Wednesday 6 April 2011

The alternative to party bags

pretty mugs filled with sweets
 ©
I'm not claiming that this is an original idea, but I hadn't seen a decent tweenage/older kids alternative to traditional party bags until my daughter came back from a friend's party with a mug in her hand. It wasn't just any old mug... it was a mug filled with goodies and wrapped in cellophane, which looked great and went down well with 12 year old Miss Ony.

As it was Miss Kahonie's birthday pretty soon afterwards, I unashamedly stole the idea and made up 'party mugs' for her party guests.

The pretty mugs were a great buy from B&M Bargains at 79p each. To fill the mugs, I bought a bag of mixed mini chocolate bars (£2.99) and a bag of mixed wrapped sweets (£1.50), plus a pack of assorted hairbands and bobbles (reduced in ADSA to £2.00). The only expensive part was the cellophane, which I bought from Hobbycraft (£7.00 a roll) but that will last for a long time as I only used about 2M of the 10M roll. The total price per mug worked out at around £2.50, which I don't think is bad compared to the amount I've spent on total rubbish to fill party bags in the past!

You could easily adapt the mug idea for different friends and  family members and for almost any occasion such as Easter, Christmas, Birthday and Teachers'/Teaching Assistants' presents. Fill with items such as cosmetics, craft items, beads/jewellery, small toys, cooking equipment, tools, stationary etc. Add some home made Chocolate Truffles or Oreo Truffles, if you're not sure what to fill your mug with.

Fill other containers using the same idea...colourful pastic cups (from IKEA etc) cocktail glasses, sundae glasses, beer glasses, small vases etc, or really go to town and fill a hamper!

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11 comments:

  1. Great idea! I like the thought of something usable rather than a bag of random items. My kids have missed out on a lot of birthday handouts at school lately, it's always Haribo's!

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  2. Thanks Ms C...know what you mean about the Haribo sweets. I was relieved when school banned sweets for birthday/disco handouts as they now have healthy school status.

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  3. I used mugs for party bags for my little girls birthday this year. As she was having a cupcake party in a deli I managed to get 7 cupcake mugs and filled with a choc bar/pen/rubber etc. I then wanted to wrap in cellophane but had run out, so had to try and get them in a party bag! Not quite the effect I wanted but all the same it went down well with the parents! I too dislike party bags and the utter rubbish you can find inside them.
    Ali
    :)

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  4. What a fabulous idea. Stealing it!

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  5. Love this idea, thanks for sharing!

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  6. Love this idea. My little one is only two at the moment but a little idea to put away for when shes a bit bigger. Thank you xx

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  7. What a great idea! Clever you :)

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  8. Those mugs are lovely, look much more expensive than 79p! I do this for teachers at Xmas - cheap mug filled with Belgian Truffles (99p Home & Bargain). I've also managed to get hold of some plastic sundae glasses in the past £1.99 for 4 & fill them with nice girly stuff as an alternative for party bags too. I also sell patterned cello bags on Ebay that fit a mug inside - a very cheap option at around £1.50 for 20 bags.

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  9. Thanks for the lovely comments. Cello bags sound like a good option...hadn't thought of using them!

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  10. Made some party bags recently for my 11 year old DD and put in muffin cases and things for decorating cupcakes. All the mums said what a good idea it was and they had baking sessions planned to use them.

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  11. That's a lovely idea Janet...I'll add that to the suggestions above.

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