Party Bags .... why do we do them??????

[ghosty]

I can't stand doing them and I can't stand DS and DD receiving them.
Warning: Bah Humbug alert ...
Total waste of money for the hosts of the party ... complete PITA for the parents of the children getting them.
DS and DD came home from a party yesterday with bags brimming with chocolate and sweets (as if they didn't have enough AT the party) and a pile of cheap tatt that they won't look at again ... plastic crap ...

Who likes giving them (wasting money on tatt when you have already spent money on a party etc) and who likes receiving them? And why please?

Is there an alternative?

I hate them too.
Thinking of getting nice plastic cups and plates from Ikea for DS's party and sending kids home with them and a piece of cake. What doyou think?
He will be 3

They're given as a bribe to make the children leave.

I was planning to give books today, and save the plastic tat for the pass-the-parcel (which I hate hate hate! but DS1 wants it ...). But the book delivery hasn't come, so it will be more cheap plastic tat. No chocolate and sweets, though, I'm refusing to do them.

I hate them and intend to avoid them for as long as possible. I hate all the plastic crap we give to children - it only gets broken and lost anyway. I would far, far rather get ONE well chosen toy if you must have a goodbye gift - one mother gave a small playdough set and this was great, something we have used a lot. I avoided it at ds's last party by having the children make something, which they then took home with them. They did fabric pens on pencil cases, and I also got some stick on foam door hanger things. They could always have a balloon and a piece of cake as well, if you feel too mean.

well it really depends on what you put in them IMO. I dont fill them with crap and sweets/choc. Eg. this year for ds's party bags I bought some "pick up sticks" game from Tesco for 97p, a lollypop, sherbet dip, and a piece of cake.

how much do you spend?

For dd's party bags I obtained various smelly things from Sephora before they closed down including sample fragrances and body lotions, ball oil balls for about 5p each.

if you have 20 kids at the party and spend over £1 each plus the cost of the party it is a fortune.

I LOVE party bags - I love doing them, finding good things for them, no plastic tatt! This year I found lovely funky foam notebooks, 3 for £1 and I bought a pack of gel pens and put a couple in each. For the boys I bought a matchbox car/motorbike.

What I spend depends on finances at the time - this year - we are brassic so economy bags!

NQC - what are the party traditions in Canada? Did you pick up the pass the parcel thing here or do they do it there too? What party games do they play back home?

KBear, we don't do pass the parcel, which is probably why I hate it. Well, it's just this huge festival of avarice, it's not really a game per se.

That being said, I don't remember the party games from back home ... my folks always went all-out for birthdays, we'd get taken to the zoo or something in a rented minibus with 8 friends or so. I'll have a think and ask my sister what the current ones are ...

I do them because I like doing them ;)

we are doing crown-making at dd2's birthday party so they can take their crown home, a piece of cake then a lucky dip as they leave (pink present for girls and blue for boys) - little cuddlies for the girls and prob cars for the boys.

you can get really nice things for party bags that parents and children like

little wooden toys, puzzles, notebooks, mini stamps, and lots of old classics magic slates and if you calculate the cost of these with the play value/fun element then you can get a lot of fun for your pennies..

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I have avoided parties so far, but for the dt's 3rd birthday party, they each had a party bag to go home with containing a slice of birthday cake, a noddy easter egg( still in date and left over from Easter) and a noddy balloon tied onto the bag. I think the bag and balloon together cost £1 per child.

I have avoided parties so far, but for the dt's 3rd birthday party, they each had a party bag to go home with containing a slice of birthday cake, a noddy easter egg( still in date and left over from Easter) and a noddy balloon tied onto the bag. I think the bag and balloon together cost £1 per child.

If I didn't hand out a party bag I'd have to give them a piece of cake in a napkin (prone to getting soggy, falling apart). For the price of a balloon and a bauble (party bags only 25p for 8 locally), party bags are the cheaper, easier option.

I like them, simply because ds1 loves receiving them. He gets really excited about finding out what's in them - and almost all the toys get regularly played with after the event (but then he has a whole drawer of cheap plastic tat and macdonalds toys so maybe I'm just a bad mother )

Did you guys all have party bags when you were small? I didn't. Grew up in California in the 1970s... but I hardly went to any parties, either after about 1976....

SofiaAmes are you lurking? You're same age/growing up place as me, I think, did you have them?

I don't really remember. I think so. We took home cake and a balloon at least, I think.

DS1 had 'party bags' at his party.

They contained.

1 piece of (homemade birthday cake)
1 lollipop (because I had a massive bag of 50 - for 99p - and wanted rid of some)
1 party hat
1 one of those party 'hooter' things (you know the ones you blow into and it makes a horrible sound and the paper 'unrolls'?)
1 party 'mask'

• the last 3 items came in the pack which the invites were in (which also conntained the party bags).

oh yes - and a balloon - that didn't cost me anything as I still had a huge bag in teh cupbaord.

the entire party only cost me £20 - and I reckon the party bags cost around £3 (in total) for 8 of them).