What do you think of this for a 3rd birthday party?

[Fairy]

I'm stressing over this. I need to just chill. But thing is I wasn't planning on doingg this till age 4 for a kids party, but all the other kids in his class had one, so now I'm kind of roped in. So, the plan is to have this at a place with a huge -- HUGE -- climby thingie. No problem. It's the goodie bags I'm stressing over.

There's nothing that bugs me more about these bday parties than the bag o'crap at the end. I don't waant to give a bag o'crap. Last year for the family party, I gave 12 goodie bags of really awesome stuff spending about $10 per kid (family party, all friend and family's older children). This year, it's DS's class, and there are 24 potential kids! Don't want to spend that again. But I don't want to give a bag o'crap.

I want to give t-shirts with Madagascar characters on it and some kind of wording that goes but is not "I had fun at DS's 3rd Brithday!" Like I could have a big picture of Melman and the words "Melman, Melman, Melman!" I found some for $10 w/tax all inclusive, but wondering if that pesky licensing issue would prevent them from doing it.

Or, I can give a beanie baby to each kid for four or six bucks a piece.

Anyone else have ideas that are the anti-bag o'crap? And a goodie bag snack that is HFCS and hydrogenated oil and nut-free?

I never thought I'd be stressing over goodie bags.

[shilo]

do you have access to an inkjet type printer? can you do the print out/iron on t-shirt thing yourself for less than $10?

what about burning your own cd's with "i like to move it, move it" and "macarena" on it?

hth, lori
Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

[neeter]

I hate the bag of junk too! Last year for DS' third birthday we gave each child a small boxed puzzle -- 24 pieces. Target has them for $3 each - we gave out an assortment of Sesame Street ones, but there are all sorts of options.

We tied a ribbon around each one with a tag that said thanks for coming to the party.

They were a big hit - lots of parents said their kids loved them, and they were surprised their kids were able to do them. They also also asked where to get them because they wanted more for their kids!

They look like this:
http://www.kimmyshop.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=2966826

[gatorruth]

What about getting a big plain colored water bottle and personalizing them with the kids names? DS got one for a goody bag gift and really loves it... That's not too expensive and they'll keep it bc it has their name on it!!

HTH!

[g-mama]

Not to hijack, but I bought a bunch of water bottles for ds' party last summer and was going to decorate them. Dh freaked and said if I used a Sharpie, the ink would leech through and contaminate the water and it was totally unsafe.

What can you use to decorate the bottle that is safe?


~Kristen

Paolo 11-00
Benjamin 8-03
Marco 12-05

[gatorruth]

I used a paint pen... you have to hand wash the bottles, but they still look great...

[lmintzer]

I decorated bottles with a paint pen as well. Worked great!

[caheinz]

DS had a joint kid party for his 3rd (another girl in his class has her birthday the same week). I bought some simple musical toys from West Music: a jingle bell thing (either a bracelet or an animal-shaped bell shaker), a little "clicker" thing (forget what it's called) and an egg shaker per kid. (Nothing too loud.)

The other mom is a pediatrician, and she loved the idea and just reimbursed me for half of my total cost.

Kids and parents alike loved them! And it was just around $5 per kid, so very very doable!

[miki]

I love the puzzle idea. You can also give a picture book or a coloring book with some crayons.

A nice non-junky snack for the goodie bag is some fruit leather. Or go crazy with some chocolate covered raisins or pretzels.

[gatorsmom]

I am soooo anti- bag o'crap. A friend of mine had a nice birthday party for her son at a climbie thing too, and come to think of it, she didn't pass out the bags. My boys (and I) didn't even miss it- didn't even realize that she didnt, until just now. ahh. :)

However, another friend with boys my age, DID hand out the bags and included in there were these tiny, flimsy cars that had a marble in them to make them roll!! And she has a 2 year old too, so she should know better. I threw the bags away one day when the boys weren't looking and they never asked for them again.

If you have to do the bags, maybe think of something good they can travel with or use at a restaurant- small box of crayons, some stickers, tiny box of raisins, etc. Now THAT I'd have been happy with.

Lisa
Mom to Gator July 2003
And Cha-Cha July 2005
and surprise! twins due 11/07!

[kristenk]

The PP who posted about restaurant toys made me think of this. How about Playmobil? That's our go-to toy for restaurants and we always end up with a few kids eyeing our collection. You could get several sets and then creatively divide them so that each kiddo ends up with the same number of animals, but not necessarily the same animals.

Check out the selection on kidsurplus. I think there might be a free shipping promo w/$$ purchase right now.

You could *sorta* keep the Madagascar theme going, but, maybe not quite...

(There's a set of 8 penguins for $5.99 on the playmobil site.)

[neeter]

Cute idea, the decorated water bottles -- do you have any pictures? I need ideas for DS' fourth birthday (um, 6 months away!!)

[jvorhis]

I hate junk filled goodie bags so I try to get something with more substance. Until I would buy the junk I figure it would cost me the same amount. Emma's my little pony party is a few weeks away and for the girls I got MLP's for 2.50 at KB Toys, MLP fruit snacks, I made coloring books from pics I found online, and made CD's. The boys are getting coloring books, CD's, Cowboy Hats and a play horse.

[hellokitty1]

We've done shirts for two years now for DD's b-day. We get them on sale at AC Moore or Michaels. Then we find different online pics of characters and we get different ones depending on gender and age. We print multiple pics on one sheet of the iron-on paper and iron them on.

Even if the shirts or iron-on don't last forever, it is a real treat for the kids because the shirt is unique to them just them. We've done a college team logo, disney princesses, spiderman, cars, hello kitty, etc. These mean a lot more to the kids than the random choking hazards in a typical bag.

Good luck.