birthday party favors

Catherine Woodgold wrote:
"Stephanie" ) writes:
I am plumb out of ideas. Last year we did little celophane bags with those
junk toys that you get at party stores. I don't have a lot of money. Anyone
have any nice ideas for about *gasp* 10 5yos?

Also, what are fun game ideas for this age?

Game: "Less Competitive Musical Chairs":
http://www.ncf.ca/~an588/musicalchairs.txt

Party favours: tiny picture books that cost about a dollar each.
Home-made cookies with colourful decorations like faces etc.
Finger puppets, hats etc. that you make out of paper.
Your own child can have fun helping to make them for
everyone, colouring them etc.

I have to second the $1 picture books. I picked up some great ones at a
dollar store last year for DS1's Christmas Gift Exchange at preschool.
They had several classics, like Alice in Wonderland, Huckleberry Finn,
The Pied Piper, The Emperor's New Clothes, etc. I was so pleased with
them that I bought a few extra for DS1 for his Christmas stocking.

annette

wrote in message
oups.com...
I was in the toy aisle at Target the other day and I noticed that all
things Play-Doh were on sale. What about getting one of those huge
packs of tiny Play-Doh tubs and giving each of the kids one? Sometimes
those packs also come with little cookie cutter-like objects too, that
might be fun, and if you have a Target nearby, it might not be too
expensive.
I used to work in a kindergarten and one of the kids' favorite games
was called "Doggie Doggie Where's Your Bone?" They played it in music
class. It's kind of a nice quiet game.
http://www.alphabet-soup.net/goose/hubbardgame.html

Just make sure you are watching carefully, cheating can be a huge
temptation at this age.

Or, even better, make a big batch of homemade play dough and package it in
inexpensive plastic containers (I got a pack of 10 small ones at the dollar
store when I was making and freezing baby food for Alli). Give each child
2-3 colors and a few things to use it with.


Good Luck,
Sarah

Stephanie wrote:
I am plumb out of ideas. Last year we did little celophane bags with those
junk toys that you get at party stores. I don't have a lot of money. Anyone
have any nice ideas for about *gasp* 10 5yos?


I've found small Lego sets for under $2. Baseball, yu-gi-oh, or
whatever types of cards the kids are into (you don't need to give a
whole pack, so they're not that expensive). Small balls. A set of
jacks. Coloring books for girls. Play doh. Yo-yos. Stickers.
Dinosaurs. Someone once gave out Magic Schoolbus paperbacks at a party
One attended, but that may be too expensive for you. Hotwheels cars
can be found for under a dollar. Go for one or two really neat things,
not a bunch of junk.

Barbara

In article ,
Nan wrote:

On 1 Dec 2005 13:10:31 -0800, Banty wrote:

In article , Stephanie says...

I am plumb out of ideas. Last year we did little celophane bags with those
junk toys that you get at party stores. I don't have a lot of money. Anyone
have any nice ideas for about *gasp* 10 5yos?

Stand up to the tide and refuse to have party favors!!

OK, OK, guess that won't work And maybe you like doing them...

But, jeez, it's been practically an arms race regarding party favors, more
and
more, kewler and kewler, year by year.

Hmmmmph

Banty

I have to admit I can't stand the junky little toys that usually come
home as favors.
Otoh, dd went to a 'painting' birthday party in which the guests
decorated t-shirts using all manner of neat stuff. It kept them
occupied and they got to bring the shirts home.

Nan


I did things like that several times when the kids were younger: one
major activity for the party would be a take home craft of some sort;
painting t-shirts (or, when they were older, tie-dying) was pretty
successful, as was some jewelry making one year.

I never DID do the "gift bag" thing. It probably got me labeled
socially inept, or cheap, or something -- but tough.
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"Stephanie" wrote in message
...
I am plumb out of ideas. Last year we did little celophane bags with those
junk toys that you get at party stores. I don't have a lot of money.
Anyone
have any nice ideas for about *gasp* 10 5yos?

One year I made caramel apples drizzled with chocolate and covered with
sprinkles. It sounds really fussy but it wasn't all that bad. The kids loved
them and so did the parents since they didn't have the candy and the junk
toys around anymore.

