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?

Sorry just thought of another...for a summer birthday party we had in the park. Each child had their party food already in a lunch box and they got to keep the box as their gift. The kids loved it.

It's nice to give (and get) something with some lasting value - I hate coming home and throwing it all in the bin, and wouldn't like to think that the things I had chosen went the same way! But I do like a few bits to eat and play with in the bags the kids get, as it gives them something to do on the bus home when they are usually tired and irritable. Are the cheapie books nice? I am very snobbish about books - spend hours in the bookshop for my two (well, me really)!

I must be the opposite of book snobs, we are book hoovers, we love bargain books and charity shops.

A classmate of DS1 put packets of sunflower seeds (to grow, not eat!) in party bags, which was lovely. another classmate has a birthday around Easter and gives everyone an Easter egg instead of a party bag. i hate them too, but then again I've never had to buy gel pens cos DD gets a regular supply! I look out for stuff in the sales, especially for DD, whose birthday is conveniently in early February.