6 Ways to Save on Goodie Bags and Party Favors

With the kids back in school and the cool shift in weather I find myself mourning the end of summer.  I love the lazy days of summer; relaxing in the sun, sleeping in and spontaneous trips to the beach.  On the other hand, I have to admit that by the time school starts I am ready to have a schedule again and the colors and spices of autumn are so beautiful and exciting I'm happy for the change.  Season changes are great opportunities for accumulating bargains and are a fabulous time to stock up on party favors and treats.  Below is a list of 6 ways to save on goodie bags and party favors all year round.

1. Shop end of season and after holiday sales. With every season and holiday stores load up on decorations, toys, home decor, candy and other food that are specific to that time of the year. As time goes by they have to clear out and make room for the current or upcoming season or holiday and that is when you can really find deals. Often you can get products marked down 50-90% off the regular price. Things like huge boxes of sidewalk chalk sell for only a dollar or two and you can divide them up into several party favors by putting a few pieces of chalk into small bags or putting basket wrap around them and tying them with curling ribbon.  Most toys and favors will last indefinitely and can be purchased months or years before they are needed. Surprisingly there are many products that are on clearance after a holiday but are generic enough that your guests will never know they are getting something that the manufacturer intended to be for a specific holiday. Candy and chips can also be purchased ahead of time but obviously treats are perishable.  Personally I only feel comfortable saving candy for 5 or 6 months at the most. However, Anna Lingeris, global brand manager for The Hershey Company, was quoted on TODAY.com as saying that if you want to save items like Hershey's Kisses, you are in luck.

"They generally have a shelf life of up to 11 months,” Lingeris said. “Chocolate products will maintain their quality if stored in a cool, dry place (55-60 degrees F)."

"Things like candy canes or ribbon candy are good for well over a year, up to five years possibly. The sugar creates a matrix that holds it all together," said Michael Allured, publisher of candy trade magazine The Manufacturing Confectioner. This is as long as you store it in a cool, dry place: "Humidity is the enemy."

Candyfavorites.com has a pretty comprehensive list of the shelf life of various candy on their website at http://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/shelf-life.php

Individual serving size chip bags are often on clearance after Halloween as well but their shelf life is considerably shorter than the candy so you should look at the expiration dates to determine if they will work for your party.  

Here is a list of end of season and post holiday party favor possibilities:

• End of Summer: summer and water toys, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, kites, squirt guns, balls, flip flops, fun sunglasses, freezies, ice pops and sometimes candy
• After Halloween: candy and chips, costume accessories, stuffed animals, play dough and small toys, patterned pencils and erasers
• End of Fall: school supplies
• After Christmas: toys, gift sets (beauty gift sets can be divided up for spa parties and lip glosses or nail polish sets are great for little girl parties), stuffed animals, decorations and ornaments, candy
• After Valentines: stuffed animals, small toys, patterned pencils, patterned erasers, candy
• End of Winter: toys, gloves and mittens
• After St. Patricks Day: silly green toys and sometimes candy
• After Easter: toys, stuffed animals, plastic eggs, patterned pencils and erasers, candy
• After July 4 (or July 1 in Canada) flags, Bang snaps (also known as Throwdowns, snap-its, poppers, pop-its, snappers, whip'n pops, whipper snappers, fun snaps, party snaps, or snap'n pops and are a type of small novelty firework and are great fun for kids of all ages)

2.  Shop sales and clearances.  Bargains are not only after holidays or at the end of a season, sometimes they are actually at the beginning of seasons. Right now, for example, there are back to school savings. Crayons, felt markers, colorful pencils and fun school supplies are all really inexpensive in August and the beginning of September. You can break crayon, marker, or pencil sets up like I did with the sidewalk chalk putting a few in a bag or basket wrap and tying them up with curling ribbon. Other sales come from overstock or pushes from the manufacturer. I remember one year seeing cute Hello Kitty puppets marked down to a quarter each for reasons I couldn't explain.  I encouraged my daughter to have a puppet party that ended up being a huge success.

3. Buy in bulk.  Stores like Costco and online stores like the Oriental Trading Company are excellent resources for party favors. You can get large quantities of items for low prices and use them for multiple parties.

4. Visit your local dollar store.  Years ago when I was hosting kids parties we didn't have dollar stores here in Canada but today they are everywhere and the quality and selection of products they offer has greatly improved over the years. 

5. Believe it or not, clean, new party favors can often be found at garage sales.  My mother-in-law is the queen of garage sales. She loves to go out and see what treasures she can find and I am always amazed at what she is able to acquire. It seems that many people purchase Happy Meals from McDonalds but never open the toys. My mother-in-law often finds small stuffed animals with the tags still on or other small trinkets and toys that are still in their original packaging. And the cost for such items? Usually a nickle, dime or quarter, often several for that price. 

6. Be creative!  Party favors don't have to be the typical toys, balloons, candy and noise makers that everyone usually thinks of. Your guests will be impressed if you give the unexpected. Seeds and a pot that they decorated, baking ingredients with a cookie cutter and recipe, kitchen gadgets, cups and mugs, magnets, art supplies or crafts, books, live goldfish, fuzzy socks, cool toothbrushes, cans of soda or juice boxes, fruit or berries, gift cards from the local doughnut shop with just enough money loaded on them to purchase a doughnut of their choosing, and the list goes on. Use your imagination and be open to anything.

