WIBU to give selection boxes as gifts?

[thisismeusernameything]

Shamelessly posting for traffic but I need ideas.

I'm party of a local charity that is holding a children's Christmas party. We want to give each child a gift but it needs to come in at less than £2.00. Would IBU to give them all a decent selection box each? Or would mums prefer something that isn't chocolate? Any ideas? Children will range from around 1yrs to 11yrs.

I'm obviously trying to stay away from bulk buy plastic crap?

Christmas socks? We gave them to our rainbows one year and they went down well but we were able to have a good guess at shoe size, we saw them every week.

Could you get packs of books from the Book People and a smaller chocolate gift?

www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=128706&catalogId=10051

They sell sets of books that work out about a pound each and then something like a box of maltesers or small selection pack from the supermarket for the other pound.

I bought these recently. Lots of different ones on offer at the moment for £1.75
Gave them out instead of party bags full of plastic crap!

www.hobbycraft.co.uk/paint-your-own-robot-money-box-9cm-x-6cm-x-16cm/622798-1000

A selection box isn't really much good for a baby or toddler, and most kids are tired of chocolate around Christmas.

I think the socks are an excellent idea.

The other thing to be aware of is allergies - my toddler has allergies to milk and eggs so would be quite upset as I would have to take it away from him while others were enjoying them

Wow, I would've said sure that's fine it's the kind of thing you'd expect, it's a charity event not your child's birthday but clearly I'm in the minority!

I would have said it was absolutely fine. Me and my siblings always loved the selection boxes one aunt got us every year! But we didn't have much else in the way of chocolates/sweets as gifts...

I like the socks and the books ideas though!

What about felt tip pens/coloured pencils/wax crayons from the pound shop, and some chocolate?

Socks aren't really going to be workable although I love the idea! Same with books. Buying age appropriately for the people that get their tickets the day before is going to be a nightmare.

The hobby craft paints are great. I love them. Thanks cofogirl

Will you be able to divide them into age categories, or do the packs have to cover ALL ages? 1 - 11 is a massive age gap. Some of the 7-11 year olds might appreciate an issue of a comic, for example, which is no good for the littlies.

I think a selection box is a very normal present for a token gift at a seasonal party. You could buy a few non chocolate ones for allergic children to swap or if you know allergies for catering purposes

My dd has a nut allergy so I'd also most likely have to confiscate. You'd be surprised how many things have that annoying may contain traces label.

Bubbles?

I got my friends kids a pack of these to keep them occupied during a party and they spent hours playing with them.
www.amazon.co.uk/Henbrandt-Dinosaur-Gliders-Assorted-Designs/dp/B00863F7S8/ref=sr_1_30_sspa?psc=1&s=kids&keywords=pocket+money+gifts&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1541515622&sr=1-30-spons

What about doing the selection boxes but getting some allergy friendly treats to swap out just in case and inform the parents that this is an option?

No Bloomcounty. Its a bit of a logistical nightmare. We will also have parents that will just turn up on the day who you can't turn away.

We gave them bubbles at halloween.

I always thought a decent selection box was a reasonable gift. Obviously completely out of touch having teenagers. Good job I asked.

I do selection boxes for children who I don't buy big gifts for. Even if they parents don't love them, the kids do! I'd get them and maybe a few other things (pens, bubbles etc) to keep aside for anyone who is allergic.

I'd go for the selection boxes then. Can you get non-chocolate ones? Or make up a goody bag for each kid with sweets decanted from multipacks, so the kids get a mix of chocolate, jelly sweets and marshmallows, along with a wee pack of crayons. You could use plain brown paper bags and print some basic stationery labels with suitable christmassy clipart downloaded from the internet, and slap them all over, tied with a bit of curling ribbon. I think most of the price of a selection box is in the packaging, and the contents are pretty disappointing!

I would have loved a selection box at that type of event. I'm sure you could get some allergy friendly ones (might cost more but could still keep the average cost down).

You can buy cheap cellophane Christmas bags from amazon. They come from China but quite quickly.

Then have a look at the swizzles website. Their bulk bags of love hearts etc are really cheap. You could do a mixed sweet/ chocolate bag for much less than £2.

Thanks everyone. I'm a bit in love with the paint your own dinosaur at HobbyCraft and have managed to get 15% off so a good buy. I've also got books and colouring books for the tiny ones.

Pens? a selection of novelty pencils and biros (flying tiger etc are great) are good for all ages

I would go with selection boxes with such a wide age range. When is the Event? I'm helping to organise a school fair and we'll do either selection boxes or advent calendars. I wouldn't have been happy with pens when mine were 1 and 2!

Its not just allergies - my daughter is diabetic, and always missed out when selection boxes were given

For the younger ones, the works has a 10 for £10 offer on books. They’re really lovely quality, decent story books. I’ve just checked and the code ‘FREETEN’ also makes postage free so you can get the 10 books for £10 including delivery. Not sure if I can do a clicky link but here it is!

www.theworks.co.uk/c/multibuys/10-for-10