seed packets. Just do sweets and a piece of cake. I guarantee you the children won't remember and if the adults will, they won't give a shit.

Don't do sweets and cake, if you're going to do that just do cake. I have 3 mini packets of haribo lurking in my handbag I've swiped from party bags for DS in recent weeks. Yes it's a party but he's had sweets and often ice cream there, he's got cake to bring home too , there's really no need to add a bag of haribo to that, especially when it feels like there's at least one party a week at the moment.