Lolly bag side hustle | Party Favours

[MorganMM]

Would you buy pre-made lolly bags for kids’ parties? Honest thoughts please!

Hi everyone,

I’m a mum of 3 and thinking of starting a small side hustle making pre-made lolly bags for kids’ birthday parties and events. I’d really love some honest feedback, is this something you’d actually buy? Or does it sound like a waste of time?

The idea is to offer convenient, themed lolly bags to save busy parents time and stress when party planning. I’d offer three levels:

Basic – around 4 lollies + 2 small toys, fun packaging

Standard – around 6 lollies + 3 small toys

Premium – around 9 lollies + 4 small toys, with themed extras like mini bubbles, stickers, tattoos, or crafts

These numbers are just a rough guide for now, I’m definitely open to adjusting the mix based on what people actually want or think is reasonable for the price.

This would be a local service to start with, either for pick-up or local delivery.

I’m doing this to try and bring in a little extra pocket money, not to get rich, but to help pay for extracurricular activities for my kids, and make things like camping trips and family weekends away more possible.

So I’d really appreciate your thoughts:

1. Would you ever buy pre-made lolly bags if they were available locally?

1. Do you prefer to DIY them, or would this genuinely save you time and effort?

1. Would themed/custom options (e.g. rainbow, unicorn, dinosaur) be something you’d go for?

Also, what would you personally expect to pay for:

Basic (around 4 lollies + 2 toys)

Standard (around 6 lollies + 3 toys)

Premium (around 9 lollies + 4 toys + themed extras)

Trying to keep everything budget-friendly but still cute, fun, and well presented. Any feedback at all is super appreciated, including pricing ideas or things to watch out for!

Thanks so much🙏 A busy mum trying to make things work 💕

I'd never have lolly bags for parties, sorry. But others do. I don't think you'd make enough out of it.

One thing I think has legs is party kit hire (the Ikea plastic stuff) + boxes or bags . So you have a party for 14, you hire 14 place settings (pitch the prices carefully so it's as cheap as paper /almost as cheap but without the hassle, and get 14 themed party boxes or bags which could be filled (or not) as required, plus balloons and various other party themed stuff. Meaning we are not buying 3 x pack of 6 paper plates etc and binning 14 place settings + being left with 4 randomly themed party bits not suitable for the next child's party.

fortunately where I am located lolly bags are a very common thing, it's more rare to attend a birthday without lolly bags then it is to attend one with lolly bags where I am, I do appreciate your advice and input though and will definitely keep that information in mind when it comes to planning what my next step may be! Thank you :)

What are the costs and profit margin? You need to start by drilling down into the numbers.

My daughter (6) has been to a a few parties over the last couple of years where the parents have bought ready made party bags online. I wouldn't myself - much easier to do it at home - but there is a market. One was a no plastic bag - wooden bead bracelet, fancy pencils etc, all in a cloth bag), another was very niche for a tv series the birthday girl loved. She's also had rainbow/unicorn/dinosaur themed bags at different points.

Where I am from they are party bags and most don’t have sweets in, maybe one or two but certainly not four plus. They have pencils or bubbles or temporary tattoos or stickers etc. maybe a balloon. I’m not a purist and my kids are allowed sweets and chocolate but 9 sweets after a birthday spread sounds way too much for a 4 year old (which is what I have).

I never put lollies in party bags as hate my DD having them. I do put sweets and chocs in, a crafty thing and things like bubbles, lip gloss etc.

I never order them ready done as they tend to look tacky. What are you hoping the margins to be?

@MorganMM Do you mean lollies in the Australian way - ie what we just call "sweets" in the UK.
(if so I suggest you ask Mumsnet to change your title because it will confuse people)
To be honest most people just chuck a mini bag of Haribo in a party bag if they are doing sweets.

Yeah I'm assuming she's referring to Chupa Chups or whatnot.

@MorganMM this is what "lollies" are in the UK so that's what everyone will think you mean.
(picture incoming...)

@MorganMM to answer your actual question -
Yes I expect some people would pay for these.
I frequently see similar advertised on local Facebook groups etc so the market is there.

I probably wouldn't buy pre-made ones, but the one party I've been to that had them, they were more 'premium' themed ones, I think with science experiments or similar in, and I might do that. If you're just doing normal bags, like a PP I have a 4-year-old and I've never seen a bag with more than one sweet item in for preschool parties. Sweets are cheap, in any case, and easy to get. I think if there's any profit to be made in this idea it's the toys: I might consider paying for a service where I could buy, say, 15 party bags with sticker sheets and little toys in without having to buy 2 packs of 12 of everything and wasting money. So if you could undercut the price of a standard party bag by buying in bulk, and provide very specific amounts with a cost per bag rather than set numbers, it might work.

I can't see anyone paying extra for a 'premium' bag with more tat in it though. You basically just want enough items to make the kids think they've got something.

If someone gave my child a bag with six lollies in, I’d let her have a couple then bin the rest, sorry.

I wouldn't put lollies in a parry bag because they're a choking hazard.

Party bags are cheap enough to make myself, so i wouldn't.

9 lollies in a party bag?? I'd curse you out TBH - lollies are the worst thing for teeth and I never let my DS have them - other sweets are fine but not lollies. Even one lolly would be annoying, why would any child need 9???

Oooh
and this is why targeting your market research is so important!

I've never heard of a lolly bag.
I am assuming this is a non-UK thing and 'lolly' doesn't mean a boiled sweet on the end of a stick?

party bags are the devil's work IMO, full of plastic tat that is amusing for 5 minutes, sugar that will rot their teeth just after a sugar filled meal all presented in a single use plastic bag

Once I did a lucky dip instead- a variety of nice but neutral gifts, wrapped, in a box with scrunched up tissue, the kids liked the randomness, they also got a bit of cake to take home. Less effort, less waste, and nicer gifts. Probably cheaper too.

Yeah I think she just means Party Bags.
If the OP is Australian then she's probably asleep at the moment so we won't find out for a while what she means 😴

If you mean party bag I'd go more creative and different - hits here that I have bought from sellers similar to you have been little plaster paris moulds with mini paints and brush wrapped up nicely, bracelet making set (beads/charm/cord in bag), also plastic cups with child's names on with some sweets in, seeds and little wooden stick to decorate and write plant name on etc

All within £3 ish each

And I'd go very loose on theme, I've come across several that I would have been interested in but the themes meant I didn't

What are lolly bags?

I’ve purchased sweet cones before but they were cheap, worked out about £1.20 per cone.

I don’t think I’d buy pre made party bags, rather make my own as I enjoy doing it.

Anyone can buy cheap shit / lollies off the internet for pennies so it’s going to be really hard to make anything on this as you can’t really make savings on the stuff so it’s just mark up for your time.

As parents to pre-schoolers and primary school kids, what is one essential item for nursery/school that you wish you could have a premium and personalized version of. Example initialed backpack, wet bag, water bottle, etc.
Iconsidering

Defo agree on not adding sweets to party bags. Did you ever go ahead with the idea?