Cake idea - Yes or No and Lolly / Goody Bags

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Thanks everyone.. sorry but ALL your invites must have been eating by the mailbox bugs..

BG - hmm no choccies in the baby bags but i might find something small for you, E is getting a bag... not you!

I hope the cake turns out ok, it sounds good but icing and i don't agree and putting it together could be interesting, glad it's only about 6 of us going to see and eat it.. the big party i am getting a pro.. hehe my excuse is i am fat, pg and i wont have the patience to make it pretty enough for 70+ ppl.... .lol

Thanks so much for the ideas on the goody bags, have decided the under 1's will get a book, some stickers, bubbles and maybe a whistle and of course a balloon, any little girls i will buy the cheap bright bangles and the little boys get a toy car!

The older kids are getting lollies (party mix ???) , a chocolate (might slip one in E's for you BG), a balloon, bangles etc for girls, boys toy for the boys and then maybe some stickers etc aswell.

What lollies do you guys suggest, i was thinking party mix, a chocolate, used to love the candy bracelets???, don't want to spend a fortune.. got 15 lolly bags to make and 6 baby bags!

[briggsy's girl]

i feel spesh now!

and keep in mind i'm BF - so E WILL get it later lol

[smiles4u]

The last couple of birthdays for my DD i have purchased from The Reject Shop a big bag of about 10 little sealed bags of soft lollies inside (that way they ain't handled if there are fussy parents) ... I think it might be called Party Mix or something like that, no more than $4 - $5 for the entire pkt

Pop a couple of Chocolate Coins and one Lolly Pop (also from The R J shop) !!

I'm pretty sure i have seen in BigW the Candy Bracelets

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Thanks for that, will check out the cheap shops and BIG W, was thinking will wrap the mixed lollies etc anyway so they don't touch the books/toys etc.

I'm getting excited now, my little girl is 1 in like 5 days, her cous is 1 tomorrow so she gets to go and have cake with him and give him a pressie...

[Gigi]

i saw organic lollies that look like pastel smarties on teh Twinkle Lily website, they would be nice to decorate a cake with.

Crocodile Creek is a toy brand that makes little puzzles in a box the size of a matchbox, for about $3 each. i thought they would make a good party bag present.

i bought a big box of fat chalks too, and parcelled them up, say five per child with a ribbon around them. expensive if you buy individaul little packs, but not if you buy a bulk pack.

and the plastic animal idea, used that too, everyone got a different ocean animal.

i'm investigating how to get coloured icing without artificial colours this year, wish me luck. Last year, didn't use icing at all. bilby loves banana cake with no icing. but she's better at brushing her teeth now, might use some icing this year.

as your age group is 2 and above, i would be careful with whistles for under threes, and anything with small breakable bits e.g some jewerelly for the under threes.

Some parents use "failsafe diet" and other food methods to help with behaviour management and health issues. We all respect the "no nuts" policies, there can be very legitimate reasons why some parents restrict their child's diets. Some families go thru hell, when the child is exposed to foods/additives that "set them off".

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Some great ideas, thanks everyone... hmmm 1 week til the party, better get myself sorted!
The jewellery etc will be one piece things with no beads or breakable bits, the whistles i am doing as a thing the MUM can do for the kids, DD has already learnt to blow a whistle as my MIL gave her one in a toy bag for her 60th birthday, DD loved them so thought might be something cute.. wont be too little though.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Ok So DP and i went and bought some stuff for the lolly/goody bags today, let me know what you think, has pretty much worked out about $5 a bag which wasn't too bad for what we have, we also had some stuff DP's aunty gave my SIL for the kids and she left here for us to use so that took a bit off.

Toy Cars x 10 - for the older boys and big enough for the goody bags too
Thick Chalk - for all the older kids
Bouncy Balls - 1 each for the older kids and then 2 big ones left for DD to play with
Stickers - 1700 stickers, will divide them b/w ALL the kids even the littlies
Farm Animals / Dinsoaurs - for ALL the kids, bigger animals for the juniors and dinosaurs for the boys
Books - each of the junior bags, i will be writing in the cover to say thanks for coming to ava's party, the boys got the same series and little E the only junior girl gets her own special book! (shhh BG pretend you didn't know)
Necklaces - 2 each for the older girls
Ben 10 bubbles and toys - for the odler boys (from DP's aunty)
Bubbles - for the girls and the juniors (mummy' can use these)
Rattle - for E as the junior boys got a car (shhhh BG)

Lollies - party mix, sherbert bombs, jelly beans, racing cars, fruit sticks, milkyway, twix or something similar and freddos (each junior getting a freddo for their mum or them), i think there is more but not 100% sure.

For the older girls going to get the little plastic rings as the boys have a bigger present in there with the ben10 stuff and then i think thats it.. i think we have done well to get ALL of that for $5 per child.
Now to find loot bags big enough, any ideas?

So what do you think... tooooo much or just enough?

[Patooties]

I think the kids will be thrilled when they open their Loot bags

I have used white paper bags with handles. ( i got the kids to decorate their own bags with stickers when they arrived). I've also used large cardboard noodle boxes. Do you have a Discount shop anywhere near you? They often sell plastic containers cheap enough for you to put the loot in.