party bags

[BibiTwo]

My dd is having an under the sea party for her 1st birthday and I'm wondering what to put in the party boxes for them to take home. All the children coming are under 2, most are the same age as her so I don't want to fill them with sweets, but don't want to spend too much either.
So far I've got a fishy bath squirter (87p each) and a bag of chocolate treasure (99p each) in each "treasure chest" box. Will a slice of birthday cake and fishy baloon suffice for the rest?

Sounds more than enough. At that age they haven't a clue about party bags. It's only a token really. They start getting picky a couple of years later!

well I'm having a party for 4/5yr olds on Saturday - party bag will contain

1 piece of birthday cake
1 balloon

Y'see I was thinking along the lines of cake and balloons, but then i went to a 1yr olds party a month or so back and the bag dd was given had
*a whizzy, noisy balloon
*a ladybird book
*a piece of birthday cake
*a small chocolate bar
*some mallow sweets and
*a squish ball

So as I've never done this before, I thought I would be considered tight if I didn't put a load in. I am more reassured now.

I really couldn't give a stuff what other people have in their party bags /

One of the best parties DS1 went to in the summer had a children's entertainers for 45 minutes, 45 minutes playing in the garden (and they had chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs, etc etc to look at too!), food and a party bag containing just a piece of birthday cake.

over 40 children there and not one complaint about the bags.

I think it's the sheer fact of having a little bag with some bits in it that appeal to the child. The cake is usually the most popular item! It makes the party very expensive to stuff bags full of tat which usually end up in the footwell of the car or straight in the bin when the kids get home! Where we are things are going a bit mad with one big pressie replacing party bags....so you take a present for the birthday child and leave with a present for your child. Bonkers really.

I use an approximate amount of £1 per party bag when I do my boys parties. That can be 2 or 3 smailler items or 1 more expensive item. Plastic footballs (£1 each in our local cheap shop) go down well with any age boys.

Your party bags sound absolutely fine as they are BibiTwo.

Oh fgs (that's addressed to your friend's uber-party bags btw)
Bibitwo that sounds toally fine. As jouou says, it's the fact of the bag that's important (and prob not even that for 1yos) rather than what's in it.

Bibi, that sounds lovely - well done for finding such good 'underwater' things!

What did you have in bags when you were little? I can't remember exactly but I think there was always something to stick on the top of a pencil, like a Mr Man. Can you still get those? And I think often a pencil and a rubber (pencil rubber that is). Mind you, it maybe I only remember those because I had an early childhood obsession with stationary.

I tned to have a budget of a pound per bag so I think Bibitwo you are being very generous.

Lats year I split of packs of play dough and glitter glue and added a cheap pack of pencil crayons with a few sweets and a cake.

At her Easter party we gave a chocolate egg, painted real egg and a sunflower seed they had planted. I threw the part after easter so the eggs only cost 25p.

It is dd birthday next week and I was going to do dressing up shoes for girls (work out a pound each if split big packs up) or possibly a necklace and braclet set I had seen on ebay for 80p. I thought this would go with our princess theme but I couldn't think of anything for the boys and as I have an age range of 0-9 coming to the party and 35 kids in total I couldn't be bothered doing different gifts for different ages.

So they are decorating party bags in which they can put their piece of cake and any art and craft activity they do. I will then give a book tied to a balloon which from the book people. They are doing buy two sets of ten books for ten pounds so 40 books works out at £20 which is 57p per party bag with 5 books top spare which I can give to dd or use as prizes in pass the parcel.

Jolou I tend to do one small present instead of a bag of plastic bits and lethal lollies. Never anything major and never over £1.

sorry made a mistake book people lucky dips are ten books for £7 or twenty books for £10.

Right, that settled, I am not a tightwad, their bath squirter, slice of cake and chocolate 'treasure' is plenty. I'll blow up the fishy balloons (shaped fishy not scented ) and use them to decorate the house instead.

Thanks ladies