How much do you spend on goodie bags for bday parties?

[Jaimee]

Inspired by the other birthday threads...How much do you spend on goodies for a kids party? DS is having a party at a local pet store for his 7th birthday. It's mainly tropical/exotic pets (sharks, sting rays, fish, aligators, turtles etc..) and he loves pirates so we're doing a pirate theme. I thought it would be cute to get each kid a pirate bandana a la the Pirate Cruise at WDW. We're also going to pick pirate names (I got that from a pirate book..) The invites and decorations I bought are based on this cute book "Everything You Wanted to KNow About Pirates". I thought it would be cool to get each kid the book instead of filling up the goodie bag with juck (candy and cheap plastic toys..) but they're $6.95 a piece + shipping which could get a little expensive for me if all 16 kids come (being a single mom...). SO how much do you usually spend? What do you put in the bags??

 

[aprilgail2]

Anywhere from 5-10 a peice is what they usually work out to. One time I did Pails and shovels and filled the pail with candy and sand toys. The last one I did little backpacks filled with art stuff....

 

[CEDmom]

I probably spend about $5 on each bag. What you're thinking of would probably be about $8-9 all together. For DD's 5th birthday I got Hello Kitty notepads w/ matching pens, some Hello Kitty jewelry and candy for the girls and racing cars, Shrek notepads w/matching pens, and candy for the boys. In prior years I've gotten stuff from Oriental Trading Company. It's good quality for the price.

The book sounds really nice. Maybe you could take it to a copy place and have them make copies on a color machine? Another idea for a pirate theme that would be too much is to get each child a plain cardboard box from a craft store and put a little bottle of glue plus some plastic jewels and other stuff you'd find on a treasure chest. They could then take it home and decorate how they'd like. On the bottom of the box you could even put a little message thanking them for sharing the day with your DS. Whatever you decide I'm sure the kids will have a blast.

 

[Gupsmom]

At my DD's 5th birthday last week this is what we did. I've had good luck before at the $1 bin at our local craft store (Michael's). I also hate to buy crap for goodie bags. This time I bought 6x8 packs of colored paper and a pack of markers. I took them home, used ribbon to tie them together and tied a push pop (candy) on top. The total per child came to $2.80.... On top of the fact that the kids all got to do gymnastics for an hour. I don't think you need to go overboard.

In the past I have found small puzzles (carebear/strawberry shortcake/spiderman/hulk), paper notebooks, small paint sets, clay, craft kits, etc....all in the $1 section at Michaels. I'd really rather give 2-3 nicer things than a bag full of things that I know (if my kids brought them home) will land in the garbage within 2 wks.

Jess

 

[curlyjbs]

JMHO but I can't stand goody bags! I end up throwing out most of the candy & $store junk people fill them with. I like to do theme b'day parties and give each child one thing related to the party. In your case the book seems like a great idea..........maybe you could check online for other less $$ pirate books. Eye patches would be another cute thing. Or those little bags of chocolate gold peices.

Think about it. By the time you fill the bags with candy and other "stuff" you've probably spent $5-6 a kid anyway. such a waste.

Again, just my opinion.

~Curly

 

[JerseyJanice]

I'd say I usually wind up spending $5 each on them.

One year, I lucked out at the Disney Store. They were selling really nice, but discontinued Beanies at 4/$10. I bought one for each kid and tied a Mylar balloon from the dollar to it, then gave those in lieu of treat bags.

Last year, I gave some candy (Starbursts and Smarties) and Spongebob themed school supplies--pencils, erasers, little rulers, and a small pad of paper.

 

[bengalbelle]

It just depends on what I can find at the time. DS (4) wanted a Charlie Brown/baseball theme so it was more difficult to find favors this year. I found:
Charlie Brown coloring books w/him in his baseball uniform $1.00/each
Cracker Jacks .33/each
Big League Chewing Gum $1.09/each
Snoopy Pez dispensers $1.69/each
Mini Baby Ruth bars .10/each

I'd like to add a few more things, but I can't find Charlie Brown stuff at a reasonable price - everything is pretty much collectible.

In the past I've spent $10.00 or a little more each, but I only invited a few kids because of their age. The more kids we invite, the less we will spend on favors. Also if we invite a child is a good bit older or younger (like friend's kids) I will do something special for them that suits their age.