To do party bags this way?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Dd will have a softplay party for her 5th birthday. Pricing up all the tat for party bags and any prizes for games (we have a room for food and games afterwards) it just seems a lot for stuff that has a 24 hour interest.

Wibu to get a big bowl of little things (puzzles, bouncy balls etc) and the kids just win something from there every game then I can do a paper bag each with a slice of cake and they can chuck all their loot in there as they win it. Anyone that looks thin on winnings I can just top up from the bowl.

I wouldn't, as it sounds pretty stressful, and you'll be under pressure to ensure they all win something.
Instead, put the 'tat' in a surprise box, and at the end of the party, the kids can dip their hand in and pull out a 'surprise' to take home. Give them their cake and a balloon each too.

Scrap the tat and just give them some sweets. It's all landfill. It makes me irrationally angry and I particularly hate the bouncy balls which I confiscate straight away for fear of a choking incident.

Or consider the environment and give a book each.

I like the book idea very much.

Maybe I'll swap to mini Haribo bags for prizes and books for leaving

Op have a look in The Works or online at The Book People. Books work out around £1 each

My ds got a sweet cone as a party treat, that went down really well.

Buy a box set of books and give one out each. We did this with Disney books one year.

The sweet cones look lovely.

I might do something like that but in a paper bag.

I’m also not a fan of cheap toys.
Such a waste

We did sticker books from the book people, got a load of Disney ones that worked out at less than a pound each.

Look for the sets of books, works out a lot cheaper.

When ds1 was small a party bag gift was a book. Much better idea.

Puzzle book each & a piece of cake would be better. No plastic.

I did water bottles for my son's party this year - worked well as it was active party. Cute milk bottles from eBay, name stickers from Etsy and a few sweets.

We recently went to a party (5 year old) and the 'party bags' were a little flower pot each, with a packet of seeds, some sweets, and the cake. All the kids loved it, and when I spoke to the mum she said it was really cheap to do.

We've been to a few parties with books and it ways goes down really well! Cake and book=sorted!

If you are doing sweets for prizes have a variety as you never know if certain children can't have certain types until the day (due to religion, allergies, vegetarianism etc)

We did sweet bags last time.
Much better than tat!

We normally do a book from the book people, a bag of haribo and a slice of cake.

I did a reusable canvas bag and book at DDs party. Went down well!

We always used to do a book from the Book People. It went down well. Sticker books for little ones, split a set for the older ones and it works out cheaper than a bag of plastic tat.

Why not just give them the cake at the party? I can't get my head around this cake to go home and fester in the fridge for days before going in the bin. Why not just eat it there?

I do a book, bag of sweets, and cake 😁

Also in agreement to not bother with the tat. I’ve got a variety of ages coming so I’ve got some books and sticker books which cost £1 each, I’ve got bubbles for the babies, a slinky, sweet cones and a slice of cake.

One year I did a make your own party pot thing which went down well. I had some cardboard birthday cups, and then had different decorated gift boxes, one was filled with mini chocolates packs, one with mini haribo, one with nice pencils, erasers, mini bubbles etc. The children got their cup and were allowed to chose 5 items. The kids really loved it

A friend had a Willy Wonka party and had some small striped bags and glass jars with different sweets in that the children could chose, that worked nicely too. Our local big Iceland store is the best for sweets as they have lots of boxes of penny sweets and bulk buy containers.

For my DD’s 9th party I went to Poundland and bought a pile of big Toblerones. That was a few years ago. Now I’d do similar but with Haribos.

I do a box of maltesers instead of a party bag, £2 each sometimes cheaper.