And what we’re teaching our kids.

 

Times are changing. Those plastic party gift bags and 1 minute toys we used to use to say “thank you” to our guests, are no longer as attractive as they used to be. A toy made so cheaply and designed so poorly, entertains our little ones for such a short amount of time and then, boom, we’re dealing with the emotional fallout and a broken toy to boot.

Convenient? Well, not really. Bulk items leave us with left over toys and flimsy party bags of little use. These toys are made so quickly that care isn’t always taken to make sure it is in working order.

Is it to cater to their attention spans? No. Our kids are keen to play for much longer than these little party trinkets allow.

Given the chance, shouldn’t we be encouraging children to look after their toys? Sending the plastic bags and plastic party toys to landfill is surely setting them up to be ok with creating more waste that will then have to be dealt with, environmentally, in the near future. Let’s teach them respect for the gifts they receive and give their treasures a ‘home’. Are we teaching them to pick quality when we gift them such ‘cheap’ toys? Should we be teaching them about how easy sustainability actually is?

So what could you give as a ‘long life’ gift?

• Mini pencils
• Hair scrunchies/accessories

  

• Play dough
• Dough Stamps
• Wooden wands
• Bath Bombs
• DIY keyring
• Ribbon rings

  

• Seed kits
• Bookmarks
• Metal tiaras (I did this and I STILL see them on little friends a year on!)
• Photo frames
• Yoyos (yip, still on the list, just make sure they’re useable!)
• River stones to paint
• Silicone Straws
• Little books

I created The Party Godmother because I wanted families to have another avenue for long life gifts and handcrafted to boot. Hair scrunchies, dough stamps, wooden wands, DIY keyrings, ribbon rings and of course, fabric party bags.

And then of course there’s the option of NOT giving a goody bag. After playing the activities, hanging out with their friends and eating delicious food, do we really need to give them a thank you bag at the end? Personally, I like to weave at least one of their thank you gifts into the activities they do through some kind of craft and/or winnings. Recently, at my child’s party, I had each child decorate their own bag tag and then attach it to a fabric party bag that they could add any winnings or craft into. Every kid was creating their own custom goody bag!

Whatever suits you, choosing a more sustainable option helps teach our children to look after their things, to enjoy quality over quantity and lets us prepare for a future with less waste to manage.