Budget party favor ideas that aren't "cheap"

[Grumpy'sWife4Ever]

The post about the pitiful "budget" party favors got me thinking that maybe some of us have come up with some great inexpensive (but not cheap and cheesy) ideas that we can share with others who may be planning parties of their own. What things have you given that were fun, budget friendly, and not likely to have been tossed out the next day?

This year, my kids are only having small, family parties because we are saving for our trip next year. But last year they had friends and other guests, and here a few things I think were popular (and not too expensive):

For one party, I bought the little plastic theme tumblers at the party store. I think they were 79 cents each. I washed them ahead of time and gave them to the kids at the start of the party to drink from. Then later we had a pinata and I rinsed the cups so they could fill them with goodies (not all candy, also stickers and coins) and take them home filled.

Another party was a Hawaiian theme, and I gave each child a lei and a pair of sunglasses to wear at the party, and a small beach ball and bottle of bubbles to take home

I have found that cheap candy is kind of a waste - most moms say they are going to throw it out when they get home - so I will invest it one quality piece per child, like a Ring Pop or large sucker. I also found that bags of fruit snacks seem to be a little more popular with Moms, and they are usually easy to match to most themes.

Other ideas have been theme-appropriate coloring pages printed from the computer and small boxes of crayons, small kites, sidewalk chalk......

And, when my kids were toddlers and had friends of all ages and both genders, I would sometimes have their party at McDonalds - Happy meals for five or six kids would cost me about $20 and it came with a toy! Problem solved!!

 

[Took]

Had a mystery party for DD and gave used, but great condition, Nancy Drew mystery books as take-home gifts. The girls really liked them (and read them).

Got them at the used book store in our town for next to nothing.

 

[EthansMom]

We do kids' parties every other year and this year is the year that we're having parties. I'm saving money by having the parties at home, instead of a party place. I'm then integrating the goody bags into the party activities as much as possible.

For DD's 4th Birthday in March (Princess Theme), we had a Dragon Treasure Hunt (Playdoh wrapped in mylar paper), decorated crowns, and had a pinata... all of that stuff got tossed into the goody bags along with a few other things to go home with the kids.

For DS's 7th Birthday this August (Space Theme), the kids will be having a Space Junk Recovery Mission (treasure hunt) with the individual goodies all being different things they have to find: Gear Bag (mesh backpacks), Repair Putty (playdoh), Moon Rocks (glow in dark balls), Decals (space-themed stickers), etc...

I'm not saving any money on the goodies really, but I'm saving by making the goodies the party entertainment.

One of my friends gives out $5 Lego kits to each kid... about the same $$ that I probably spend, but she saves herself the hassle of buying all of the little toys and putting together the bag.

I'd be happy enough if we went to a party that had no goody bag at all. Some days, it seems like we're just doing a big exchange of gifts...

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

How about a good old-fashioned thank you card, hand-printed and signed by your child (name only for the little ones)......

 

[dthogue]

For my DD's our favorites are - take a group picture, make copies and put it into plastic frames that can be decorated with stickers as part of the party (we have also done this as a thank you, with the thank you note written on the back of the picture) and second I buy large Hershey candy bars and make my own wrappers specific to the theme.

Tammy

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

When my girls were younger we'd send them home with a candy necklace or a candy lei. Simple.

 

[Michelle67]

For my kids' birthday parties the last two years, I bought stuff from Oriental Trading Co (love that place...) One year we did a summer camp theme, and I bought the unbleached cotton canvas string backpacks, made up a camp logo, printed it on iron-on paper, then put it on the backpacks. I bought a few little camp-type crafts for the kids to do, and those were also their take-homes in the backpacks. Like Ethan's Mom said, it works nicely to have your party favors be the activities as well. I know several of the kids still use the backpacks for sleepovers, taking stuff to the beach, etc. Those ended up costing maybe $1.50 each, and the crafts probably cost another $15 or $20 total. One of the crafts was a foamy frame, and then I took a pic of all the kids together and printed out copies for everyone to put in their frame and take home. The kids had a blast, and I like that the bag was useful to them and sturdy enough to last. You could do something similar and make a logo to suit your theme, or just buy the brightly colored ones and have some kind of crafts or favors that go with your theme. OTC has a ton of different themed crafts and party favors.

Last year I bought the hibiscus themed stuff for my daughter. I bought a package of the totes, and a pinata pack of favors that I split up between them. That had crafts as well as novelties like pens, necklaces, bracelets, etc. The girls loved that. However, the beach bag style totes didn't hold up very well. My kids took them to the beach and the salt water and shell action killed them in about two trips. The string backpacks were a little more spendy, but really worth it.

 

[summerrluvv]

I always have the best favors!! I buy things at the Target 90 percent xmas clearance that aren't xmasy. This past January I gave the travel case games that were $19.99 but I got them for 1.99. I wrapped them in cellapahane, wrote the child's name in squiggly print with a marker and attached it to the ribbon. They were great! For DD's 1st birthday, I bought sand pals from Michaels, personlized each with the child's name and put cookie monster cookie cutters, magic towels, bubbles and Elmo books from the dollar bin at Target. For the older kids, they got one of those HUGE bubble wands from Walmart wrapped in cellaphane with some chocolate lollipops in them. For the adults I made personalized candy bar wrappers with DD's pics on them and a cute saying and those were a hit too. I don't think I've ever spent more than $3 on favors and they are always awesome.

