Birthday party gift bag ideas....

[Beth76]

other than the standard cheap "crap" and candy? This is a party for 5-year-olds and I'd like to avoid candy as the party is the day before easter. Also, I always hate the standard gift bag stuff. I'm going to check out the $1 store to see what I can find there too.

 

[U2_rocks]

Does your party have a theme? In the past I've given loot bags that contained just a few nice things that went along with the theme, and one tiny piece of candy (like a mini chocolate bar or something). e.g. when we had a beach party they got sunglasses, those containers on strings to wear around your neck to keep valuables in, sand toys, leis etc. The toddlers just got sand toys. The party was actually ON the beach, and I gave the stuff out early on so the kids could have them on the beach!

For my DD's tea party they got bracelets, hats and sunglasses in the theme (also got them during the party so they could all wear them!), and they got to take home their cups.

If you have a theme, you might be able to get some things that go along with it really well. I find that if the loot bag toys are really on target (i.e. they have meaning with respect to the party theme), you don't need to have as many of them as your usual loot bag seems to require!

 

[RitaZ.]

When my sons were young, I bought Hot Wheels cars for party bags. Also the party sized play-doh containers.

 

[mommytotwo]

I didn't want to do the basic party goodie bag since most of the things will just be tossed aside, so I am doing Princess books for my daughters party with activity books for the boys. And for my son's party, I have coloring books and activity books which I will put a box of crayons together with it.
For both parties, the books/coloring books are going along with the themes.

 

[Beth76]

It sort of has a theme. It's at a gymnastics place and the decorations will be just generic (provided by them). There is a slight Spiderman theme in that the cake is SM and a SM pinata. I can't go entirely SM (for gift bags) as there are several girls attending.

 

[Beth76]

mommytotwo, that's a good idea. I'll try Target to see if there's something "big" to get that won't break the bank.

 

[lewdyan1]

We did a gymnastics party for my DD two years ago. I ordered books from the scholastic newsletters the schools send home. I picked a bunch of the .95 books and sent each one home with a book and a few pieces of candy.

 

[JerseyJanice]

My son has an August birthday, and so for several years now, I've put school supplies in with the candy and junk in his birthday goodie bags.

You can do the same for your child(ren) with Easter/Spring-themed stationery supplies--pencils, erasers, markers, pens, memo pads, stickers, etc. Party City has a ton of this kind of stuff.

 

[goofy's friends]

I love to do the theme, too. My friend did gymnastics party last year and all the kids got hula hoops---they LOVED them--it was perfect.

For spiderman, I would do pencils, fruit snacks, or spider rings (can you still get those if it's not Oct.?)

Have fun planning--it's my favorite part!!

 

[debster812]

If it's at a gym facility, what about sports bottles? My SIL did this 2 years ago, got inexpensive sports bottles (with a lid and a straw) and wrote each child's name on the cup in colorful markers. Bless her heart, she also had 3 or 4 spare blank ones and brought the markers in case any uninvited siblings tagged along.

DS still uses his for water by his bed at night.

 

[texasthree]

Heres a few things I have put in the past.

Flashcards ($.88 at HEB)
Kites (they have spiderman and some princess ones at walmart, $1)
bubbles (I print a clipart off the computer with a Thank You for celebrating Logans 4th birthday and glue it around the bubble container just like the wrapper, you can see examples of that on ebay since lots of people sell them but they are easy to print yourself)
mini bags of popcorn (10 bags for $2.50)
fruit snacks or fruit roll ups
crayons
When we had a beach party theme, I used sand buckets as the goodie bag and put cheap beach towels, sun glasses and shovels in them.

I think the hula hoops is the best idea for a gymnastics party. I think you can get them for a dollar or two! Good Luck!

 

[Daisy Duck 5]

I loved the hula hoops idea metioned above.

How about a drinking glass either with a spiderman theme or without. Maybe you could include a cool straw or some kool aid mix with it as well.
Other ideas are
bucket and shovel
books
play doh
sidewalk chalk
bubbles
a ball (the size of a soccer ball)
a summer hat

 

[Mishetta]

I was just going to post about Sports water bottles! My DS's b-day is the end of June so being so close to 4th of July, I bought the kids a patriotic water bottle. The kids LOVED them! For some of them, it was their FIRST water bottle & I still hear about how much the kids loved them. (Of course, I did fill it with candy but you wouldn't have too!) I also ordered patriotic pin wheels from the Oriental Trading Company catalog & I think they came out to 13 cents each or something cheap like that! If you have time, that's a great catalog to find inexpensive items to give as b-day loot bags.

 

[aprilgail2]

I hate when my daughter gets the little bags of crap so I try to stay away form giving them out at her parties too. Her last party I gave out a full sized hershey bar with her picture on it that said "thanks for coming to my party" (and YES..we did send out thank you cards besides that!) and a Kite for all the boys and one of those hoops that goes around the ankle with the ball thing that you jump over for the girls.

 

[aloysius1992]

Just had a party with super hero capes for boys, a yard of darkfabric with reflective sequins fastened by two tiny velcro patches.

Girls got princess veils, headbands with a yard of pink embroidered,sequined net sewn on.

 

[Beth76]

Great ideas everyone!!!! I wish I had asked sooner so I would have more time to explore my options. I guess I'm going to be very busy checking out all the stores in the next few day. I am such a procrastinator.

 

[JustineMarie]

We just had my daughters birthday party this pst Wednesday at the skating rink. I didn't want to do the goody bags full of candy so close to Easter so I went to AC Moore and bought clear icing bags and green ribbon. I filled the icing bags with cheese balls and tied the top closed with the green ribbon and made carrots. We had 35 kiddos (boys and girls) there and they all thought it was great.

 

[disneyfan551]

Glad to see this thread, as I'm searching for ideas for my dd's 5th birthday party, which will be a general Disney theme (any/all characters!). It should be so easy, but I usually start planning 9 months ahead of time, but with building/decorating a new house, I haven't made the first plan for her party!

 

[minkydog]

Waaaa! i miss my kid's having birthday parties. Two of them are teens now, so their parties are more like just "hangin' with the peeps." I wanna come over and help you fix goodie bags