Party Favor Suggestions

Give each kids a glow neckalace from Dollare Tree with a helium balloon attached! This has been a huge hit for us in the past.

Another great party favor my kids have reiceved was a full size can of playdough with a shape cookie cutter attached. The mom also made personalized labels for each can of playdough that said something like, "Thanks for coming to my party. Love, Sydney"

I like to stay away from candy, or high-priced items. I gave out party bags with a granola bar, a Kool-aid squeezer, a sticker sheet, and then tied the top with a helium latex balloon. All kids like balloons! And it was affordable AND not tons of sugar AND the balloons served as decoration until the end of the party, when the guests took them home. Worked out great!

Hey N. go to www.foodnetwork.com and type in "Ice Cream Cone Favors" it's a Sandra Lee recipe...I've done that for the past 3 years and it's still a hit, they're really cute and super easy and inexpensive...Good Luck...Hope your little one has a Very Happy Birthday!

We hired a character artist for my daughters 6th B-Day and it was a HUGE hit. Just getting their characature drawn was a big part of the party entertainment - and plus they had a fabulous party favor to take home and frame! I got so many compliments from kids and parents alike. I just googled it and went thru the partypop website .... or some such thing. There are many in DFW to pick from.

At my daughters last b-day party I gave out fun snacks like Individual bags of goldfish, fruit snacks, gogurts,... and a little bit of candy M&M's etc. It was easier than trying to get boy, girl, and age apporpriate gifts. Just an idea

I love finding things they can do at home as well as some of the cheap stuff like cute tattoos and one or maybe two peices of candy. What's a party without candy??? I love those little sets you can find at Michaels of things they can make when they get home and have something to keep, or the little potted plants with the little pot that goes with it. My five year old loves doing that. They have those little craft sets with the all the foam or felt shapes they could do for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I finally stopped getting "favors" b/c it's all junk! I started making cookies on a stick, or other decorated cookies for my kid's favors. If you are having a train party, circle cookies iced with a circle and an X through it with RR like a railroad crossing sign. For a princess party, start cookies on a stick with colored sugar to make them look like wands. Works for all ages, and if you know someone has a brother/sister at home, you can make extras so they can bring them to their siblings. If you do them on a stick, stick them into floral foam to help decorate for the party too. If you do them plain, put them on a platter by the front door so you make sure to give them out as everyone leaves.

I love the playdough idea! Something that will get used...not thrown away like the cheap favors normally do!
I tend to go for one BIG favor, like a book - instead of a bag of little "trinkets".

Something I'm looking into is a "project" type of thing that they can take home to do later. This would be perfect for your age group since they can all have their parents involvement later. Oriental trading and Rhode Island Novelty both have ideas OR if you want to go local you can go to US Toys (located in Plano) but you can look at their website first.

- C.

A friend told me about these giant bubble wands that come at WalMart for one dollar. I found them at Party City for $3, and they come in their own bubbles...it's like a long tube thing. It's easy, the kids LOVED them, and you are not giving them a big bag of stuff that gets pricey and may or may not get used.

For my son's last birthday(5th), the theme was Batman. I made chocolate bat shaped cookies for all the kids and put them in clear bags with a yellow ribbon tied at the top. You could, also, do candy appropriate for all ages or cupcakes with each child's first initial on them, if you didn't invite too many children.

Hi N.:

My 3 year old son had a birthday party this summer with kids of a big age range invited.

I found a really cute website. The company is called Beau Coup. I'm sure you can Google it.

I found super cute gumball machines. They are filled with bubble gum (what child doesn't like bubble gum?). They are much cuter than the ones that can be found at the retail stores I visited. They come in 3 colors, so you can mix and match. The cost was very reasonable and all the kids and parents loved them!

By the way, the machines are refillable. They actually even come with a bag filled with refills!

Good luck and have fun!

I agree with Kim M's suggestion of gumball machines. My children love them. I just recently saw they at a Dollar Tree and they also sold gum. So for just over a $1 a child you can have a great party favor.

