Alternative to party bags

[slipperandpjsmum]

My dd is having her 8th birthday party which is a disco. I am looking for alternative ideas to party bags. Has anyone done anything else that doesn't include little toys and bags? There will be boys and girls at the party. Thanks.

OK. This is my specialist subject!
In the past I have done

A helium balloon
A punch balloon
A plate spinning plate and stick (for a circus theme party)
A water pistol (summer water fight party)
A torch (for a party that involved going outside in the dark)
A t-shirt (the party activity was decorrating a T shirt)
A bag of home made biscuits (the party activity was baking)
A necklace and bracelet (the activity was ..you get the idea)
A single rose (dd's 11th birthday -all girls. Went down a storm)
A book (buy sets from The Book People and split them)

Seeker - they are brilliant ideas! This is just the kind of thing I am looking for. At the risk of exposing myself as someone who has no imagination what do you think you think would go well with the disco theme?

Something from here?

I was looking at giving the guests at dc's 3rd birthday - a piece of cake, a pot of bubbles and a comic.

DB recently did toy ducks for DN birthday. She wsa only two though so the children were quite young.

like these

The boys got rocket ones and the girls got something else. Don't know if it would be too young for your DD though.

how about no party bags?

For my DD's 7th birthday for the party bags I'm doing:

• Those fairy books (50p each on bookpeople as part of a big set. The extra books I will give to my DD for Christmas).
• A notepad or sticker pad. I will try and buy them with the child's name on, where possible.
• A fluffy pen

And some sweets.

Can do this for £2 a bag, and not a bit of plastic tat in sight .

Blow up guitars or microphones?

See here

I bought a lot of mugs once in one of those cheapo shops. They were pretty ones for children.

A balloon and the obligatory piece of cake and they went down a storm as I recall.

could you get a little stationery set for each? The kind that has a pencil tin, ruler, pencil, rubber, sharpener etc? can usually get those for about £1.50, and all the girls i know LOVE stationery!
try the accessorize sale, or the WHsmith sale
I got this stuff for future party gifts last week!

How about a CD download of an in song at the moment?

We did a book (split up a Book People set of Ahlberg Happy Families), and a helium balloon (that we had used to decorate the hall). That was for DS1's 5th birthday.

We once did T-shirts with our own design - used that transfer stuff you can print onto from the computer then iron on. Cheap T-shirts with a bit of polyester work better (which is handy for keeping the cost down). It didn't take long to do and the children all loved them - they got worn to death!

Glowsticks! (Poundshop or The Works)

I like the inflatable idea

Gorgeous things at www.jellyandblancmange.co.uk
I got the little clippies pre filled party bag - the girls loved them

I often do lucky dips so one decent thing each rather than the tat that often goes into party bags and just have different coloured wrapping for boys and girls. Necklaces, hair ribbons/clips, pencils/rubbers/notebooks, handballs etc.

If it's at home and you have a camera, printer and willing helper you could get a load of picture frames then take a photo of everyone at the party with the party girl and print them off so they go home with a framed picture. We did that one year and it was really popular.

I did foam swords for a pirate thememed party. The boys were thrilled.

Like the lucky dip idea though.

It's a bit fiddly but if you're a fiddly type of person...individual pinatas. Take a smallish balloon, cover with tissue paper (and PVA glue mixed with water), leaving a hole near the knot. Leave to dry for a day or two.

When tissue paper is dry and hard, pop balloon and pull out. Put a few small bits (maybe just sweets?) in the tissue paper shell, glue some more tissue paper over the hole to seal it up.

Hand out one each and let kids smash to get sweets/prizes out!