to think party bags are the work of the devil?

[bejeezus]

I've stopped doing them....

Even if they cost £1.50 for contents and you have 10, that's blinkin' £15! But its easy to spend more than that. And have more kids at party

They are invariably filled with crap that is disgarded by child onto pile of discarded crap at home

They are pointless, a needless expense, and irritating

Do you do them? What do you put in them? How much does it cost you?

My kids' party bag days are pretty much over, but spare a thought for my DD2 and those like her when you plan your bags!

She's always been completely non-girly and some of the bags described on here would be a difficult end to a party when she was very young. She'd be trying very hard to hold back the tears as she saw all the cool airplanes/cars/whoopee cushions etc in the boys' bags whilst trying to be very brave about the pink hair bobbles/princess note pads/tiaras etc in her own bag. That makes her sound very spoiled - it wasn't that. She genuinely has no interest in girls' tat but loves boys' tat! So she couldn't share in the excitement of the bags, and when you're young the bags are exciting.

As she got older most party givers knew her better and she was old enough to hide her feelings if they didn't.

I always did boy/girl bags with DD1 until DD2 started making her feelings clear. Always did unisex after that.

My dp has a stoma fitted to collect the contents of his bowel. He has orange scented bags to dispose of his waste.

I forgot to buy party bags for dds 9th party which was on Saturday.

Does it make me a bad mother that I seriously considered using them instead?

In the end I didn't. I just handed them a piece of cake and a packet of sweets and thanked them for coming.

Party bags are the highlight of the party for some kids. I used to go overboard with them but have toned them down over the years. They are nice to give and nice to receive but I would never spend over a couple of quid per bag. And that would be for 10 or less.

I just wish that they sold them in packs with more than 8 in. And were cheaper for what is a colored plastic sandwich bag.

Not a bad mother Froubylou, a resourceful one. I'm a party bag lover I'm afraid, once I had a themed pirates and princesses party and I got a job lot of pirate and princess rubber ducks on ebay

We went to a 'learn circus tricks' party last year. The mum had bought a diabolo for each child from the pound shop. Great idea, but still £30 for 30 kids! They were all wrapped as well. It must have taken hours.

Personally I love a bag of plastic tat and always look forward to seeing what DS has got in his bag. I'd obviously be horrified if he said something we overheard at a party once. The little darling said 'What, is that ALL there is in there?'. It was sweets, cake, balloon and at least 3 items of tat. What on earth was she expecting?

I've done bags of tat - but you realise that the kids don't really bother with them after the ride home from the party.

I did very basic balloon lightsabres and a bit of cake. Kids loved them, didn't help in getting them to leave in a calm fashion though!

We've done decorating canvas bags as an activity and then the bits of plastic tat have been game prizes and a pinada to gather their sweets. So they sort of made and filled their own party bags.

These days I generally try and buy one thing for £1 or less - toy or book. Book People are really good for sets of books which you then split. With a bit of cake too.

Quite like the idea of a lucky dip someone suggested on here....