to think that party bags are a complete waste of time and money?

[insomniarules]

Why do we have to have them?

It depends what is in them?
Dd has been to parties with no party bag at the end, as long as she gets a bit of cake she's happy

Both my dd's love a good party bag. I think its done for many reasons. I think if you are going to do them then you need to make them good , hours of fun can be had with a balloon (its a must in a party bag) of and those noisy blow things that piss the parents off, whats not to like?

YABU.
Firstly because you don't have to have them and secondly, if you fill it with a small bottle bubbles, bit of chocolate, bit of cake, balloon etc.. the child will have some treats and at least ten minutes of fun.

So whilst you don't want to be bothered, they don't have to be a waste of money at all

YABU

Children love them. It's all part and parcel of birthday parties these days.

Depending on the age it doesn't have to be a party bag as such. But it's nice for them to take something home.

One of my DS had a party near Easter once and I managed to buy the guests an Easter egg each really cheaply as a going home present. I was really chuffed with that!

Waste of money? Depends what you put in them. Waste of time? Well, as soon as your DC are old enough, divvying up the treats between bags is their job - a nice sharing task, putting together something to please their friends.

DDs favourite bag ever contained some sweets and cake and one nice plastic dinosaur (the mum had got them in an ELC sale).

It's a good way of getting rid of the children who'd quite like to hang around after the end without being rude.

DeWe- love it! Never thought of it like that!

Waste of money. I spend a serious fortune on my son's parties (hired mobile planetariums, hired reptile zoos....yes I am one of THOSE mothers, sorry) but the party bag consists of a piece of cake. I usually get a tonne of helium balloons as part of the venue decoration...they all take one of those too, which frankly saves me trying to take them home and they LOVE them. Plus I have a craft station related to the theme, so they take home something they've made too. Even bags full of tat you're looking at £4-5 a child, often a lot more.... times that by the 30 children that turn up? Ridiculous "value". I'd rather save that £150 and spend it on the experience they have. £120 this year at his space party hired one of the countries leading astronomers to do a 1 1/2 hour long presentation, which they sat through mesmerised, and they still all talk about. Still...having said that, party bags are a "tradition" for most, this is only my personal opinion on them.

£4-£5 a bag , where are you buying your balloons from??

I have only ever done a couple parties for Dd1, I enjoyed doing party bags.

Parties have become crazy, what ever happened to musical bumps, sleeping tigers and jelly and ice cream.

Dd1 went to her best friends party a couple weeks back and it consisted of a picnic in a hut (cricket hut) at the local park, she had a great time .

I LOVE making party bags. Kids love receiving them too

Depends on whether they are done well. Some are lame and you wonder why the parents bothered (loads of cracker-type toys, junk food etc). But it doesn't take much to do a good one. A piece of cake , some bubbles and a skipping rope or some such will please most kids and can be done cheaply.

To be fair, I just like doing them. I'm convinced I'm the best party planner to have walked the earth and get really into it. Way too into it. Perhaps I need help into it ;) To be fair they are awesome days...less parties, more experiences, especially the crocodiles, they were something else lol! But I'm just going on the typical thing my son gets in a bag from parties... (mix of the following) always a piece of cake, a little puzzle book, a rubber, pencils, bouncy balls, whistles, balloons, little toy. Very Christmas cracker. All of which he likes, but would have been just as happy not to get, he has lost interest by the time we have driven home most times to be honest and is just munching on the cake. I'd rather put the money to better use.

I think it depends on the contents, but if you're having 30'ish children it can get quite expensive if you're going to include more than a piece of cake and a balloon. I think they are pretty much standard now for small children, but I guess as they get older you can get away without them (that's what I'm hoping anyway!)?

I think I'm with SugarHut that I'd rather put the money I would have spent to go the extra mile with the actual party content, although I don't think I would have thought of hiring an astronomer! Very good idea though.

When kids stop liking them, we can stop giving them.

Kids love tat! It's a good way to bribe get them out of the party happily

£4-5 per party bag is way too much - I reckon on a pound a bag max, plus a slice of cake and the cost of the bags.

For that I've done decent presents - a book, a ball, a real watch, and still have enough in the budget to add in typically a couple of stickers, a pencil and notebook, a pack of sweets (including halal ones for those that can't have gelatine).

Never occurred to me to put balloons in though - always understood that you shouldn't give balloons to the under 8s...

I am one of those mothers that goes mad at birthdays (but not in a show off spend loads of money way, more of a make everything myself and hunt for bargains type way but then realise on the day if partying have bought more than I remembered!)
I did Dora party bags once, I made the purple paper bags into mini rucksacks with purple ribbon and sewed little felt maps, and put in various things they needed for the Dora adventure throughout the party - glow sticks, compass watches, whistles etc.
One year for ds1s party (cinema and pizza hut as ds2 was only a couple of weeks old) I gave out boxed puzzles with handles on, got them for £1.15 each and we're big floor type puzzles.
Dd just had a hello kitty craft type party where whatever they made they put in thier party bags ( which they decorated as one of the crafts) so they went home with a cupcake in a little box, bracelets, badges, etc.
I did really good pirate party bags once which were a big hit for less than £1 each and they included pencil, sticker notebook, eye patch, telescope, choc coins, jewellery and a flag (but I did spend ages making a spreadsheet of all the arises places to get it all from and working out what worked out cheapest with postage etc! )
I got lucky with DDs princess and knits party as the castle where she was having the party was refurbishing the gift sho
And getting rid of lots of stock really cheaply so when I booke the party I got first dibs from the stock room and managed to pick up really nice stuff like pop up jester puppets for 50p and wooden knight puzzles for £1 to use as prizes. Think I got some huge princess wands which were selling for £5 for 75p as the manager just wanted to get rid of them! Plus I saved on decor as I figured a real castle beat banners and balloons any day!

but why can't they eat the cake at the party? I just don't understand!

Personally, I can't stand them. Where we are, they are full of horrible rubbish toy and sweet tat, sometimes dangerous - those popper things.

To me it just (another) sign of rampant materialism gone even madder.

p.s. Agree with SugarHut piece of cake is plenty, a nice parting gesture.

insomniarules, did you never enjoy being given something to take home from parties? It's a simple, enjoyable tradition.

Wow sugarhut bet the adults are staying at your parties (crocodiles?!). I got sick of doing them although I was totally into it at the beginning. I don't like the plastic crap and tat so swapped to annuals from pound shop or magazine with something on the outside as introductory 1st copies often come out in Jan when my 2 dc have there parties. My friends were glad we'd liberated them from the cycle. When the dc were little they loved it but often got too materialistic about it, but it kept them quiete on the way home. My dd 11y seems to go to a party a fortnight (expense on present front) and nobody wants them unless they come free with the venue. Sometimes a mum makes up a brilliant one but I think why have they spent nearly as much as we did on the present!

YANBU!

Whoever thought of introducing them over here was nuts. A piece of cake and a balloon are more than enough. Thank God I don't have to make them any more!

insomnia I was just about to ask that. We were at a party last wknd where they gave us a cupcake with the food and then sent us home with a piece of cake. We're having a very small party for ds at our local cafe as he doesn't like big parties (3yr old). A big part of our very informal plan is cake. The other parts are mask making and a cheesy party bag. What kid doesn't like a bit of tat? They lose interest quickly but that's ok because it should only cost a pound or so.