Have you ever given or received a unique party favor? I'd love to hear some of your ideas!

Let Them Eat Cake!

When it come to kids parties my advice is to scrap the meal and just let them eat cake.  It’s not that I think kids should get pumped up on sugar but I know that they don’t appreciate food at parties and going to all the bother to fix a meal is not worth it. Kids can be picky eaters and trying to please all of them can cause unnecessary stress for any host.  My oldest son’s first friend party was incredibly stressful because I thought I had to serve a meal and was trying to keep everything hot and ready as the guests arrived only to find that I had to beg some of them to eat or at least force them to wait at the table so others could finish their meals.

Adults throw dinner parties where the entertainment includes a fabulous dining experience and a chance to socialize.  A kids party, on the other hand,  is all about the games, activities and treats.  It’s unfortunate that as we get older we often limit our amusements to eating and end up using any spare time exercising to rid ourselves of unwanted pounds that our indulgences produce. Ironically, kids often find meal time more of a chore than an entertaining experience and yet they have metabolisms that allow them to eat just about anything without ever facing the negative consequences.

I’m not condoning reckless abandonment of the four food groups and I acknowledge that poor eating habits put kids on the destructive path of obesity, but we’re talking about parties here and I am assuming that a party is a special occasion for a child and not an everyday occurrence.  As the host, your primary concern is for your guests and the most important thing you need  to concentrate on is making sure that everybody has a good time.  Since a kid’s idea of a good time is not necessarily based on a meal, a host of a kid’s party should plan for a lot of games and activities and spend any culinary efforts on treats and dessert.

Kid’s parties don’t have to be long, an hour and a half to two hours is plenty of time.  Schedule kid’s parties between meals so that parents know you aren’t feeding the kids.  You can also say that “light refreshments” or “treats” will be served in the invitation implying that “lunch” or “dinner” will not.  If your adult “need to provide food” can't be ignored, there are simple and easy meals that you can serve at a kid’s party like hot dogs and pizza.

If you are worried about a bunch of sugar-induced-crazy-kids running around, relax and serve the cake last.  I actually love to serve cupcakes because they are less messy and can be easily sent home.

Another thing to think about when serving food at a party is allergies or food sensitivities.  Nut allergies and gluten sensitivities are two of the most prevalent food issues that plague our society today.  At my son’s first grade party I opted to forgo the meal and just deal with treats and dessert.  It turned out that one of the guests was allergic to strawberries.  Her mother was so thrilled that she was invited. Apparently other parents had been too nervous to deal with her allergy and so she rarely got party invitations.  I tried to insure that all of the food at the party complied with her allergy but just to be safe, the cupcakes and treats were given to the kids as they left the party.

As kids get older they appreciate food more and can enjoy parties with food based themes like mystery dinners or progressive dinners.  Until then, however, keep it simple and just let them eat cake!

Photo Credit: iStockphoto and Party Time Mysteries

When Planning a Party Expect the Unexpected AND the Uninvited!

I’ll never forget one of the first parties I ever threw for my oldest son where I invited his friends, as opposed to just having the family over.  It was the year he started Kindergarten.  Not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings I had insisted he invite all of the boys in his class as well as a handful of girls.  I believe there were 18 on the guest list.  My mom always said to invite twice as many guests as you really expect to show up but obviously times have changed and almost all of them came...and then some!  I made a lot of mistakes with that first party and I have to say it is amazing I wanted to ever host a party again. Mistakes are opportunities to learn but it is always easier to learn without having to make the mistake yourself so here are a few of the lessons I learned with that first party.

Lesson #1: When planning an outdoor party you can NEVER count on the weather to cooperate. My son’s birthday is at the end of March and it rarely snows in Victoria in January, let alone in March, so the expectation that it could be an outdoor party was not unrealistic. As luck would have it, Victoria had a freak snow storm that day and I was forced to bring the party inside after originally planning to hold it outside.  ALWAYS have a plan B for the location of your party when planning an outdoor party.

Lesson #2: If you are serving food at your party, make sure you have it all prepared before hand so you only have to warm it up or have someone else be in charge of cooking it so you can concentrate on the guests.  Having the party location change at the last minute wasn’t that traumatic but the fact that I had mistakenly thought I was expected to serve lunch and was frantically rushing about trying to have the food ready when the party started while simultaneously greeting guests and entertaining 5 year olds was.

Lesson #3: Unexpected guests may show up.  With my son’s party I hadn’t considered the fact that some of the parents were meeting me for the first time and since the guests were young it is normal, apparently, for parents and families to be included in the festivities.  Being a newbie host at kid parties I didn’t realize this expectation until one of the guest’s dad, step mom and little brother waltzed in and happily announced as they proceeded to take off the 2 year old’s coat and shoes, “He is so excited to come to his first party!”  All I could think was, “But he wasn’t invited!”  I quickly grabbed a goodie bag for the toddler and told the lady, “You can come back in 2 hours to pick up his brother.”

No party is going to go perfectly, there will always be a few surprises, but if you know that in advance and are willing to be a bit flexible you will survive and your party will be a success.  I’d love to hear some of the things you have learned from your parties.


Photo credit: iStockphoto