By the way, if you should need any entertainment for your party my husband and I are professional Clowns/Elves. We offer facepainting, balloon sculptures, comedy magic shows, Glitter Art Tattoos (these are great because they last 5-7 days), friendship bracelets, along with fun interaction and games. We've entertained at birthday parties and large events like the Plano Balloon Festival.

Our prices are very reasonable (we have four great kids of our own so we know how expensive things can get)and we do our best to work within a person's budget.

Please feel free to take a look at our website at www.freewebs.com/bubblesandwowza for samples of our work along with video testimonials from satified customers regarding our performance.

Give us a call at ###-###-#### if you have any questions at all.

Hope you have a great party whatever you decide to do.

Hope to hear from you,

K. Schmidt
Bubbles the Clown
Bubbles and Wowza, LLC

I just had a b-day party for my daughter & the kids ages were anywhere from 2 to 10. I did full size Play-Doh containers, sidewalk chalk, fruit treats & a few fun size Twix. It seemed to go over very well. It's stuff that will be used & won't junk up your house with trinket type things. Hope you have a great party! :)

I just had a party for my 2 yr old and 6 yr old. We did a knight and princess theme. The dollar store had shields along with goodies and the girls got jewelry and goodies.

I ordered themed sugar cookies from Let Them Eat Cookies and tied them to the bottom of all the balloons in the house. Everyone got one when they left and loved it!

Check out Oriental Trading online. I bought some gift bags at the dollar store and then some seasonally themed crafts from OT. I think I paid maybe $10 for a bag of 12 sand crafts and about the same for another box of bookmark crafts. I didn't want to do the candy thing (it was around Halloween) and personally I'm tired of all the breaky cheap toys that we've gotten/given in the past. Depending on the crowd and the date of the party, you could do turkey or Christmas themed crafts. Another option I really liked that a friend used, was to do a book swap. Have everyone bring an unwrapped book (new or gently used and at least one). Kiddos leaving the party could pick their own book. Leftover books were donated to a charity (I forget which). we really liked that one -- all of us.

I love Whole Earth Provision Co. for party favors. For my daughter's 5th birthday party at school, I bought a bunch of little spiders in wooden boxes. That doesn't sound cute, but they were very cute. When you opened the lid of the box, the spider's legs wiggled. The boys and the girls liked them, and since there were pink and blue and red and yellow spiders, I could give the really girly girls a pink spider. Anyway, they only cost $1 apiece, and there are all sorts of cool little things like that in bins near the checkout counter in the $1-$3 range.

I did baggies with indivdualy wrapped snacks. I did teddy grahams and ritz bitz sandwiches and stickers. Being another mom, I appreciate simple, non candy, non small toy stuff. It just ends up in the trash.

check out oriental trading company on line at www.orientaltrading.com
or US TOY in Plano at Parker and Independence for ideas!

My son's birthday party is in December. Rather than give a baggie full of stuff that will probably get lost and end up in the trash, I decided to go simple. I'm getting a can of playdough (full size). A 4 pack is $1.68 at Target, and tying a bag of M&Ms or Skittles to it. Full size packages of those are 50 cents at Kroger right now. Simple, but something I think most kids will like! Plus, I think that's something boys and girls both like as do those ages. The only time I've done a different one for an age was when my nephews were 2 and under.

Hi N., I just built a website for a new client that has a party store in McKinney. While going through the store with her, I was so impressed with the variety of party decor/favors, and with the different things she had versus Party City, and stuff like that. She's a great, great lady, and there to help with ideas, and anything you need. With it being off the beaten path, she's really got a lot of time to devote to helping people with party ideas. The website is www.hauspartiesandnovelties.com. They are open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 til 5, and I'd stop by there if you had time. Really cute boutique store, and great owner.

For my son's 6th b-day I bought a bunch of white t-shirts and some spray-on fabric paint and stencils. The kids all made a shirt and that was their party favor.