Party Favors for 4 yr old Party

[spanannie]

Any ideas? I did a search, but most of the PP are about 1st or 2nd b-days.

There is really no theme, since it's at an indoor Playnasium, but we will use Hot Wheels partyware. My son is a hot wheels fanatic. The invite is a race car.

We have an equal number of girls as boys, though, and I want to either get one thing for girls and one thing for boys or get something gender neutral for all. I want to spend $5 or less each.

Thanks!

[schums]

We just had a 4 year old party for DS. The theme was Scooby Doo, but the gift bags were pretty generic. Here's what we put in each one:
* Scooby Doo fruit snacks (I think someone makes a car one -- maybe Nascar or something?)
* Sidewalk chalk (1 piece)
* Playdoh (1 regular size container -- found them at B1G1 for the 4 packs)
* Large superball (about 2" diameter, I think)
* Magnifying glass (from Oriental Trading -- cheap and the kids loved it)
* Bubbles (from Oriental Trading, 2 oz. size I think. It said Birthday Bubbles on it)
* Bone shaped sucker (to go with SD theme -- again from Oriental Trading)

I think the whole thing came to about $5 or $6. We had both boys and girls at the party, and both equally loved the bags (according to the parents). I did try to put colors I knew each child liked into the bag for them, so they were personalized a little, but everyone got the same stuff.

If you don't need the stuff tomorrow, you might want to look at Oriental Trading. The stuff is cheap, decent quality, and there is an impressive selection. You do have to buy in bulk (usually by the dozen), so it might not work for you, depending on how many kids you're having.

HTH,
Sarah
Mom to Alex (3/2002) and Catherine (8/2003)

[tarabenet]

A friend of mine was talking about this just the other day! For his son's b-day, they used the smaller Lego kits at party favors. His wife bought them in bulk, and talked the store into giving her a discount. The leftovers all went into the birthday boy's collection. And what kid doesn't like Legos? Apparently they were quite a hit.

[deenass]

DS was recently at a 5 year old bday party and the favor was books, I thought it was a GREAT idea!

[spanannie]

Your post reminded me that I forgot to say that I don't want to do goody bags...yours sound great, but I'd prefer to do one thing.

[Corie]

At Carson's 4 year party, she gave out a disposable camera
and photo album.
The kids loved them!!

[Tondi G]

How about a Beach ball? They will be flat and easy to transport and they are cheap from Oriental Trading company! All kids love beach balls and summer is coming SOON!

you could do one with flames.... kinda makes me think of hotwheels
http://www.orientaltrading.com/otcweb/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=49/348&mode=Searching&searchDestinationJSP=/search/searchMain.jsp&erec=8&D=beachball&No=24&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntt=beachball&N=0&y=0&x=9&Ntk=all

or assorted color stripes... pink and purple for girls blue and green for boys!

http://www.orientaltrading.com/otcweb/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=49/359&mode=Searching&searchDestinationJSP=/search/searchMain.jsp&erec=10&D=beachball&No=24&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntt=beachball&N=0&y=0&x=9&Ntk=all

I always thought these balloons racers were neat too!

http://www.orientaltrading.com/otcweb/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=16/749&mode=Searching&searchDestinationJSP=/search/searchMain.jsp&erec=2&D=race%2Bcar&No=0&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntt=race%2Bcar&N=0&y=13&x=11&Ntk=all

~Tondi

[spanannie]

Thanks! Those hot wheels balls are great!

Do you think 4 year olds are too old for a plastic pail with beach shovel, sand molds, etc?

[JacksMommy]

Not at all. In fact I think sand molds are somewhat wasted on the younger set since they don't do much sandcastle building, etc.

I love the disposable camera idea!

Laurel
WOHM to Jack, 6/4/02
Baby Madeline 12/14/04

[spanannie]

I bought a bunch of sand pails with shovels and sand molds for $2.99/ea at TRU...I was just going to return them, since I didn't think they really went with the Playnasium venue. Then again, it IS almost summer. I was thinking of opening up the bundles and sticking a beach ball in there, like the PP showed. Maybe putting their names on the pails?

As for the disposable camera, I do like the idea, but I can't see my son successfully using a camera. He'd take a bunch of pictures of the ground, etc. He's tried before, and we've gotten a bunch of pictures of nothing.

My other ideas were: the freezable sipper mugs at Pottery barn Kids (is that too boring?) or paint with water books and tying on brushes and maybe a hot wheels and something different for girls. What do you all think is best, one of those, or the pails?

Thanks Again!

[Tondi G]

I think a pail and shovel is a great idea too!

You could always get a pail and shovel and put the beach balls inside too! I believe Oriental trading also sells pails... tin and plastic!

Good luck

~Tondi

[JacksMommy]

Any of those sounds good. The sipper cups seems especially fun to me and I'm sure kids will like them - in my experience, kids are very easy to please, especially at this age.

The only reason I like this best is that many kids may already have brushes and sand stuff, so this might be something they don't already have.

However if you go with the pails, putting their name on them is a great idea (you could do this with the cups, too, maybe?).

Seriously, you should do whichever appeals to you - the kids will love just getting something. For DS's last party we bought magic wands at a local toy store (that made a sound and flashed a light when you pressed a button) for 2.99 a piece and they were a huge hit.

Laurel
WOHM to Jack, 6/4/02
Baby Madeline 12/14/04

[spanannie]

My son LOVES these cups...I am just wondering, does that seem like a cruddy favor, just a cup?

They are $4 or $5, so I wouldn't really want to fill them.

Thanks!

[JacksMommy]

Maybe this is just me, but I would much rather have one substantial, usable item than a whole bagfull of little things that might get played with one time and then become junk. Apparently many disagree because we seem to get the junk-filled bags a lot but I'm always thrilled when we get nicer stuff.

I do often have a last-minute feeling of Oh gosh, I should add something else to this, but I stop myself and find just one item goes over very well.

Laurel
WOHM to Jack, 6/4/02
Baby Madeline 12/14/04