JennP.

JennP wrote:
"Stephanie" wrote in message
...
I am plumb out of ideas. Last year we did little celophane bags with those
junk toys that you get at party stores. I don't have a lot of money.
Anyone
have any nice ideas for about *gasp* 10 5yos?

One year I made caramel apples drizzled with chocolate and covered with
sprinkles. It sounds really fussy but it wasn't all that bad. The kids loved
them and so did the parents since they didn't have the candy and the junk
toys around anymore.

JennP.

At several of my daughter's parties I made cupcakes and put out all of
my daughter's favorite toppings and a couple of cans of frosting. The
kids totallyloved it and I was actually able to let go of the
disgusting lack of health factor and let them just live it up for a day
:-)

dragonlady wrote:

I did things like that several times when the kids were younger: one
major activity for the party would be a take home craft of some sort;
painting t-shirts (or, when they were older, tie-dying) was pretty
successful, as was some jewelry making one year.

That's what we usually do. Anything they take home
is something related to what they did at the party. I really
try to avoid sending home a bunch of candy or toys that won't
last five minutes. My boys have never been the ones to have
huge parties anyway, so often it would be just a few kids and
I'd do something a little nicer. E.g., DS1 wanted to go bowling
one year with two other kids, so I got them monogrammed bowling
shirts and still made out cheaper than a huge bowling party.
One year DS2 had a Blast! (as in the musical) party and
the kids each got a tank top and a scarf dyed to match (each
kid got a different color of the rainbow). Cheap, thanks
to Dharma Trading ;-) They used those as their costumes
during the party. One year DS1 had a Knights party, and
I made knight costumes for the kids (some inexpensive fabric
and a few minutes of sewing time). Come to think of it,
DD is getting to an age where I should drag out that
dressup box again... I think the biggest hit was the
year I gave out scarves. All I did was take some inexpensive
chiffon and hemed them around (a tight zig-zag off the
edge, since I don't have a serger) with a colorful
variegated thread. It was a royal pain--my sewing
machine gave out in the middle and I had to go to a friend's
to finish them, and it took quite a bit longer to do than
I thought it would--but I got more positive comments from
the parents over those darned scarves.

I never DID do the "gift bag" thing. It probably got me labeled
socially inept, or cheap, or something -- but tough.

Do you really think so? In my experience, the other
parents are absolutely thrilled not to have their kids come
home with more useless crap to clutter up the house.

Best wishes,
Ericka

On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 02:23:49 GMT, dragonlady
wrote:

I never DID do the "gift bag" thing. It probably got me labeled
socially inept, or cheap, or something -- but tough.

I'm willing to bet the parents were happy not to get a bunch of junky
toys.

I know *I* always am.

Nan

In article . com,
"MsLiz" wrote:

Stephanie wrote:
I am plumb out of ideas. Last year we did little celophane bags with those
junk toys that you get at party stores. I don't have a lot of money. Anyone
have any nice ideas for about *gasp* 10 5yos?

Also, what are fun game ideas for this age?

Boy or girl? Makes a BIG difference!


At 5? I don't think so.

But then, I think my b/g twins were 14 or 15 before they had seperate
parties. For the most part, I found that kids of 5 (boys and girls) all
liked much of the same stuff -- or at least enough of the same stuff so
I didn't really think much about gender when I was selecting generic "5
yo" activities and gifts.

--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"Stephanie" wrote in message
...
I am plumb out of ideas. Last year we did little celophane bags with those
junk toys that you get at party stores. I don't have a lot of money.
Anyone
have any nice ideas for about *gasp* 10 5yos?

Also, what are fun game ideas for this age?


I just fill the bags with little toys I get from the dollar store and some
candy. I try to fit the interest of the child I am giving it to, but more
often than not, I just give random toys, stickers, girly things (I have
girls, maybe a hot wheels car if it is boys). Sometimes, if there is a theme
and not many kids, I will fill the bags with more nicer things, but that can
get really expensive. As far as games, I am so not good with that one. Good
luck.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)