6 year old party favors?

[justintime]

Does anyone have any ideas for birthday party favors for a 6 year old boy? I'm looking for something different than just putting candy in a bag. The party is at a bowling alley, so I won't be able to do any crafts or anything like that that could be taken home as a favor. I don't need the favor to be bowling themed. I'm just looking for something that might be a little different (but not too expensive).

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

Is it going to be getting dark when you leave the bowling alley? Our eldest is an october birthday and I've put glowstick braclets in party bags before now when her parties have ended when it's starting to get dark.

DS's friends all loves those toys you throw at windows/shiney surfaces and they stick and "walk" their way down.

Bug key rings- the ones that look like a nut on the outside (wooden) you open them up and it's a little bug who's legs wiggle, those are cute.

Stretchy toy dinosaurs- again, cheap but get played with for hours!

Masks- jungle animals or superhero style masks, my sister did this with her class the other year and they all got really excited, cheap but fun.

 

[santa's surpriz]

Tattoos! Either the stick on kind or ones to use with water. Kids love them. If you have a Chick-Fila they will sometimes give you coupons.

 

[eeyorefan74]

We considered a bowling party for DD, but decided to wait until next year. Oriental Trading has some bowling-related favors- bracelets, keychains, cute mini bowling sets, and foam frames that the kids can decorated with bowling pin and ball stickers. You could put the frames together before, or send the kits home for the kids to do at home. Then give each kid a picture from the party with your thank you note.

If you don't have time to order from OT, the boys in my DD's class seem to love tattoos, little plastic lizards, frogs, etc., balls, yo-yo's, and things like that. Or skip bags altogether and do gift certificates for ice cream at DQ or somewhere similar.

 

[badblackpug]

pencils, erasers, stickers, matchbox cars

 

[SLK1]

A friend of mine is having her son's birthday party at a big bounce house place and is making each child a tye-dye t-shirt beforehand. They can wear it to the party, and it'll be easy to identify the party kids that day.

I don't like a lot of the traditional goodie bag stuff. I have given out books as a gift, and I have done picture frames (which you could theme to bowling) and send them a picture with their thank you note that you could put in the frame.

 

[Mkaz]

I try not to buy "throw away" items because it seems like a waste of money. Last year for our sons party I bought plastic tumblers in red and blue. I filled them with crazy straws, crayola crayons (got these cheap during the back to school sale), koosh frogs, candy, bubbles, and pencils. This way the kids had something that they could use when they were finished with it. I might get flames for this, but those plastic treat bags drive me crazy.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I agree with PP, OT has great (and cheap) stuff. Also, Family Fun had a bunch of ideas, you can find them at

http://familyfun.go.com/parties/birthday/feature/famf0304-bowling-party/

Bowling Parties are fun, have a great time!!!

 

[imthatgirl]

sometimes you can find bat and ball sets or soccar balls at the dollar store or the dollar section of walmart.

i agree with the pp, dont buy junk. honestly i can only htink of 2 times my kids have kept the party favors from a party. both were for my daughter though. if its just a bag of junk i conveniently leave it at the party or throw it away when i get home, so dont waste your money.

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

I'm always really dubious about giving books at this age, reading is such a varied ability at age 4-10 that it's hard to buy appropriate books, my one who's rising six can read to an adult level (granted he's autistic and it's one of his quirks but fact remains he can) another of his friends can't recognise anything other than letter sounds and his own name. So at this age books can be a cast aside gift too, in fact if he wasn't 2nd of 4 I can't think of a single book my DS has been bought as a gift that would have seen use because they've all automatically gone to his younger siblings, on the same extreme I know some moms who have been left fretting their child is behind because someone else has gifted them a book which has been way too advanced.

Sticker books can work well though.

 

[Cdnmommy]

I recently had my daughter's 5th birthday party but we have many boys in our family so had different bags for boys and girls. I actually found all of my stuff in the clearence section at Loblaws, got large (soccer size) bouncy balls, Disney skipping ropes, disney kites, frisbies etc. all for .44 each. The kids loved them and the parents didn't have to worry about a bunch of candy (I attached small bags with a couple of sweet items in it but that was it).

I know you're looking to avoid the candy but this is an idea perhaps someone else might use. We had a separate party for her school friends (as our family is just too big to have everyone there at once) and I got real size chocolate bars (I think they were 2 for $1 at No Frills grocery store) and printed some Disney chocolate bar wrappers found on the Creative Disigns forum (those designers are FABULOUS!), added some disney text and the girls thought it was so great. Also included a little "diva" style photo frame and printed a photo of the girls together (they were all dressed like princesses) during the party and placed in the frame in their little bags. I just printed it on regular paper, not photo paper but it still looked good. The moms thought it was great as they had a photo of their 'princess' at the party. This of course wouldn't work if you aren't having it at home but thought I would throw the idea out.

Good luck with the party!

 

[Belle72]

I like the idea of the gift card for ice cream cone, slice of pizza, or a movie, bookstore.... That way it isn't more stuff that moms throw out after a few weeks.

 

[Miss LD]

My son got a webkinz instead of a lootbag, and it the mom had done little tags and stamped each child's name. It was really cute.
I'm not sure how much a webkinz costs, but I know they were on sale.
It was a really neat idea and all the kids loved it.
My sister did gift certificates for McDonald's which was fun.
One of my friends gave out footballs.
And, one creative friend gave out "bug catching kits" that she put together herself.

 

[justintime]

Thanks everyone. Those are some really great ideas.

 

[Astro Orbiter]

I can't stand one more trinket or pencil, so this year I got all the (girls) Littlest Pet Shops (Target by the register - $2.99 each). I bought extras and they all got to pick what they wanted. I also did a crafty b-day party, so their goody bag was full of things that they'd made themselves.

 

[Tisha_PA]

I usually buy a multi pack of oreos, some type of juice box, small packages of kool-aid, multi-pack of peanut butter or cheese crackers, and a multi-pack of bubble gum. I put one of each in a party bag and sometimes throw in a box or crayons or markers from either walmart or the $ store.