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?

Up to you but I always tend to do them (apart from one year when I tied a helium balloon on to each child's wrist + made individ cakes - latter nearly killed me on top of making birthday cake and doing all party prep). I think it's good that you give something back to guest when they've taken trouble to come/buy present/participate etc and frankly I loved receiving all the plastic crap as a child!! (Stretchy men very popular here.) DD also loves helping me make them up. Never, ever name party bags or do different genders though - it's too much hassle when everyone is leaving.

You can get some very tasteful one's on line for not much money:

See these at just 99p each!

I don't think anyone minds or judges what anyone else does though - only if they are over-the-top expensive.

They are unnecessary tat I never bothered and no one ever commented.

and by the way I think people put far too many sweets in party bags. DS2 went to a party on Saturday, and his "party bag" was a sports bottle from Sport Direct filled with about 10 packets of sweets, plus cake, plus an extra packet of fruit skittle sweets. On top of all the crap they would have eaten at the party. And I don't buy the argument that it's a special occasion why not let them have the sweets, my kids go to at least 1 a week at the moment.

My two sons automatically take 1 sweet from their party bags and hand me the rest which I put away. They know I won't allow them to eat them all. Am I a mean cruel person?

and another thing....(on a roll now).....regarding gender specific stuff - i once did a "girls" pass the parcel game and a "boys" one - what a nightmare that was. Had to monitor 2 different circles of kids, see who had had a go and who had not - total stress fest.

I like party bags that are mainly sweets blossom at least they get used rather than being plastic tat which is either clutter or ends up in landfil (or both). My DCs also eat only one or two when they come home and the rest go away for another day - that's fine I never buy sweets, but there's almost always a treat in the cupboard

Oh dear - by the end of the party bag years with my dses, I was just buying a variety of sweets from pound land, and filling the party bags - because I resented buying the plastic tat. I did buy each child a craft kit (also from pound land) instead of a party bag, and explained this to the children when I handed them out, and one little girl handed hers back and said she'd rather have a party bag, thank you. Her face was when I told her that it wasn't a choice, and there were no party bags!

from Wiki (re flumps)
"This particular 'sweet' has become notorious, due to the popularity of the 'flump challenge'. In this 'challenge', a contestant will attempt to fit as many flumps as humanly possible into their mouth and say 'flumpty, flump, flump, flump'. The current international record goes to 'R-Kirky' for fitting 25 flumps into his mouth."

Yanbu and our local soft play has brought in a stupid rule that under 3's can't have them, my 2.7 year old was heartbroken he was the only one left out at a party.

HipHop - here!

Flumps

only 30 cals per flump!!!

I do the Book People books, have made my own bags so far (can't be bothered with that this year, as have just had DD3 and am too busy), then just put some bubbles in too, and gave each child one of the balloons from the bunches we had decorating the room. This went down well each time, and didn't cost too much.

Other mums have done a bag of compost, small pot and cress seeds (with instructions), or small craft kits, or colouring kits, sometimes small cuddly / bath / sand toys for the little ones.

One party we went to had a magician, who made balloon shapes for each child at the end. I don't like gender stereotyping either, but most boys asked for a sword, while most girls had flowers. Only one or two children went for the gender neutral dog or hat balloon!

The mums I know aren't competitive, but generally don't want to buy tat that will break / choke baby siblings / go in a drawer of other tat. If I'm going to spend the money, I'd rather spend it on something that will last and be useful. I've never heard mums whinge about the contents of anyone else's party bag, though I have had discussions about how nice some of the bags have been (even though they weren't expensive).

My DDs (and most children I know) are grateful for whatever they are given, whether it is a bit of cake or a balloon, plastic tat (which they love), books, etc. If they get nothing, they are just grateful to have had a lovely time at someone's party. The children I know are not all angels by any means, but I've never heard anyone's DC whinge about it, maybe that comes later, as my eldest DD is still only 5 next birthday!

