Birthday Party Goody Bags

Kid #1 just turned five, and tomorrow is her birthday party.  I think my child may have a future career as a wedding planner - this party has been talked about and planned for months.  We just finished making the goody bags today, so I will share that now, and share the rest of the party details later.

The theme that was requested for this birthday party was a "Fairy Princess Lavender Tea Party."  Why not, right?  Although my kids have not been to a whole lot of birthday parties, they have been to enough to know that an essential part of a birthday party is the goody bag.  I do like the idea of giving a little gift to friends as of way of thanking them for coming to celebrate with you.  However, I am not super keen on spending a lot of money, or buying something unnecessary.  (This New York Times article on the topic describes the extreme.)

For our goody bags, my daughter and I decided on a list of inexpensive items that we could mostly make, and that we thought her friends would enjoy.  Kid #1 is so excited about these goody bags and is really hoping that one of her friends doesn't come tomorrow, so that there will be one left for her.

Do you want to see what we put in them?  Here it is!
























Playdough

I made playdough using a recipe I found here.  It looks quite blue in the picture, but it is a purple colour. 

Raisins

As Carlee has already mentioned, I am not eating refined sugar for the month of September.  Kid #1 is really taking the idea of no sugar to heart, and insisted that we have raisins instead of candy in the bags. 

Notebook

Something that my daughter really wanted in the goody bags was a notebook.  I did look at the dollar store briefly, before realizing that I would never find a teeny fairy notebook for a reasonable price.  Instead, I laminated a fairy picture, found here, and bound it up with white paper. 

Seeds

When Kid #1 requested flower seeds, I thought it was a really sweet idea.  After checking out a few stores, I realized that 1) you can't buy seeds at the end of the summer, and 2) we have a ton of seeds in our own garden.  We harvested a bunch of sunflower seeds, put them in a little bag, and added instructions for planting next year.

Glitter Pen

This was the one purchased dollar store item.  At $0.20 each, it was my biggest "splurge."

Fairy Ring

The fairy flower ring printable was found here.  I cut out the rings, laminated them, and then cut them out again.  It was a bit labour intensive for a goody bag present, but cutting is a kind of a fun thing to do while watching TV at night.

We loaded all of the gifts into a brown paper bag, and stapled on a cute fairy picture that says "Thank-you fairy much!" (found here). 


So, what's your take on goody bags?  Too much work?  Totally fun?  I will have to see how the party guests react, but this has been a fun project to work on with my daughter, and a nice way to teach her that giving gifts to others can be rewarding.