10 green toys for party bags

We're coming up to another round of kiddie parties, and I think it's high time we parents broke the back of the party rules:

1. The party bag must be a lurid colour of the flimsiest plastic

2. The party bag must contain plastic bits that fall between the car seats on the ride home

3. The party bag must contain radioactive candy that keeps your children up all night.

I tried to do something different at my daughter's birthday in the toy department by including a little bundle of Wikki Stix, wax-covered yarn that you can bend into shapes. I'm not so sure how successful it was, since everyone kept asking me, "What is this?"

But in my research I have run across some eco- or Fair Trade-conscious sites for affordable party bag swag. Got any tips of your own?

Littlecherry.co.uk - Wooden toys and recyled party-bag fillers, such as the pencil case that used to be a car tyre (£3.00), traditional wooden noisemakers (£1.50), and fairy or pirate mini blackboards (£1.99)

Ethicalpartybags.com - Prefilled bags for boys and girls, plus individual toys that are either fair trade, recycled or both. Loads of coin purses and party bags made from recycled juice boxes (pictured), from fairly traded rayon or from old exam papers (from £3.00), spotted ring boxes (£2.50) and fairtrade chocolates (£0.25)

Happygreenearth.com - Offbeat bag goodies include a knitting mushroom (£1.75), animal flutes (£1.05), a natural felt flower ponytail holder (£1.00) and the classic magic coin trick (£1.25).

Comments

[Gipsy]

MoB - sorry I didn't mean to make you feel like an ogre! I was just reliving some traumatic childhood moments. I expect we've all got them - there is undoubtedly one thing that you do that I wouldn't think twice about for example!

I do think that competition is good, and it is also good for children to learn that they can't always win, in preparation for real-life. But I'd just rather keep that for other events like school sports day.

[M]

Last time I gave that sort of party, I had rolls of wall lining paper over the tables of the little hall and crayons beside each place. The children all coloured and chatted and ate until the entertainment started. Then,, they were given a bag with cake, a balloon and allowed to take their pictures (torn a la Picasso paying at Le Colombe D'Or) and their crayons. I made no apology, no explanation and it went down a storm. I agree with Supermother, I'm not in a competition. Having lived through the time where a boy with multiple allergies and his father emptied the party bag item by item, shouting at me about each offending thing they couldn't take, for whatever reason, I take a hard-line approach. I'm quite lucky no-one I know is really into ethical one-upmanship.

Now all my daughter's friends' parents are all hiring pink limos and going to special Private Princess rooms in places like Pizza Hut, we do things like pot-holing with sleepover afterwards and PGL. The best time was a beach barbecue with guitar music, supplied free by some obliging surfers and light up frisbees. Life's what you make it.

[KM]

Oh dear, do parties have to teach life lessons?

I thought they were for escapist hyper-activity and too much lemonade.

[j]

Mumofboyz, dont think you are an ogre, depends on the rest of the party really. Agree we all remember *never* winning the PTP present, but I think it probably is the least nasty way to learn that lesson, when you think of the alternatives.

[Mumofboyz]

Oh dear, now I seem like a terrible ogre for not putting a sweet in every layer.

I don't know why I'm so opposed to it, perhaps it's just a general feeling that children today get far too much of everything. Or maybe it's because my toddler doesn't really like sweets (bizarrely)!

But maybe - getting deep here - only one present in pass the parcel is actually a preparation for life....?

[KM]

I agree with Gipsy. Small sweetie present for everyone, every layer. And I don't think small cheap party bags are evil.

Ooh, look at KM developing a consumerist side!

[Gipsy]

Oh dear MoB, I still remember vividly the absolute pain of never getting the present in pass the parcel. I wouldn't have minded I think if I could just win just once, but I never did. Invariably, the child whose party it was always managed to 'win' the present, and although I asked and asked my mother never did pass the parcel. She thought it was wrong to have a game where only one child got a major present. At our parties, the games won you a chocolate fish, and the party bag was a treasure hunt, with one bag for every child. Each bag had your name on it - if you found someone else's you couldn't tell them were it was, and the younger children's bags were hidden in easy places.

Kids do seem to love pass the parcel, but I could never do the one present/prize thing to a child. Even now, when I watch my son play pass the parcel, I still vividly relive every second of the game from my childhood! I find it utterly unbearable until he finally gets his turn to do an unwrapping and gets his little prize. If there wasn't a prize for him I'd probably burst into tears on the spot!

[Lazy Mummy]

Margot, seems like an eminently sensible thing for your child to say. A friend's 4-yr-old told us "Mummy couldn't come because she had to go to Washington to tell the President he's a bad man". That's one way to spin a business trip!

[Mumofboyz]

J, I still refuse to have pass the parcel with a sweet in every layer - we just have one decent present in the middle. However I do seem to be in a minority and I'm sure it's seen as stingy!

[KM]

Margot, I've been being a bit of a flibbertigibbet with names. Check your email!

[Gipsy]

Oh and Margot, I forgot to say, that the whole making your own party bag thing is a great deal of fun too.

One success at a friend's party was the kids making their own bags, starting with brown paper, and decorating it themselves, paint, glue, sparkles, lots of trimmings etc. Lots of mess and lots of happy kids.

[j]

agree, we got a going home present. Also agree that we have far too much revolting tat we dont need as it is.

Treasure hunt is an excellent idea, I can confirm it works having done it once.

