Best party bag fillers (5yo)

[EnchantedToMeetYou2]

At previous parties I have done:

• Paint Your Own Moneybox from Hobbycraft with a bit of cake
• book from The Works with a small toy and cake
• small craft kit with cake

I try and avoid the piles of plastic junk - although I know kids love it.

DS is turning 5 and has this year requested “a party bag full of fun stuff” to give his friends - but when asked what kind of fun stuff he just asks if I can pick it 😂🫠

What has been a hit at your parties? Or a hit with your kids from parties they have been to?

I don’t use Shein or Temu so preferably nothing from there please ☺️

Wellll it sounds like your party bags are parent pleasers rather than child pleasers, and that your son has spotted this 😂 it is from temu, and it is plastic tat, but the biggest success we've had was a parachute man. The kids all loved launching them off the banisters.

@Springadorable 😂😂 My son actually picked them himself each year 😂 bar the book and toy year - but he was only 2 lol.
Definitely do not suggest allowing this as we stood in Hobbycraft for an hour last year as he picked the Paint Your Own Moneybanks individually for each of 16 kids 🫠😂

I know the parachute men you’re meaning 😂 DS got one at an arcade not too long ago. I’m assuming this is the kind of stuff he means, thanks 😊

Craft stuff sounds nice but actually just means the parent has to facilitate a shit craft project for ages.

You just need stuff that can be opened and consumed/played with in the car home and then recycled.

Id do something like...

Pot of bubbles
Bouncy ball
Toy car
Pencil and rubber
Pack of sweets

Bath bombs can be good - always used unless you have a lot of friends with skin conditions.
I tend to find how many are coming and then hit Amazon with "packs of 4/5/6" etc and see what might work - one year we did reflective sunglasses for eg, but they might be a bit young for those? Looking now these popped up: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nerf-Party-Pack-Blasters-Darts/dp/B0CP4399XP/ref=sr_1_18?crid=5O707RSRY3DP&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.lBzLnjyCBVcxOOlSqwEULj63hbdTn0_m2TFv8Fh0P062rgAuemuHHwqR6xLgquCG-suQOgL868DS9npPEP_cuVh6mCX7Htt33XjWK-edsludrSsnJ4DlkL9cy4RmEfMfJ6DrHvbdBv1gFL6SEd2Hm8DG16bZa7IZyT4X3nHNqUJGH6qTNXKJv-BaZcTgDPZHA13-u3XjGg3SbyyAVDvx8-2kUEhdv-IirWSAQErEKoHteQigsFbF-nl2vaMiiX8aF9SUVbPYa_DXQs2_qoAJDY22YpW5t3mBRD6vaDdw5mY.Jg86YyC3EuUHE0_iRkDtw5JGUcmzP2589Fw5uuRPpmY&dib_tag=se&keywords=packs+of+5&qid=1756755808&sprefix=packs+of+5%2Caps%2C327&sr=8-18

Glider planes, mini water guns, punch balloons, invisible ink pens, glow in the dark tattoos, bath bombs, sweets, lollipops , chocolate coins.

From the works, decorate your own canvas bag. They're party bag sized so double up as the actual party bag! I think they're £1 each and come with 4 felt tip pens. Then pot of bubbles, sweets, a fidget stretchy tube thing, bouncy ball, stickers etc.

I did finger puppets and had some lovely comments.. you can get a pack of 10 for about £7 on Amazon

What does your son like? I usually start from that. I’ve done things like invisible pens before (plastic though), slices of geode (one child loves rocks etc), roll your own candle, wild seeds, small toy figures (some have been plastic but others not). I did mini soft toys one year. I have looked a kaleidoscopes. I usually have sweets.

The trouble is, the parents will see your party bags and think ‘oh how lovely’. The kids will see them and think, ‘A book? Where’s the plastic crap?’

