Birthday Party Favors

My son had his 5^th birthday party last January. He's a big fan of pirates and scavenger hunts. For the party favors I did a pirate-theme scavenger hunt. I bought a package of eye patches, pirate hooped earrings and some bandanas, all of which were fairly cheap. I also got a few of the birthday party necessities, you know, the noise makers, balloons and party hats. I used all six of these things to make a scavenger hunt that the kids could keep all the found items as party favors.

Being that my son was only turning five and a lot of his guests couldn't read, I found pictures (clip art and such) of the items involved in the scavenger hunt and lined them up on word perfect and printed them out, in black and white of course to save some cash. This made it easier for the kids to find the stuff without adult supervision.

I just hid all the items around the yard, so I wouldn't have a lot of children running through my house. They had the best time searching for the items. I also got a little bag of candy to give to the winner of the scavenger hunt. All of these items for fairly cheap found at the dollar store. The kids had a wonderful time doing the scavenger hunt too.

One year, I think for his 3^rd birthday party, we didn't have much cash at all so I decided instead of party favors and a birthday cake, we'd make our own cupcakes. This actually turned out great, a little messy, but the kids had a great time.

I got the box cake mix and some ice cream cones (the ones with the flat bottoms so they stand up by themselves) and some icing. All I had to do was make the box cake mix and pour it into the cones. Once it was completely cooled, I set out paper plates for each child with sprinkles, icing and a spoon. Each child got to put their own icing and sprinkles on their "cake".

Another cheap idea for party favors is candy, pencils and some sort of small toy that can be bought in bulk. I live at the dollar store when it's party time. You can get a huge supply of party favor bags for a buck, a big bag of candy for a buck and a few packages of toys for 1 to 5 dollars depending on how much you need to get. For some reason kids really enjoy getting pencils with really cool designs on them. You can get a package of 8 or 10 at the dollar store or wal-mart or even target for a fairly cheap price.

My advice for children's birthday parties is to stay small. Don't buy into all that hype about getting a massive amount of favors for the kids. I've noticed half the time they lose the stuff before they even leave the party. I've learned to wait until right at the end to give them their favors. Remember, candy is always a hit and always cheap, also any kind of small toy or small costume jewelry if you have a girl can be bought in bulk at the dollar store. Hope this helps you guys plan your next party.