A Favor

Without a doubt, kids parties are becoming increasingly more expensive. If we, as parents, take our cues from the media, we should be throwing our tots lavish affairs with glamorous cakes and favor bags.

As we all know, I'm cheap and in this economy I'm not spending any extra money I don't have to on favor bags that won't last much past the party anyway. I would much rather spend more money on gifts for the kids than on cheap party favors that don't do much for the environment when they're made and create a lot of waste when they break. It really speaks of our character and judgment when even the moments of levity are disposable.

Having said all of that, I'm not against making a great favor bag with really cool contents. A friend of mine is throwing an Alice in Wonderland birthday party. Unfortunately there aren't kits for Alice in Wonderland that you can just order and not think about. This might cause panic in the less brave but it is a fortunate problem because it causes one to exercise our creative muscles in our brain.

The theme for the party is the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. She has a friend coming to entertain the kids as the Mad Hatter himself. The cake can go in so many directions from here. One of my favorite ideas is a cake in the image of a pocket watch!

I donated my creative brain to make the favor bags. For the bags I took regular craft bags and made Alice's dress out of felt to cover up the bag. Inside of the favor bag will be crayons, age appropriate candy and hopefully toothbrushes. The contents of the bags are up to the party giver but I made Alice in Wonderland coloring books using my binding press, card stock and free downloadable coloring pages off the internet.

Decorations for a party don't have to be prohibitive or wasteful either! For a tea party theme, go around to your friends and borrow tea pots and tea cups. Present cup cakes in the tea cups instead of a traditional cake. If you don't have tea cups, buy them from a thrift store and then donate them back when you're done. You will probably spend no more than $.25 per cup and it won't go into the garbage can at the end of the afternoon like a paper plate might.

For games you can use a box decorated with stickers and your child's art, cut a hole in it and make bean bags with beans for a bean bag toss. Because the Mad Hatter's Tea Party was such a crazy party, it's a great party for musical chairs or a game of "freeze". Another active game might be to have all of the kids bring their bike and have a bike parade in front of your house.

Unless your kid's party is going to be on MTV, there is no need to go overboard with a birthday party. Chances are, your kids probably won't remember what party favors they gave out at any of their birthdays or what games they played. My thinking is we do this party dance for the other parents. I for one am much more impressed with how creative a party can be than how many disposable party favors my child comes home with. At the end of the day, if all of the kids have a fantastic time at the party, that's the only thing that matters.

Create less waste and spend less money by looking around and using the resources at your fingertips. If you don't have things around the house to do something, ask a friend. These are the days for asking a favor.