Alternatives to Party Bags PLEASE PLEASE

[drosophila]

I really haven't time to shop for all the bit to put in a party bag. DS and DD have been sick for about 10days now. I was thinking of buying just one thing like a book or something. Any ideas please????? Don't want to spend a fortune.

i bought some stuff from these guys the other week and they were fab, rang me to say one of the clearance items was out of stock and offered me a substitution, prices fab, quality good too.

party packs

click on the toys link, the head bands for 55p are ok, very girlie, the skipping rope is fab too for 90p although if you buy 10 they're only 75p each.

i've got most of my DD's stocking fillers from here, p and p is £5

I saw some good puzzle books in WHSmith which I think are a good possibility. Thanks guys.

I often give books - you can always buy boxed sets and split them - either in shops or The Book People mail order have excellent deals.

While you're in WHS, you could consider giving them all a kids' comic, esp one with a free gift on. There is a small risk one of them will have had it already, unless it's hot off the press, but I've had success with that before.

Buy the equivalent of one thing for each guest (the sort og things mentuoned on this thread) and have a lucky dip as they leave -they love that!

Have decorating biscuits as a craft activity and let them take what they make home. You can get all the stuff you need in Tesco (buy the cheapest biscuits.)

Best party bag type thing dd got at a party was a bag made out of folded stapled together paper and it contained stickers and a note book with a pencil and a piece of the birthday cake - the worst ones are those with loads of sweets and plastic rubbish that they leave on the floor and mess my house up for weeks afterwards.

Ds2 had his party on Sunday, each child got a piece of cake and a balloon. Only one child asked about party bags, and I told him I didn't do them because I'm a rebel. Come on, be a rebel too and help stop this ridiculous trend!

Haven't read the whole thread so apols if someone else has said this. For my DS's party last year I did a lucky dip. A girls' box and a boys' box with one gift each.

I bought all the stuff for ds' party bags

here

they have colouring books/crayons/puzzle books with party bag toys from as little as 8p each. I bought the little flutes and minni colouring books/packs of crayons. And they also do savings if you buy more than 12 of each item.

I went to a party where they had a lucky dip - kids loved it.

Baker Ross do a pack of about 30 word search books (or puzzle books - like dot to dot) for about £5-£6. They also have some put together models, they are made from thin wood and then once they are made you can paint them - they do animals and things for girls and dinosars for boys. It depends how old the kids are - sorry I haven't read the whole thread!

we did two lucky dips (toy tubs with shredded newspapers in)- one with sweets, one with cheap toys. v easy. Got all the stuff from baker Ross, but wollies do lots too.

last year at my dd's party I just did sweets and cake because I know mine arent interested in the toys or bits you get in the bags just the sweets. So i did a few mini bars, a small box of raisins , jelly sweets and then a piece of birthday cake and the kids were really happy with them.

I'm very happy to have stumbled upon this thread. I've got a party coming up and was thinking about the party bags. We don't do them in my country, so it's a new concept I'm trying to grasp.
I had been thinking about having a pinata. Whatever falls out can be collected and kept by the children. It's good fun as well and takes the attention away from the missing rubbishy toys inside the bags.