The last one I did was for a third birthday and had a mini colouring book and pack of four crayons, a duck whistle, stickers, a pot of slime, bubbles, temporary tattoos, a bouncy ball, a small bag of Rainbow Drops (we had a couple of Muslim children and a couple of vegans, so this was better than Haribo, as I wasn’t sure if the gelatine was pork or not), a parachute man, a punch balloon, a mini stamp, one of those rubber monsters that sit on the end of your finger and waggles its arms about and a helium balloon (nothing fancy). It all seemed to go down very well with the kids and they were playing with things as they were leaving. Pound Fun is a UK based site and quite good price wise for party bag fillers and I bought a way in advance, so got some fantastic bargains. Some stuff isn’t the best quality, but some stuff (especially the duck whistles) are brilliant. Party bags aren’t that big so I ordered some party boxes from eBay for just a couple of pounds more. They’re about the same size as a Happy Meal and you can get them plain or to match a theme, plus have the child’s name printed on them.

Chocolate, crisps, jellies......and just get some random rubbish e.g. stretchy plastic animals/tattoos/novelty toys that you can buy in a large bag from Amazon. I wouldn't put too much time or effort into the bags to be honest They are only played with in the car on the way home.

I do a half way house of usable crap.

Little bubbles/ soap / pencils / post-its ect. Books can be good as long as they’re good books - often the 10 for £10 type deals are awful. Sticker books are often a hit.

I know the dilemma. Even the most eco-minded small kid doesn’t actually want a packet of seeds!

Haha I can picture this now 😂😂😂 Just. Choose.

Squishy toys, invisible ink/magic pen books, balloons, wind up toys, fake tattoos, stampers, sweets sweets and more sweets.

we’ve just done my sons birthday party this weekend. We did a small drawstring bag with a tiny bubble wand, pot of slime, snap band and the main hit was a little plastic car a bit smaller than a hot wheels with a little plastic “launcher” we got these from a local shop that sells stock for the beachfront arcade for 75p each. My son has 3 friends with severe allergies, 2 vegetarians and 1 vegan so played it safe with no snacks. We served the birthday cake as dessert so parents could assess whether it was suitable for their child.

I did soft toy key rings once, they were a hit as they all like putting them on their school bags

The best party bag item my 3 year old grandchildren received was a whoopee cushion, hours of fun!! 😆

I love a good themed party bag, with a mix of

1. Food
2. Things they have made at the party
3. Small gift, ideally not total tat but still fun

So for example, if it was a space themed party I might do

1. Cupcake/Biscuit that they have decorated themselves at the party.
2. Glow in the dark stars that they have found during a treasure hunt at the party.
3. Kaleidoscope
4. Lego space character
5. Space themed pen/notebook

things we’ve had that are well received but not landfill-

dice
cute eraser and pencil
crazy drinking straw
wooden tangram puzzle
sweets
hot wheels car (buy a pack of 20 and split it)

items the kids liked for novelty:
disco sunglasses
squishy plastic pompom things
pop up monsters

items I hate
wildflower seeds- ffs most of these are plants I pull up from my borders, I do not want my kids sowing them in our garden!!

Tattoos and stickers always go down well in my experience.

Last year for my son's birthday I put in these little squishy toy dinosaurs and ALL my kids loved them to the point I ended up buying another pack from Amazon just for them.

My 5 year old has loved balloons, face masks and sweets in party bags in the last year. Kids do like tat! Mini sunglasses and slap bands are also popular but definitely tat.

We bought plastic free/low plastic stuff last year including things like these balloons on elastic bands that they twang at each other, crayons, face masks and so on. I got ours from The Curious Caterpillar, which has lots of great plastic free options: thecuriouscaterpillar.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOooakSmL-0ePhJ8MruKQmCjTOxX2JR7wco-ZaGsQmH3LkJMFokrH

Sticky ninjas! Guaranteed to be the favourite piece of tat

I’d go to Tiger or similar, buy 16 (?) little £1/£2 toys, wrap individually and put in a sack. Each child can stick their hand in and choose one at random.

The invisible ink pens with uv lights are good, and tend to work well which some party bag novelties don’t.

One year we did a science themed party and I put diffraction glasses in, I thought they were fun.
Kids love those pens with multiple colours in like https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/8-colour-ball-pen/p/8098205

On the sweets front, skittles are vegan.

Thanks for all your posts 😊a bag/box of tat it is 😊

You’ve given me a good list to have a look at 😊