Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Darling, Inexpensive Party Favors

My friend Diana, over at The Girl Creative, is throwing a linky party today that's Birthday Parties. She's looking for special inspiration when it comes to Goody Bags.

I am a Birthday Party throwing psych case.
Sad, but true.
Every year I go insane planning my daughters Birthday party. Each year I manage to outdo myself in craziness.
Last year she had her first sleep over (which was actually a late-over for all but one guest.)
I made each girl a white, lace trimmed nightgown. At the party they got the decorate their gown with fabric markers and iron ones. Then they had a fashion show, set to music, which I made my husband videotape (so I could take still photographs.)
For the goodie bags I made them each a fabric bag with their initial quilted onto it. It was filled with sleepover paraphernalia.
These types of things - even when done by clever, craft mommy's - end up costing a lot of money. So my Tessa usually only gets to invite a few friends. Last year she invited 8 friends.

Narrowing it down is always the toughest part for my ridiculously outgoing girl. She counts EVERYONE as a friend.

This year I was super busy with end of the year PTA madness, and I didn't have the desire that I normally do to go completely overboard, so, instead, we threw the easiest Birthday Party known to man.
We rented a massive bounce house, reserved the pavilion at the park, and let Tessa invite everyone she knew to the party.
We ended up with 36 yes RSVP's.
And then I thought of the party favors.
I panicked, a bit, at first. I didn't want to spend my life savings on party favors! Plus, I absolutely HATE when my kids come home with party favors filled with way too much sugar or cheap, silly toys that break 2 seconds after they start playing with them.  I'm SO picky - it's hard NOT to spend a ton on favors!
But I took a deep breath and went to the Dollartree to see what I could find...

I purchased...
Three 12 packs of fold-up cardstock favor bags..........$3
Five 8 packs of snack sized Hershey Bars (Tessa's favorites)..........$5
Five 8 packs of party blowers..........$5
Nine 12 packs of sidewalk chalk..........$9
For a grand total of $22

Each cute little favor bag got a cardstock cutout on the front - half got a star, half got a flower. I attached them with super glue after I folded the bag up.
Then I put the candy bar, the party blower and 3 pieces of sidewalk chalk (tied together with curling ribbon) inside.  They turned out SO cute and cost just 0.65 each (including tax)!!!

I can't guarantee that I won't go insane next year and go overboard with the party favors again, but for this year, at least, my favors were super cheap!


6 comments:

the thrifty ba said...

lucky kids! those are adorable!

Unknown said...

You are awesome!!! Thanks for this!! :)

Heather Henderson said...

cute!! i love the idea of putting in sidewalk chalk for a summer birthday!

anyreasonforcake said...

Good job! The sidewalk chalk is a nice addition to the favor bag. Baggies of homemade play-doh, scented with Kool-Aid would also be fun. Congrats on throwing a sane birthday party! http://www.anyreasonforcake.com/

Tempest Ahoy said...

Aw that sounds great, love the nightgown idea!

Anonymous said...

Great idea! Another cute one is growing giving away the Tickleme plant party favors.We gave each child one so they could grow the plant that moves when Tickled!
Just search Tickleme Plant it is a real fun plant that moves like crazy when Tickled.

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