The oldfashioned version of party bags was pass the parcle with no sweets between the layers of newspaper and one decent toy in the middle. Of course only one child could win it, all part of 1970s competitive culture ;)

[Mumofboyz]

I remember as a child in the 70s/80s getting a 'going home present' - just one gift, probably something like a packet of crayons or a bag of sweets. Definitely not 'party bags'. But now, the children really seem to expect them. As we were preparing to leave a party the other day, I heard one little girl petulantly ask her mother 'Where's my party bag?'.
It seems a little sad that what was supposed to be a treat is now taken for granted. Perhaps with the credit crunch looming a downsizing of party bags could be on the agenda!

[margot]

Yes, Gipsy, I am 'your' Margot LOL. I have been moving but now it is all sort of done and I am back!

KM - I didn't realise you were you! What have a I missed?

I don't want anyone to think I am being holier than thou about this - I have done trashy party bags in the past and we have received tons of presents (and given plenty too!). But as the children get older (8 and 10 now) for the past couple of years they have been quite able to think it through on their own and decide what they want, and happily they have come down on the side of donations and minimal presents. Clearly I have been successful in my attempts at indoctrination! (although that time that my son told his teacher "Mummy says Blair is a war criminal" might indicate that I have Gone Too Far!)

I so agree with the point below about the way things are manufactured is as much of an issue as the green stuff.

[Gipsy]

Margot - hello! If that is 'our' Margot, good to see you back :)

I don't find party bags a tyranny, but a part of the fun of the party. I love them, although I've only a budget of 1.50 per bag at the moment.

I would love to go down the ethical route. It is only a little bit of money to us, but it is a lot to those in the co-ops in Delhi and Manila. If we're going to spend our pounds, we can't just think about our own pocket. We should also think about those at the other end. What price is a plastic snake really, if the person making it is a 10 year old breathing in poisonous fumes for less than the snake cost us per day? I don't think we can really get on our high horses too much over this issue.

I had no idea that ethical party bags existed, or I may have changed my budget for the party to accommodate this. A little less on the cake, a little more on the bags for example.

But, when money becomes so tight that I can't do that, well, I probably wouldn't. There's a balance in all things, and we just have to do our best and not beat ourselves up if we don't manage to meet our ideals 100 percent of the time.

For the person who went back to the 70s - I am a child of the 70s and I have to say I can't remember a party I went to that didn't have a party bag at the end of it.

[KM]

Thanks, Margot, but I'm inclined to follow the sherry suggestion....Mr Potatoes, you surely don't want to waste good sherry on a cake. Do you add it neat to the party bag, bottled or simply served to the parents as they arrive to pick up their kids?

[Mary]

The green party bag tat sounds just as bad as the normal plastic tat - more unwanted bits and pieces to clutter up the house. Also, like the plastic stuff the price mounts up horribly. I go with GillyB's way and give them one decent thing (book, toy car for little ones, small lego pack, top trumps or something from Clair's Accessories) together with a small bag of Haribo.
If you have the kind of party in which they can make the going-home present then great, although I do remember a bemused four year old coming out of somebody's house holding a drastically overcooked pizza frisbee.
Do you really need a gift at all? Well of course not but to us it's part of the fun of giving a party.

[margot]

"Ah, but Margot, what if you can only make really crumbly cake?"

They get crumbly cake!

[Mr Potarto]

"what if you can only make really crumbly cake?"

Add more sherry.

[KM]

Ah, but Margot, what if you can only make really crumbly cake?

[Claire King]

I have moved back to the 1970s and as such have no idea what the party bag is all about.

Here children do get a bit of cake, and also a balloon if they haven't popped it during the party, and whatever they won during pass the parcel.

When did the kids whose birthday it isn't become entitled to a gift?

[James]

Surely it is not just about green, but also ethics. Where is something made and by who! If something is fairly traded and actually plays a part in a community trading itself out of poverty surely this is good. i think those juice carton bags are made by a group of women in the Phillipines and trading them have played a major role in improving their lives.
Trade not Aid - benefits us all in the long run.

[GillyB]

I buy the multi-title collections from book clubs such as The Book People or Scholastic. Popular books, usually costing approx £1 each, I wrap them as presents with a mini-pack of haribos or jelly beans on the outside. They are given with a balloon and I've never heard a complaint. Green? If it's not read, then it can get passed on or recycled. Wrap with any recycled paper.

[can't think of a name]

If you really want a green b'day party get "Birthday Party" (Great parties don't have to be complicated or expensive) by Tracey Benton.

I made the party bags from the bottom third of a milk carton, decorated in acrylic paint with pipe cleaner handles.

Why can't you get them to pot up a sunflower seed each, or ice/decorate some Rich tea biscuits, or make crowns (easy to fit a party theme) instead of party bags or not give out party bags. Lots of mums would thank you.

Good compromise is do a lucky dip with a ball/craons/sweet as the prize or a treasue hunt in the grden. Much more fun than doling out party bags and negates the need to fill them up.

[supermother]

It was easier when the nanny did it but since then we just add to the Tesco order some empty bags and buy a few bits and pieces but it must be on the Tesco home shopping list or it's too much trouble and then aim to have something very simple and not very expensive because I'm not interested in competing with other parents. I am very lucky that I don't feel any need to do that.

The Green stuff is all a bit of a con done unto the middle classes if not the world but people seem to like it as a substitute religion in a sense so I suppose if that's the ethos and they want to feel part of that let them.