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?

Gwendoline, please don't stress over it. The little darlings should be grateful to get anything at all, and the mums will be silently thanking you for not giving them more plastic shit to find bin space for!

Bloody hell have just looked at friendly party bags. Their prices are anything but!!

Last year for DD2 (8) we had a bouncy castle at home and my DH ran games and competitions. When we did pass the parcel I went outside and hid loads of wrapped sweets. Then I gave them all a little bag and they did a treasure hunt to find the sweets. Whilst they had tea I evened them out a bit but that bag of sweets was their party bag.

This year she's 9 and we are doing a treasure hunt around our town (huntfun.co.uk) - will cost £12 for 12 children and then a picnic (if weather holds). Party bags are a notebook from a lovely stationery company in our town (bit like Paperchase) which were reduced from £4 to £1 and a gift card from same shop for £1.00 each (so they can come in and buy the novelty rubbers that they love), so cost £2.00 each, but as the party is costing hardly anything I don't mind. Will wrap them in tissue paper (free as I work for a company that supplies tissue paper) and cheap ribbon. I think for my other children we stopped doing party bags in Year 5 or 6.

cockypants - I looked after you posted (wasn't going to up her visits to the site) OMG! £6.50 plus p&p for 3 items in a bag?
I think I will stick to doing my own thanks!

I know! I spend less than that on birthday gift for DDs pals!! WTAF!!

I have a £5 limit for DD's school friends, so totally agree with you on that!

£6.50 plus p&p for 3 items in a bag Yes and one of the 3 items is a packet of tissues.

A pack of tissues

I recall reading a post that said she used nappy sacks as party bags

Is that the thomas one?
If so - the blue boat is from a set from the poundshop (had about 5 in I think, have used them in partybags before), the book I have seen in Homebargains at about 60p, and if those were tissues they are an 8 pack in the poundshop.
So contents total about 92p (if that as Homebargains books range from 39p).
Don't get me wrong a lot of work may hav gone in to the bag, but a mark up of over £5 each plus p&p is a lot.

Nappy sacks?

Wait, who uses nappy sacks as party bags? The overpriced friendly lady or somebody on another thread?

And BTW that huntfun website is amazing! We will be going to both Chichester and Arundel in our 'Staycation' in a couple of weeks and they have hunts in both - might use one :)

For pre-schoolers round here, it's always bubbles, a bouncy ball, a balloon or two and a couple of sweets. All the kids are happy and they dont cost much.

However, when i lived in Dubai, a friend's daughter went to a party of a local friend, and they got those Tiffany sweetie bracelets in the party bag. How's that for raising the game ?

My view on party bags is mirrored in my blog 'It's not my party and I'll cry if I want to' at www.thenews-on.blogspot.com

Do us a Favour

The thought of stuffing plastic tat and pencil toppers into goody bags at midnight is enough to strike fear into the heart of any grown woman. Why not just throw your cash straight into the bin, instead of traipsing the aisles of Tesco for yo yos and bouncy balls?

My nephew once shoved that party bag favourite ? a blunt pencil - up our poodle?s bottom, claiming: ?I thought it was a pencil sharpener, Mummy.?

Always have emergency party bags to allow for unwanted guests (one parent once brought five of her son?s siblings along) or just incase little Peter wants the princess bag instead of the pirate one.

No point valeting your car beforehand either, as said bag will be emptied over your back seat and smeared across your windows faster than you can say ?choking hazard?.

If your nephew doesn't know the correct use for a pencil, TheNewson, banning them from party bags isn't really the answer, you know.
He's very likely to encounter them elsewhere

I think lucky bags are always nice for the kids to recieve, it doesn't have to cost a lot especially with poundland.
I normally spend about £3.50 on each bag.
I buy multipack pretty hairbobbles/clips for girls, pirate rings/bracelets, a pen from multipack of nice pens, multipack character stickers, a piece of cake and a balloon & whistle.

Are we allowed to link to our own blogs on MN then? I thought you had to join the network thingy (that's a genuine vested interest question)

Long-abandoned plastic tat does have a habit of disappearing the night before bin day in our house, otherwise we would be drowing in the stuff even more than we are already but I am a bit about parents colluding to make party bags more "worthy". Can you not look at it from a childs PoV? For sure they shouldn't expect them, but is it wrong for them to enjoy party bags when they do get them? As others have said, it's not like this phase of childhood lasts all that long (even if the teenage/adult helpers at my DC's parties do expect to get bags too )

They are never ever opened in the car, though - they are kept to be opened with Daddy (who never does party duty ) when we get home, so I cannot blame the rubbish-tip like state of my car on party bags.

Thegoddessblossom I would have split the packets so the each got 1 bracelet each. I haven't done party bags before but if I did I would get something in packs that can be split and costs about 25p each.

One friend got the mini fairy wands and heart bracelets off here and gave each child a choice of which one they would like. Someone else gave each child one of these

Also on here:

The foam puzzles are good for younger children
Paper swords
Polystryene gliders
Punchball balloons
Mini magic paintbook
Mini snakes and ladders
Sticker books
Cardboard jigsaws

WhatSuitTitSuit So if they eat it at the party, you wouldn't give them anything to take home like a balloon?

Was that the first time you had given sweets to take home, at the last party?

Last ones I did, glow stick and bouncy ball with cake and some sugar-free caramel sweets/lollies. It brought back happy childhood memories - always think cake smells different in a party bag.

Why are people worrying about the state of their car though? Why not either take the bag off the child entirely during the journey or give them a non-messy thing to look at like the plastic toy or stickers? I think party bags are fun, even if not everything in them gets used. Although, I do remember a certain child who didnt bring a present but still expected a party bag!!!

TheNewson, I really think your nephew may need to be taught that pencil sharpeners do not have fur or breathe... hopefully he's learnt now that if you don't respect animals they bite? Could have been a bit dangerous for him, if not your poor dog, no?

If you want to do something funny for a party bag, one of my favourite child hood memories is my mum giving everyone a goldfish. All my friends thought it was amazing, and I was a hero as an 8 year old and a legend at school for the remaining term! (The local pet shop also thought it was inspired and agreed to stay open late as parents grumbled in to buy a cheap bowl, plants and food!)