Yes... 30 cals... Who exactly are these flumps for HipHop, hmmm?

wishiwasonholiday - what a sad rule :( poor DS. Surely they could hand them over with a word of caution like "Most toys inside are aimed at 3 years plus, so supervise your child."
Surely that would appease the Elf and safety folks?

I have said before in a previous thread that I go a bit OTT with the party bags. Every single one is themed and age appropriate for the child. For example I did TY beenie babies for DD's first birthday that were suitable from birth, as all the guests were one or nearly one.
I have also been known to do useful party bags.
I aim to do less plastic tat, more useful trinket type bags.
DD wants a craft party at home this year, so as that will cost about £2 per child (and hours of prep for me!) the party bags will consist of a few sweets and a bun in a box. Oh and some stickers and a bracelet pen (5 for £1 at £1shop) as she said these are the must have party bag filler.
DS will be 3 in December and we are having special little bags that are supposed to be for children to take on flights (little satchel style ones) with crayons and colour sheets. The bags should be £8.99, but I paid 49p in the sale. I never spend more than £1.50 on a party bag.
Plus all parties are at home so I save money there. If DC had playgyms I would reconsider the bags a little.
I think they are a nice way to thank guests for attending.

My friend put pants (new one with characters on them) in her party bag. I quite liked that.

I always try to put something a bit useful in there like rubbers/ sharpeners along with a packet of haribo and a minimum amount of tat.

I do like those little fortune telling fish, transfer tattoos and other retro pocket money tat though.

Although the party bags can become quite expensive, the children's excitement to receive them is well worth it and agree with Seona1973, it finishes off a party really well!

Children are only young once and I aim to make their childhood as memorable as possible down to every little detail :-)

Oh the tatts drive me mad! You can't get them off for bloody weeks!

I like them, but I am crazy for a theme too. :)

DS is having a Superman party on Saturday. The bags are just little plain brown bags, with a few pieces of chocolate and some tat (mini kaleidoscope, whistle thing, bouncy ball, bubbles) and a Superman pencil. I tied them with red, yellow, and blue ribbons. (Superman colors). :) They were pretty cheap.

One of the things my DD1 has taught me is in the eyes of a young child the party bag is the MOST important part of a party (even at her own party the party bags were TOP priority).

DD gets very excited about choosing things for her party bags too. She has to be reined in at times as does mummy as she likes to give nice things to others.

as does mummy even! lol

We have long since given up on party bags.

We offer a aquashed piece of cake wrapped in napkin plus a 'gift' it has in the past been a Kinder egg or the best yet was the £1 Bubble Wands from Asda.

Keep it simple, slice of cake and a few sweets in a nice bag. My DDs would make my life even more unbearable if they went without.

I decided I wasnt going to do party bags this year as had hired a bouncy castle and said I would rather put the money towards that.... as I couldnt afford to do everything. When I told my friend, she looked at me like I just killed a kitten in front of her, lol. "You can't not do party bags, its expected....."

I said I would rather they all had fun on the bouncy castle for 2 hours, than sat around bored and went home with a bag of rubbish!

Jojane, I do think that a significant minority of boys (say, between ages of 3 and 6) would like pink/princess-themed stuff. Mine would. He's 4. he loves knights too At a party this year, the hostess had thrown vast piles of money at it (which is fine, I get the impression she's cash-rich and time-poor) and everything was themed. There were boy party bags, and lavish princess ones for the girls. DS1 not having been to many parties, when the bags were being handed out he was a bit slow, and they ran out of boy bags. The hostess was extremely apologetic and kept on saying 'will he want a pink bag?' He was 3, ffs. He loved it - glittery stickers, princess jigsaw, bling ring and all!

Anyway, I am at the stage where we still have a very few special friends over and the bags are more for the parents. Bags of seeds and a mini metal bucket to plant them in, mini tubs of aromatic playdough, small books... all the usual mum-pleasing wankery. But only x5. Next year when he starts school, I suppose I'll go over to the crowd-pleasing sweets, sweets and a bouncy ball.