Cheap kids party bag ideas

[taytotayto111]

I'm really trying to keep costs down for my dd's upcoming party. I'll be making the cake and doing the food myself.
Can anyone give me some ideas for what to give out as a thank you for coming that doesn't cost the earth. We are expecting about 30 children if everyone comes. I was thinking of making cookies and bagging them up but it might take ages to make them. I'd also love some ideas for party food that's easy to prepare and ideally doesn't need heating up.
Thank you.

How old are the children? They just like to have something to get them out the door without a tantrum take away. You can get 50 punchball balloons for £2.99 on Amazon. That allows extra for mishaps. Then a bag with a piece of cake, a couple of chocolate coins and a Lidl or Aldi fake Milky Way or whatever is on offer at the moment.

Having just looked on Amazon, they no longer have the bag of 50 😢

Pound land have bubble wands 2 for a pound, or they do those busy bag type things for £1 a go or a friend bought a Mr man set from the book people (£30 for 50 books) give one each with a pack of sweets and books to spare for stocking fillers etc.

If you are worried about costs, just a bag of sweets/slice of cake and a balloon will be fine. Other parents may be relieved they don't have a house full of crap.

From where i am sitting i can see:
2 plastic flicking frogs (they jump if you flip a lever on their backs).
4 super-bouncy balls.
An elastic bracelet with beads.
3 tubes of bubbles.
2 glow sticks.
One parrot finger puppet.
One pack 4 crayons.

Just from the past month. I know, my house needs a tidy up

I might keep some in a tupperware until next year and stick it in DS' piñata (we're in Spain). I have an almighty urge to simply sweep it all into a binbag but it'll just end up in landfill

Party tat is a bugger!

Edibles are easy I reckon. Or I've seen people buy a set of Mr Men books and out one of those in a bag each. Teamed with a balloon and cake and small choc bar is plenty.

Amazon has bouncy balls (15 for £1.51) and Chinese finger traps (12 for £1.87) and mini touchable bubbles (12 for £1.93). All free delivery, I think.

Cookies are a great idea, but labour-intensive for you if you've got that many kids coming.

Kids never seem to eat much at parties - they're too hyper. I'm always amazed how much food is left over (and I don't buy that much in the first place!) I would say get small quantities of food, mostly cheap crisps and biscuits, and maybe have some loaves of garlic bread on hand to pop into the oven if they do eat more than expected (you can always put it in the freezer for another time if you don't use it).

In my view, time and money spent on kids' party food is often a waste. They are excited and have no appreciation for your lovingly prepared quiches (or whatever). They care whether there are plenty of crisps and they care whether the birthday cake looks impressive, and that's all. (They do get very thirsty, though, so they want a lot to drink.)

Oh... and seconding what RupertsMum says about putting the pieces of cake into the party bags. That bulks the bags out nicely.

Another "balloon and cake" from me. If you want maximum plastic tat for minimum spend AliExpress is a good bet, but delivery can be slow.

I would add that spending £1 on a bag for each child x 30 children is not keeping costs down.

DS' present from us is usually around £30 (Lego/Playmobil/2nd hand bike).

How old are they? No one cares once they are over about 6.

Cheap food - oven chips and sausages

Thank you all for you're ideas and advice. Daughter will be 6. To be honest I hate the crappy party bag. I think they are a waste of money. I like the book idea but as I want to keep costs down I don't think it's an option at the moment. I think I'll make edible raw cookie dough balls and out them into clear cellophane bags which as cheap on eBay. Then cake and bobs your uncle. They can think what they like !!!! I agree about not going mad with the food. I hate waste.

The biggest success at my DS party was an inflatable banana . Think it was from the pound shop. I also bought cheap notebooks and stickers for an activity and they took them home with some sweets I had bagged up.

Pound shop for whatever they have in packs of 10-12. There will be stationery things like glittery pencils, rubbers etc. Also get a multi pack of lollies and/or mini chocolate bars. Slice of birthday cake too and job done.

The book people do 20 mr men books for £10.

Amazon foam animal masks are around £2 for 8.

As it's around Easter time, could you give them each a chocolate bunny or small Easter egg? Our Co-op does Malteser bunnies for £1 (not the fun size ones). We gave out selection boxes for DS1'S party as his birthday is just before Christmas & people seemed happy with them.

Honestly, a piece of cake and a balloon will be fine! The most useful thing about a party bag is that they signal "end of party, it' time to go now"

Honestly, if they were given raw cookie dough, it would go in the bin. And that is no reflection on your cookie dough.

One party I had for my DD was one in the garden with various games we organised (it was summer). One of the games was a treasure hunt where I hid various sweets (all wrapped ones, no chocolate as it melts) and they had to find them. Then I collected them all back and divided them up into equal piles and they took these home as the party bag with a piece of cake.

Ref food, go to Aldi, buy little sausages, cheap crisps, carrot and cucumber to make crudites, eggs to make egg mayo to stuff into rolls, also some cheese to make cheese rolls. Then get some of their cheap kitkat copies, or make your own biscuits. Kids don't want much more than that.

I just did my DS party and I made little wraps of sweets from multipacks split up (like chewy lips and dolly mixtures that kind of thing) with a couple of celebrations, Kinder bar and a mini pack of Smarties. The multipacks of sweets are very cheap to buy.

Also out of all the food I did I found all they really wanted was crisps and sausage rolls.