Children's parties: top party favors that are cheap

Children’s parties: top party favors that are cheap

These fun favors won’t break the bank, but kids will love them just the same!

By Angela McKendree

Stuffing those party favor bags can get to be a bigger expense than you meant for it to be. A couple of bags of candy, a dozen boxes of crayons, and several jars of Play-Doh later and you’ve spent $100 dollars on something you only meant to spend twenty dollars on. Don’t spend too much money on an item that is probably least central to your party.

Accessories:

Friendship bracelets are a classic favor. Nothing is wrong with the old braided-fabric variety, but this year, you have a better option. Surely, you’ve seen those different colored rubber arm bands that got popular when athlete Lance Armstrong sold them to raise money for his cancer foundation. Well now, those are being sold everywhere, even at drugstores. And they’ve even replaced the words “Live Strong” with the words “Best Friends.” And they aren’t just yellow anymore either; they come in blue, pink, and even rainbow! At about one dollar each, you’d have a hard time finding a cheaper favor.

Music:

What is your party’s theme this year? Is it based on an animated movie or TV show? Chances are that movie or TV show has a soundtrack. You might have already bought it to play as background music for the party. Take that CD and burn a copy onto a blank CD. Then, using a colorful marker, write the child’s name and the album title on the front of the blank CD. You can wrap the CD in a little bit of paper or plastic wrap to keep it from getting scratched. If you are going with a more original theme, such as ocean creatures or the jungle, you can pick up a nature sounds CD at large bargain department stores and make copies of those instead.

Pictures:

Set up an online photo album and make sure you get at least one good picture of every child at the party. Upload the pictures to your photo album and let parents know that the pictures will be online within one week. Go to a craft store and look for clear plastic or acrylic picture frames. Buy the cheapest ones you can find. They are sold for less than a dollar for smaller sizes. Put a note inside the frame with the URL to the online photo album and instruct them to go to the site and print the picture of themselves to put in the frame. It’ll be a memory they can keep forever, and you didn’t even have to pay a whole dollar for it!

Sweets:

Instead of buying bags and bags of candy, fill each bag with an individual s’mores package. Put chocolate kisses or small chocolate squares into a small plastic bag along with two graham crackers and two large marshmallows. Put a little note in the bag telling the kids (or parents) how long they should microwave their gooey- treat before eating. Put a napkin in the bag, too. They’ll need it! This will only cost you as much as one box of graham crakers, one bag of chocolate candy, and one bag of marshmallows, and it is much more interesting than regular candy.