 

[treeface]

For DS 5th B-day party, he had 5 friends to his party at the local zoo (we were limited to 8 kids because of space). I went to Build a Bear workshop and purchased each child a $5 gift card. These came with the cute little bear house gift boxes also. This wouldn't work well for a large party, but for a small one it was great. I heard many of the parents comment on how they were happy to not get more trinkets or candy (DS birthday is two weeks before Halloween).

 

[Julia M]

For favors for dd, I have bought items when Claire's has the red line sale: 10 items for $5. For her birthday this past yera (13th) she had a sleepover with 4other girls (5 total). I bought 30 items from Claire's and put them on the dining table and had the girls go around the table, choosing 1 item each time. One girl said it was the best party favors she had ever gotten (it also killed about 45-60 minutes). It included necklaces, earrings, little compacts, mirrors, and I forget what else.

Another year I got beach bags on clearance for 75% off, and gave those (they were $2.50 each)

For ds's party this year (he's 11) I bought Easter clearance items at 90% off. A handheld electronic game (49 cents), and a tube of nerds, with a keychain sized supersoaker water pistol (.29 cents). None looked like a holiday item.

I tend to prefer to give one bigger item, than lots of small things.

Julia

 

[momto2girls]

I prefer to give one larger item rather than a bunch of smaller ones. I also really try to match the theme of the party. So, I might give a pool toy for a pool party or maybe a beach towel. For my daughter's upcoming American Girl party, I plan to give the guests each an American Girl book and a pack of trading cards.

 

[misricsmith]

I did popcorn (microwave bags)
put a piece of paper on it with cinderella stickers on it
and said
thanks for popping over to the princess party
Zoie 5-15-08

 

[luvmy3]

My dd's b-day is at the end of January so I stock up on the after Christmas sales at Bath and Body Works for her favors. Claires had a great sale, 30 items for $10. I got Hannah Montana stuff, hair stuff and jewelry and make up. The girls loved the stuff, I really hope they do that sale again so I can stock up for her next party.

I also stock up on the Target after Christmas stuff for my boys. Right now in the gift closet there are 30 K'nex sets that I got last year. I'll get other stuff to go with it but it depends on the theme of their parties.
I only have to worry about boy stuff for them, they never want to invite the girls.

 

[virginiamama]

I bought a few little camp-type crafts for the kids to do, and those were also their take-homes in the backpacks. Like Ethan's Mom said, it works nicely to have your party favors be the activities as well. One of the crafts was a foamy frame, and then I took a pic of all the kids together and printed out copies for everyone to put in their frame and take home.

I always like to have crafts for the "take home" items. It takes care of an activity at the party and a goodie bag item. I throw in a couple of glow bracelets and a piece or two of candy and that's it.

Like Michelle67, this time we also purchased foamy frames in a patriotic theme. Our party was a firetruck party that included a visit by a fire engine (courtesy of my leiutenant brother). I took a picture of each child with the whole fire truck in the background, wearing my brother's helmet. I will send those in their thank you notes. Also, I found fire extinguisher squirt guns, so that was a goodie item that they had fun with during the party. I spent maybe $3 per child at the most, and people are always saying we find the best goody items.

 

[ptlycloudy]

With our disney store closing I just bought sunglasses for everyone at my dd's party. They were $2.80 each. I figure everyone can use them this summer.

 

[Cindy B]

I did some interesting things when the Limited Too had 1/2 off every clearance item-- we cleaned out all the 99 cent items (nail files, glitter putty and small keychains)

Then we found journals at Target $1 spot clearanced out to 50 cents. Bought some cute pens also clearanced down from the $1 spot.

I then went to Christmas tree shop and bought cute felt bags that looked like purses ($3/5).

The total for each girl was around $3-$4 and it looked like a whole lot more!

 

[haveitall]

For DGS 6th birthday we are doing a Pirate theme. We usually do his party at the park. His birthday is July 3. I am getting banadanas and filling them with an eye patch and some pirate stickers, probably a treasure map. We will do a treasure hunt and give out necklaces, gold coins and candy.

Sylvia in Mn

 

[rdevine10]

Here are a few I can think of off the top of my head- good for the preschool crowd:

Puzzles from the $ store. Done this twice this year and they were a HUGE hit! (the 25 to 60 piece ones).

Watercolor sets- add a bunch of ribbon & a name tag and your set

Homemade Music CDs- buy 15 songs and download- make them into 15 cds (which are cheap), and use your printer to make a label: example: Beths Birthday Hits 2008

HTH

 

[Mickeyorbust]

I also do the party activity is your treat thing...although I do try to have atleast 2 activities. One year we did those sugar straw things, can't think of the exact name at the moment. All of the kids had such a great time doing them. They're those plastic tubes that you fill with different color/flavor sugar. I got them from Oriental Trading. The pack did 20 straws, they were about 2 feet long, and it cost $9 two years ago. We've had an oriental themed party....I put oragami paper with instructions, a hand full of fortune cookies and a beaded bracelet with each girls name painted in chinese characters in chinese take out boxes. The bracelets were really easy and inexpensive. I used the large beaded bracelets from claires, I think I got them 3 for $1. And had a friend at church, she was a missionary in China, write out on a piece of paper each girls name in Chinese, then I used a sharpee to write it on the bracelets. Honestly, while I do appreciate the thought of the goody bag, I get tired of the standard candy and party favors.

 

[bubbles83]

Hey all-

When I was a kid my mom always had candy that kids would take with them. You can buy gumballs in bulk at sites like gumball.com or maybe Walmart and kids can mix colors or just have assorted packs. You don't have to have too many- no rotting teeth! Get creative with what kind of bags you put them in. Tie it into the theme.

Hope this helps!