Party bags?

[Lochie]

My son turns 5 at the end of the month. As he is about to start school, I'm going to invite his new class mates. Plus about 10 friends from his pre-school years, will mean a party of about 40 children (eeek!)

I've got a party entertainer booked, but wondering if anyone has any tips for CHEAP party bags or ALTERNATIVES to party bags (i.e. cheap gift to give each child at the end). I'd normally spend a fiver on each child at his previous (much smaller) parties but as there are 40 children potentially, this will come to an awful lot of money. So hoping to keep each party bag/end of party gift to under ?2 each.

Any ideas appreciated!

Actually - on another note - is it stupid to invite the whole class? It seems like an awful lot of children and originally I thought it would be a good idea, but for those who've been through the first year at school, what is the party etiquette? Do you generally invite the whole class to a 5 year old party? My son will only be 3 weeks into school...!!

[enjoy]

Hi,

I think a party for the whole class is just great, especially when they are still getting to know each other.

Instead of party bags we often buy cheep books from bookpeople.co.uk, often for ?1 each. Some sweets on top and you'll have a nice party goody.

[laurac]

Hi

I did just this for my daughter's fourth birthday recently - bought packs of books from the book people and split them, one for each child and then gave them all a bag of sweets too.

[bjh]

Some homemade playdough in a jar/bag and cutter each? Very cheap to do and effective!

[DenmotherSmith]

My two youngest kids had a joint party with tons of kids of

of all ages. We made lots and lots of hokey pokey (homey comb like the inside of a crunchie bar delicious!)put it in clear Cellophane bags tied with pretty ribbon, it looked fab and was super cheap and the kids had a lot of fun making it.

[keane]

I think it's a really good idea to invite the whole class if you can in reception as that way you meet more parents & your child will then get invited to other parties which makes their life and yours a bit more fun - & god knows there is so much angst with bringing up children that at least this helps lighten the load in the long term!

I used to get brown paper bags from the grocer or similar & get my kids to colour them in or I would write the names of children on them in felt tip & put a few bits from amazon or similar in each bag. Or buy bulk sweets & divide them between the bags which is a cheap way of doing it & they feel like they are going home with a lovely pick n Mix bag day the end of the party.

[mrsc_89]

Party cones are now very popular and cheap. I done some for my daughters 4th birthday party which was the whole of her nursery class and family and friends. I spent ?10 on sweets to fill them and the bags were from ebay which came with the ribbon to tie them.

[SE22mum]

just have a big bowl of sweets/toys at the door, and let each child choose one as they leave. parents will love you if you don't do party bags or do an alternative to sending all the kids home completely hyper and with a huge bag of sweets!

[Lochie]

Thank you so much for all of these excellent suggestions. I've found a good deal - 50 Ladybird books on the Book People website - all for ?35. I'm going to put one each in a party bag along with some sweeties - should suffice. Means each bag will be under a quid!

Thanks for the suggestions too for home made stuff - would love to have a stab next year, perhaps with a smaller number (am going to invite the whole class based on positive reasons given above)

[JessM]

Hawkins bazaar (the one I went to was at Westfield Stratford) do some good cheap stuff. Plus, I went to the till with 12 polystyrene aeroplane kits, they were about 65p each I think. the clerk asked if it was for party bags and I said yes. She then gave me, for free, 12 loot bags, 12 balloons and 12 mini packets of haribo as well! Don't know if that's an offer that's always on or if I was lucky, but it might be worth finding out!!

[sanity girl]

I get sweets, pens/pencils, stickers and balloons from the pound shop and divide them up. Doesn't cost much.

[KikiMac]

Anyone else feeling daring and considering ditching the whole party bag thing? I recently took my 2 to parties hosted by non-English parents who had never heard of party bags and guess what? They were great! And no bags of crap or sugar littering up the house when we got home....

[ryedalema]

Hiya - I'll be in the same position in December and decided to invite the whole class. We decided that we could do the entertainment, and the food and venue (Albrighton ?50 for two hours inc bouncy castle) so making big savings there.

Ours will stack up the big numbers too, with class + nursery and family friends.....

Try Ebay for party bag fillers...much much cheaper than Amazon or Sainsburys. Oh, and one of our friends had a treasure chest at the end with gift wrapped ? shop presents...that worked really well too.