Baking kit for party bag

[CCW14]

DC is having a party later in the month and I was trying to think of items that are not just tat. I was thinking of doing home baking kits so they could make cookies in their own time. I bake a lot with DC and they love it, but DH thinks it’s not a good idea, not that he has any alternative ideas.

if you recieved this would you be please it’s something different to do with DC or annoyed that you had to make cookies and clean up after them

God no. Please no.

We want cake and tat to distract our kids away from the party.

We've got enough on our plate.

Have seen these too. The colour comes off onto the paintbrush from the smarties when wet. It’s quite fun 🤩
This kind of thing. There are ones on Etsy but very easy to create yourself

A jam jar filled with ingredients for an all in one cake /cookie is a great idea.

my kids received a bottle of “elf biscuit mix with sprinkles etc included” from a cousin. It cost £14 😵‍💫😵‍💫 but my kid was thrilled to get it and I’ll happily bake it with her given it doesn’t have complicated components.

For a 5 year old - no.

They want something instant on the way home.

I had thought about this, but I would also have to make a gluten free cookie in addition to ‘normal’ cookies so would be a bit more effort. Also, is there an alternative to smarties for lactose free? Don’t think I would do for a party as too much hassle but would consider for another time with less children

I think it's very sad that parents don't want this because they can't be bothered to do baking with their children and that others would worry about hygiene (though why they would do that when they are happy to allow their children to eat food prepared by OP and to have a piece of cake in the party bag.
OP I think it's a lovely idea but presumably you know the parents so can gauge how they would feel

Oh! They’re brilliant.

We also did craft and crumb kits this year and had ten kids - all ten parents messaged to say how much they loved the idea.

A few years ago we also did paint your own sun catchers from hobby craft - I got the letter of each kids name which also went down well

I love baking and do it lots with DD, but those party baking pack always arise at wrong time, get shoved in cupboard and forgotten, or worse opened in the back of the car by inquisitive child...

As the only option, it’s not great. Kids want something fun they can immediately play with. Parents coming home with a headache after 2 hours of screeching at a birthday party don’t feel like doing baking. Some will not be able to afford to run out and buy extra butter and eggs. Some won’t have a baking tray or parchment paper, etc. A jar of flour isn’t fun. For dc who can’t make it at all or right away, it’s a bit of a let down.

I think if you want to go low plastic, a seed packet, stickers, temporary tattoos, sweets and a piece of cake are much more exciting and give immediate pleasure.

I like the idea of non-plastic-tat party bags but I have to say this sounds tricky.

Would the cookie kit just be sugar, flour and chocolate chips? Not everyone has eggs in the house, or butter (rather than low-fat spread, which wouldn't work). I mean I do for sure but plenty of ppl don't do that kind of cooking. Then you would need baking sheet, baking paper – again not things you have if you are not a baker.

I think the kit to decorate a gingerbread man or two sounds better – ready made gingerbread figures, couple of tubes of icing, little bag of smarties or jelly tots.

If a gluten free kid was coming to my party, I’d have already sourced for you gluten free cake and party foods, and I’d have remembered that the baking gift wouldn’t be suitable and would have come up with something else

The kids do! Surely they are who count not the parents

There is probably nothing that everyone loves doing so by that logic - from eating or making cake or crafts or reading or music - there is always someone who won't like it so saying "not everyone likes..." isn't going to help and will just mean nothing happens

No I wouldn’t be pleased. Mainly from a hygiene perspective and the fact that dd would want to do it asap and be pestering.

I'm pro no tat party bags but similarly am conscious not everyone would appreciate this. A pack of crayons, colouring book, packet of seeds to grow and some cake are environmentally friendly and probably more widely appreciated.

Some cookies with a decoration kit might be a better option. I wouldn't like to relieve a baking kit as PP said it's a chore from a party.

I was thinking the same. It’s very sad.

I’m a keen baker but I tend to bin anything like that as the recipes aren’t to my liking or it just gets thrown in a corner and left. (If I make biscuits, I’ll always cream my butter and sugar first, and can’t stand bags of mixed dry stuff.) I tend to head to The Works or Baker Ross and get things like fabric bags to colour in (they generally come with pens) book bundles, small clay modelling kits, other kits like colour in wooden animals. You can get lots for £1 or in bundles.

No thank you. It's a party not a cooking class with homework given.

We received this recently. It went unused.

I did this last year for my daughter. She also loves baking, and I thought it was a lovely gift for the children.

I bought a cookie baking kit from Sainsbury's (was £1 sale), took the ingredients out of the box, put them into a part bag, wrote the receipt up, and printed out. I bought some cookie cutters from Temu to go with it. It ended up being a cheap, lovely gift.
If parents prefer cheap plastic craps and sweets filled with unhealthy ingredients, I feel bad for them.
I believe all children enjoy cooking, and kids are very excited to receive this gift.

Homework? You consider spending 30 minutes baking with your child in the kitchen being homework? That's just sad!

If parents prefer cheap plastic craps and sweets filled with unhealthy ingredients, I feel bad for them.

There's no need for this comment – it’s not as though sugar and chocolate chips would be exactly healthy ingredients (not that I would have an issue with that). It’s not that I would have preferred plastic crap tbh; more that this sounds like a task for parents, requiring them to source extra bits they may not have to hand. You might be surprised how many perfectly good parents don't actually have baking kit and ingredients to hand.

I also prefer to cream sugar and butter first like a PP - not sure how this would work unless the sugar and flour were separately supplied?

I don’t really like plastic tat, and gave quite a few suggestions upthread, that either I’ve done or the DC have received.
The problem with baking is it’s divisive. Some people like me bake all the time and both my DC are very keen bakers, they can bake whenever and I’m always happy to supervise the youngest, but the recipes in these things are always a bit rubbish and the dry ingredients are always thrown together so we just bin.
Some people won’t have all the equipment if they don’t bake and then it starts to get expensive, e.g. going to find butter, baking paper, or even a rolling pin etc.
Some are very happy to do it. As it’s divisive, I personally would avoid going down that route, I would still politely thank you though, and quietly bin it! (For all those saying that they received profuse thanks!)