to not do party bags - really cannot be arsed!

[BigMomma3]

DTs party this weekend. They will be 8 so invitees aged between 7/8 and there will be at least 20 of them (6 other ignorant twunts have not replied).

I have been frantically looking for ideas for party bags cos I think that age group is too old for plastic tat and I get throughly pissed off with it being spread throughout the house so imagine other parents do too.

I also don't really want to spend another 50 quid on them after party costs as well (washing machine completely died yesterday, will cost too much to repair so will have to get another one on the weekend so that's an unexpected 250 quid expense as well grrr). I looked round today for some cheap bits but could'nt see anything original and can't be arsed to look again tomorrow.

AIBU to just give them a party bag with a balloon and a slice of cake or will I be forever vilified as a cheapskate (or be thought of as poor - don't know which is worse ).

If anyone's going down the book route, try www.bananas.co.uk - it's the clearance site for thebookpeople so your login for there often will work on bananas too and it's a reputable/safe place to buy.

But - prices are even cheaper than thebookpeople - books often work out at 35-50p if you buy them in a set. eg they have a set of 3 bolt books for a pound, or 8 doctor who books for £4.

Like the pot and seed idea for the present too. You could tie balloons up with long green ribbon and tie them to the pots if you're doing them with helium in, then you get a party decoration too!

Other thing to look at is places like asda and tesco - they do little value sets of crayons or colouring pencils that are about 15p each if you wanted something cheap to add to the colouring sheets that people were talking about...