Birthday Party Favors -- Low-Cost and Fun

When planning a birthday party for your child, not only do you have to think about decorations, invitations, and party games-you also need to consider party favors. But, birthday party favors do not need to expensive or elaborate. Here are some ideas for making easy, low-cost favors that will still please your partygoers.

First of all, forget about matching your favors to the theme of your party-this really isn't necessary. Instead, you could simply match one of the colors you have used in your decorations. Take the color of your balloons or your streamers, for instance, and get a pack of paper bags or cellophane bags in that color from a dollar store. Or, make it even easier on yourself and just purchase a box of zipper-seal bags. Either way, you will save money because themed bags for birthday party favors are quite costly.

What can you put in the bags? Well, to begin with, you want to choose one item that does relate in some way to your birthday party theme. But, make sure to look for a multipack of items so that you will spend less. You should be able to find, for example, a package of five Spiderman pencils or a pack of six Barbie erasers.

After you find one item that relates to your theme for your favor bags, now you can concentrate on purchasing filler items. What are filler items? Basically, these are inexpensive items-perhaps even ones that you find that are marked down in price or on sale-that you can use to fill up the bag. Purchase multipacks whenever possible, because these are the most economical. Aim for 5-8 filler items per birthday party favor bag, depending upon the size of the items. Look at dollar stores, discount stores, grocery stores, and drugstores for items like these:

--Hair accessories, such as barrettes, bows, scrunchies, ponytail holders, and hair bands
--Die cast cars or airplanes
--Sticker sheets or temporary tattoos
--Containers of bubbles or sidewalk chalk
--Rubber bracelets or rings
--Crazy straws
--Rubber bouncy balls
--Notepads or sticky notes
--Plastic spiders or insects (or spider/insect rings)
--Pencils, pens, or erasers

Once you have enough filler items, there is really only one other item you need to purchase for your birthday party favors-candy. No favor bag is complete without a few pieces of candy. So, when you are out shopping for the other bag items, look for an inexpensive bag of candy that contains enough pieces for you to add 3-4 pieces to each favor bag. You want each candy piece to be individually wrapped, so stay away from candies like M&M's or Skittles. Good choices would include Starburst candies or chocolate candy bar miniatures such as Milky Way or Kit Kat.

Just remember-birthday party favors should not put a strain on your wallet. You can make them inexpensively as outlined above and still make them impressive. Have fun with them, and your partygoers will definitely be pleased with their take-home treats.