ds's 7th birthday - i don't want to do party bags

[hoxtonchick]

he wants to invite about 15 children, & there'll be siblings too. it's in our house, star wars dvds & pizza.

all fine & dandy. but i really don't want to do that many party bags. need to do something though i suspect. i was thinking mini bars of chocolate on the way out. is that mean? or maybe helium balloons? or is that not sophisticated enough? arrrrgh. help.

party bags are the best bit of a party imo! I love em

Those goodie bags you can get are always a hit. Are they on offer anywhere? I would suggest Woolies, but..............

Just say no! Seriously, you've given them a party, what more do they want? Mind you, you'll need to be prepared for all the brats to demand their party bag (and they will). Hold your nerve.

you could combine your ideas - a bar of choc tied to the string of a balloon. Seems OK to me.

Kinder egg?

Is there some star wars theme chocotae bar you can get? personally, I don't think its mean, I think its fine. Party bags are expensive and, whilst fun, unnesesary. Maybe ask your DS if he wants bags or if its more important to him to have lots of people - if he insisits on bags, maybe limit to 10 people or something?

don't do them. if they ask for them give them a sharp slap and tell them they didn't ahve party bags in your day and they are soddingly lucky with their ds lites and wiis, ungrateful shites

the last couple of years I've bought those cheap book deals from The Book People - 10 books for £10 or even cheaper sometimes and each child gets one and nothing else. At 7 though they are getting old enough not to have party bags - just make it clear!

I hate party bags - lots of plastic tat and always feel guilty when we come home from a party and half of it goes in the bin - especially when you kknow how much time and money goes into them.

The chocolate idea is good though - let them have a couple of minibars to take home and I'm sure they will be happy.

We have dd same age. Doing the party thing soon.I want to do party bags but not many coming so not so bad for us. Going to put in a book each, bar choc,Pencil,rubber and attach a helium balloon too. I think just a helium balloon is fine enough hoxtonchick. They can be pricey and kids will love them. I'd rather my dd come home with one of them than all the usual plastic clutter that falls apart or what you have millions of already

Don't do them then. I have no intention of doing anymore than cake in a paper napkin when I can no longer avoid giving parties

You really do not have to do party bags if you don't want to. I would tell your son about it beforehand, just say your are spending the money on the party & having more friends there. He will probably mention it to his friends at school, and most of them will not expect anything after the party.
If you do want to do something, one quick & fairly cheap idea I had was to send off for one of the cheap book sets that BookPeople, SchoolLink etc do, where the books end up costing about 75p - £1 each. You should be able to get a set that suits your age group, you may even get Star Wars ones. Each child got a book & piece of cake as they left. The kids were happy as they were all into Dr Who that year & the parents were happy as they did not have any plastic junk to take home.

We put a small bottle of bubbles, a balloon (long thin bendy type), some stickers and a mini pot of playdoh in ds's. They were very cheap and hopefully were more than just 2 secs worth of entertainment!

DS1 once went to a party and everyone was given a Whoopie (sp?) cushion instead of a party bag. DS1 was delighted.

love the whoopie cushion idea, and so would ds. maybe tie a whoopie cushion onto a balloon.... will discuss with ds, he's very sensible & grown up so will understand. may have to bribe 3.5 year old dd though .

hmmm, maybe i could do it all online.... so, whoopie cushion, chocolate, cake & maybe small notebook.

hoxty Hawkins Bazaar do whoopee cushions for 50p each. If you put in POUND on the code bit you get the postage for a quid as well

thanks so much mamag. need to do the invites now....

We once managed to find frisbees for a splendid 50p each, but an even cheaper option is to get a stack of paper plates and each child can decorate their own 'frisbee' with stickers.

DS had a whoopee cushion from Father Christmas and he adored it - used it so much it burst. Plastic poo went down well too, though am not sure if the grandparents appreciated it..

oh yes, plastic poo. the children's favourite toy. it makes me feel really properly sick, not sure i could do the same to my friends!

I would just not do them.

DS recently went to a great party with a lucky dip at the end instead of party bags.

Kids loved it.

i like the lucky dip idea. am not wrapping small presents though! frankly, i have done nothing at all so there's no party at the moment... MUST do invites tomorrow.

Do kids really ask for party bags? No one ever has at DS's parties, I've always had to chase them to give them something.

I've always thought party bags are for little kids, who might be jelous of the birthday kid getting all the presents. At 7 they should be old enough not to need that!

On DS's 8th birthday pary last year I gave them kinder eggs, that went down fine.

I think the lucky dip idea is fantastic, that's my fave but whoopee cushions tied to a balloon is good too.

Although I dont think you HAVE to do party bags, it's always such a great part of the party IMO and I think your DS would enjoy it too.