I never had a bday party when I was a kid where I remember bday favors, so I'm at a loss for my dd's 2nd bday. All the kids are around 15mo-2 yrs old, with a few outliers of 3 and 4 years old. Any good ideas? I can't spend much, but I don't want to buy junk either, KWIM? THANKS! :) Lea

Homemade playdough and a cookie cutter or two?

Bubbles?

For DS's most recent birthday (bug themed), we did bug houses and magnifying glasses with a few plastic bugs inside, bug stickers and self-inking bug stampers.

For his 2nd birthday we did tie-dyed t-shirts stamped with each child's name and doggie faces, paw prints and bones (dog themed party).

Good luck choosing something! I never had birthday parties as a child so I love that DS can have great parties at a park in our neighborhood with all his playgroup friends and their parents.

Flashlights! The kids were thrilled to have their very own flashlights. Then we turned off the lights and let the kids run around and have fun!

A beta fish in a cup...you could have a *beach* theme. Betas don't cost a lot to keep either.

Curran loves balls...his party is going to be all about balls and I'm so I'm knitting a bunch of balls for party favors.

SIdewalk chalk. You could tie it to the string of a balloon.

Honestly, parents hate junk and little kids would be thrilled with very simple things...balloons tied to anything are always a hit.

thanks for the great ideas! bumpin in hopes of getting more ideas! (i'm going to start a list for the future!)

in addition to all the gret ideas up there, playsilks--you could easily dye your own for this. or get a poloroid camera and do photos in little frames decorated with stickers and stuff!

I'm so glad you posted this! My ds has a b-day in April and I'm clueless on party favors this year.

For Lauren's first birthday, I bought each of the kids those little resealable snack cups (the ones that they sell that are like 5 for $5) and bought paint markers. I personalized each cup with the child's name and filled them with Cheerios. I figured that they'd be tickled pink to have something with their name on it and it's something they could re-use as well.

I also hate to give junk that will just get tossed out.

For Lauren's 4th birthday last summer, I personalized pails for the kids and filled them with bubbles. HTH

For DS's last birthday (3), we planted bulbs. Never expected the huge raves we got for them!

I bought plastic "terra cotta" pots at the hardware store as well as a packet of freesia bulbs for everyone and a bag of potting soil. I wrote each kid's name on the pot with a paint pen, told everyone to bring a shovel. That was the one "activity"we did, the rest of the time was just spent playing inside and out (you know how kids are with new toys - someone else's toys are always far more fun than the ones at your house). It was pretty low stress, and since it was a simple activity it was really easy to delegate when I spent alot of time nursing my then 3 month old.

The bulbs must've been kinda hardy since I had a mom tell me that first she left the pot in the car for a week, then on the dryer for another week, then finally remembered to actually bring it in the house and water it. And still it grew!

I liked using bulbs because they had size (less "everywhere" than seed packets) and were more like actually planting something.

I had bought a mess of stuff from www.orientaltrading.com and then remembered how much I had going home with more junk. So, back it went.

~amey

I've been searching online and have come up with a few more interesting ideas"
*at the dollar store (these are things I wouldn't find junky):
kids bandaids, fake money, instruments (whistles etc), magnifying glass, yo-yos
*light up pens (my dd got one for XMas and it hangs on a string and she adores it)
*stickers and a small notebook, personalized with childs name
*disposable cameras (my dd loves cameras)
* make your own bean bags (with different kinds of materials) and play games with them at the party, and have each child choose one to take home
*make edible playdough with the kids and have personalized containers to take some home
*check out the ceramic/pottery shops to see if they do parties, and whatever they make is the favor (obviously for older than my 2 year old ;))
*jars with the ingredients to make stuff at home, there were some kid friendly ones like pizza cookies, with sugar cookie ingredients, red M&Ms (for pepperponi) and coconut (cheese)

Some of these are a little more mainstream than I'd want to go, and I KNOW there are more mamas out there with good-feeling, fun ideas! :)

Just bumping for you.

Alrighty--So the party is today, so with time and money restrictions here's what I came up with:
plastic favor bag (next year I'll sew my own)
with
spill proof bubbles (a winner for 18mo-3.5 yr olds)
a plastic kazoo (another good one for the age group)
medium sized rubber ball (may be a bit old for them yet)
a silly bendy straw
and a throw-away favor blow thingamajig (that thing you blow into and the paper unfolds into a tube)

The favor bag is tied up with the string of a helium balloon--hopefully. They couldn't give me the balloons last night, saying they wouldn't last til today, so I have to try and get balloons this morning.

Thanks ladies! (and thanks for the bump). I'd love to hear more idea. Next year, I'm trying some of your more original ideas.
:)

Check out these tiny pinatas. I want to make these for ds's party, I just don't know what I'll put in them.


http://megan.scatterbrain.org/notmartha/tomake/tinypinata.html

those are super cool! you'll have to let us know how it goes. if i were going to do them, i'd put fake coins and rings in them. you can also put scrolls of paper in that have the names of larger favors on them. really, i want to know how it goes! :)

Thank you for some great Ideas.

I have a friend that gives out a book in a nice gift bag.