Birthdays and school

[supergolden88]

My daughter turns 5 in a month and she is having a party inviting a few of her friends - some from school, nursery etc.

Her birthday falls on a Monday and from what I can gather kids bring cake and treats for the whole class.

What is the protocol these days? A party bag per child plus cake? I was thinking of baking cupcakes so one for each child instead of cut cake. Party bags can get very expensive and I have to provide 28 of them. Any ideas?

She also goes to afterschool club but I don't suppose I need treats for everyone there too?! Maybe a cake? Arghhhh

[BeccaL]

We do one cupcake per child and a couple extra for teacher, TA, etc. No need for party bag or anything else. Others have done small bag of sweets, e.g. Haribo, instead...

[EDmummy]

I would advise you check with the school first. Some schools, Heber for instance, has a policy on class birthday treats because of allergies.

[sanity girl]

If you decide to do party bags a trip to the 99p shop in camberwell is a must! You can get big sets of pens/pencils/stickers/balloons etc for 99p and then divide them up. You can also get party bags and party packs of haribo sweets etc etc

[mrs.lotte]

My children's school will not permit the distribution of sweets or cakes as they are a "healthy eating" school. I, for one was delighted as the creation of 30 party bags and cake for 30 as well as their actual party was getting absurd. I highly recommend Wilkinsons for the sort of tat that children love in party bags. Does anyone know where the nearest Wilkinsons is?

[womanofdulwich]

I thought this was strongly discouraged at schools, as it embarrasses those parents that cannot afford it.

[Jessie]

there's a Wilkinsons in Penge

[dollydaydream]

In my child's school, the children bring in a bag of individually wrapped sweets i.e. Haribo or the small Mars bar and Milky way selection bags.

[Fuschia]

Cake ... Not sweets ! And def no party bags .. Very costly !!

[supergolden88]

Yes I am inclined to say no to party bags. But if her friends have brought them on their birthdays* she will expect to bring them too. She does not miss a trick. And has reached an age (or maybe just the going to school) where she is very concerned about what other children think of her.

*(and they have: full of sweets and crisps. I had to say the crisps are too salty for you and (some of) the sweets too bad for you. Then promptly scoffed the lot)

May look into paper bags with some trinkets from Farmers (is that what the shop is called on LL?) and the cupcakes.

Need to consult with the school mums.

[Fuschia]

I don't like it all when other mums hand put sweets for birthdays at creche ... They Want to eat them right away and then are manic and don't nap

I think its a bit rude to dish out treats that might be disapproved of!

[supergolden88]

If you think that's bad my daughter got 3 big chocolate eggs in school. One in class one at afterschool club one at holiday scheme. We weren't going to buy her any but of course my mother also send her a boxful of (very expensive good chocolate) easter treats and so did her auntie in Canada. The eggs have been put on a high shelf and at some point we are going to have to open them and dole them out.

Why on earth would they give out big chocolate eggs at school??

In the end who eats most of the chocolate? Me.

[Fuschia]

What did my iPhone do to that last post of mine?!

[Fuschia]

If you want to avoid adding to the mountain of plastic tat then maybe give out some seeds or something?

[womanofdulwich]

what a lovely idea about the seeds.

[new mother]

The seeds are a great idea. Some sunflowers perhaps? They will have great fun watching them grow. Re party bags, if other children ring them, I would feel I had to too, to reciprocate. Maybe two pounds per bag, no more.

[supergolden88]

lovely but not cheap - 28 packets of seeds will be very costly

I think I may just not do the party bags at all. Whichever way you look at it it's lots of money for completely throaway stuff

[prdarling]

I have never seen party bags handed out at school. At my son's school they come home with a cupcake, a homemade biscuit or a slice of cake and occasionally one of those mini bags of Haribo which contains about 8 teeny sweets.

I really don't see the problem with any of it. Aren't birthdays all about treats?

Most schools have a healthy eating policy these days and don't allow things like crisps, chocolate etc in packed lunches but it's a bit bah humbug to ban birthday treats.

I usually make Rice Krispie cakes or similar as they are cheap and quick to do and I can use good quality chocolate so I know they are not getting rubbish

[Fuschia]

supergolden88 Wrote:

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> lovely but not cheap - 28 packets of seeds will be

> very costly

> I think I may just not do the party bags at all.

> Whichever way you look at it it's lots of money

> for completely throaway stuff

You could buy just 2 packets of sunflower seeds and give them a couple each, stuck to a printed out picture of a sunflower that they could colour in. Something like that. i would try to stop a habit developing of expensive, wasteful party bags. Or give out a little pot of bubbles, if you are time poor. Or buy some cheap biscuit cutters and give out one of those tied to a printed biscuit recipe. Get your daughter to draw some illustrations. She would not feel you had let her down if you did something like that.

[Fuschia]

prdarling Wrote:

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> I have never seen party bags handed out at school.

> At my son's school they come home with a cupcake,

> a homemade biscuit or a slice of cake and

> occasionally one of those mini bags of Haribo

> which contains about 8 teeny sweets.

>

> I really don't see the problem with any of it.

> Aren't birthdays all about treats?

I think a little cake or biscuit is preferable to sweets

I think party bags is going a bit far and i would try to avoid getting into that precedent.

I try to avoid putting total rubbish into party bags for parties we do ... bubbles are always good and not just chucked away, ditto balloons. One time we had a bug hunting party and gave the children a little bug viewer. If i was going to spend ?2 I would prefer not to have it spent on little bits of plastic clutter that end up in the bin almost immediately.

[kristymac1]

Crikey I feel like a real meanie - I HATE party bags and the whole idea of them, at my daughters recent party the kids had treasure chest food boxes, with a couple of treasures inside along with their party food, kids still formed a queue at the end for their party bags and were disappointed when there wasn't anything more than a piece of cake!

I'm pretty worried about a precedence of them being handed out at school too - wouldn't even have occurred to me (she doesn't start till September) - 30 bags of tat amounting to a minimum of ?60 just seems ridiculous to me and grossly unfair on those parents who can't/don't want to spend their money that way........ a token treat I can accept, but not the expensive landfill tat. Sorry to be a big ol' crank.

[new mother]

Yes: they should not be handed out at school, obviously. They should be handed out at the end of the party. Children's parties are expensive but they only have one birthday a year and they will always remember it. It is not much when you consider how much we all spend on eg a night out, surely?

[new mother]

Yes: they should not be handed out at school, obviously. They should be handed out at the end of the party. Children's parties are expensive but they only have one birthday a year and they will always remember it. It is not much when you consider how much we all spend on eg a night out, surely?

[kristymac1]

new mother Wrote:

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Children's parties are expensive but

> they only have one birthday a year and they will

> always remember it. It is not much when you

> consider how much we all spend on eg a night out,

> surely?

Depends on your budget I guess and how much thought and expense has already been put into the party, I would hope that the kids went away from a party fun-filled and happy, with all the happy memories of the party itself- I'm yet to be convinced how party bags, or lack of them could change a little one's enjoyment.......

[MrsAk]

Check with the school - we don't allow party bags after an unfortunate incident involving party poppers!!! Same goes for homemade cakes etc due to the amount of allergies we have! I would say small packets of haribo or other type sweets are completely fine!