to think that party bags are a FUCKING SCOURGE <<steam coming from ears>>

[Greensleeves]

I always SWORE I wouldn't do the bloody things, I don't approve of them, I think they are a symptom of the whole "gimme gimme" culture I so heartily despise, and the bloody party ought to bloody well be enough, and they should all say "thank you for having me" and be bloody grateful to be buggering off with a slice of squished cake wrapped in a tissue.

So WHY THE FUCK am I sat here trawling ebay for job lots of novelty finger monsters and little pots of silly putty?

you should be at my school. party bags consist of hair accessories from claires, personalised pens and notebooks, organic sweets.... its the only reason most kids go to parties. except it, give in, and get packing those bags

i don't think its trhe kids who want more its the parents!!!!
i have not done party bags at all, ever. I do fun games and making things that you can take home, plus birthday cake, and when it has been dc's younger birthdays, like 1,2, and poss 3, i give out balloons tied to ribbon.
i actually get a bit pissed off with some of the party bags mine come home with, not the ones with toys - i just think ok, fair enough, you want to spend £5 or whatever per kid, my kids happy, fine, but the ones that are literally chock full of those disgusting cheap sweets, or any sweets in fact, mine aren't generally allowed to eat crap, so when they get handed a bag full of it at the end of a party, at which they have invariabl also been fed crap already, and probably even offered fizzy drinks, i just wonder...why don't they just put a bit of speed in all the bags and send the kids home with that?!

i'd love to know why people do those sweet party bags. they seriously get on my nerves.

I'm going to get shot probably but here goes. i don't agree with children expecting a party bag but . . . at the joint party i recently did for my dd's i only invited close friends and family so there were only 7 kids. i really enjoyed the whole thing (1st party i've ever done) What i really enjoyed though was each and every one of the 7 kids gave me a huge hug and thank you (unprompted) for the party bag. That was well worth it.

i actually had a kid once say to me at the end of a party, not you know, 'thank you for having me and enternatining me non stop for 3 hours' but 'where is my party bag?'
seriously.
we had done so much stuff, they had all painted a plate, which I'd then cooked in the oven so they could take home own plate, they's had a treasure hunt with prizes at the end, and a sports day, with real medals and a ceremony thing with them stadning on makeshift boxes like the olympics! I just thought o bugger off and go and plug yourslef back into your gameboy.
and then i remembered he was a child and i was an adult and should not be such a total cow!!!

arhhhh..... were the children all dressed in cloths from the white company?

I do them, but only because I loved having them when I was little - the best part of the party was comparing what you got! I put in some penny sweets, rubbers etc, hair ties and bands, jewellery..normally about £15 spent on party bags, which I think is pretty reasonable

Can't stand the damn things....I have ranged from not providing them at all to this last birthday (dd's 5th) giving out little boxes of Guatemalan Worry Dolls instead of party bags. I ordered them on the internet (in usa) and they worked out to about $1.00 (50p to you brits) each. Not only were the parents ecstatic, but dd's kindergarten teacher made a point of telling what a lovely idea she thought it was, as all the kids were talking about them in class the next day (entire class had been invited). And it's not candy or junk from China and it helps poor locals in Guatemala who make them.

they are indeed the devil's work.

I do pinatas now aka a couple of papier mache layers on a balloon, some paint and filled with cheap and cheerful sweeties.