Birthday Party "Gift-Bag" Idea (kid, couple, play)

[passwithoutatrace]

It sounds a little weird to me. If you are doing balloons anyway, why not give a balloon attached to a thank you note?

[icibiu]

OP I was just thinking, not only do I think it's a bad idea, but so do YOU. Otherwise you wouldn't have posted here to get reassurance, I think you should go with your gut and pass on this idea.

[Penguin_ie]

Yeah, my vote is for weird too. You can still do the balloon though, that is fun!
How about some puzzles? Fun, can be got cheap, and not junk.

[carroll4628]

O.K. We won't do it.

It just that we moved here 4 months ago. My daughter use to have 'regular' playdates (once a week or so) with 3-4 different children at our old school. When we were at our new school a couple of weeks, I asked her if she wanted to invite someone over, she said "yes, but I don't know anyone" I have a class list and rattle off the names, but no luck. I asked her teacher if she plays with anyone/group of kids, "Jane plays well with all the kids." (o.k.) We haven't had any class field trips and there's no volunteering in the classroom (you can volunteer to work in office, but I did that and ended up meeting a lot of nice 4 and 5th grade moms). Just looking for another way to get my daughter integrated into her school.

Thanks for all the suggestions on the goodie bags.

[Wmsn4Life]

I'm sure you know this. Classmates aren't always BFFs. They can be fine to have at your birthday party for a couple of hours, but she may not have found a truly fun and compatible friend in this class that she wants to invite over.

If your school is like our school, they mix up the class lists each year, and she may end up in a class this fall with kids who are more likely to be friends.

Since the school year is almost over, I would trust her instincts and relax about selecting classmates for playdates. If she really wanted someone to come over, she would be able to name them right away. Maybe look for neighbors to play with over the summer.

Also think about enrolling her in one activity/day camp focused on one of her interests (dance, art, sports, reading, etc) with kids her age so she can have a summertime friend.

[Penguin_ie]

As an idea for getting play dates: Presumably you'll open gifts and make a list of who gave what.
Then when you send thank you emails/ notes, you could add something like "Daughter really liked the kind gift X gave her, and has mentioned how much she enjoys playing with X, so if you'd like to have a playdate sometime, my email is: carroll@blah.com". Or even something a little less comitted, such as "As we are new in the area, we don't know many kid-friendly places yet. If there is any park/ playground/ activity center your child X especially enjoys, let me know and maybe we can go together sometime!"

[bellalunatic]

We just had my daughter's 6th birthday party and I loathe goodie bags as well, so we bought gift certificates to a small family owned local ice-cream shop in town here. "Junior Scoop" in a cup for everyone!
Works well with the gluten allergy kids I tell ya! Helps the local business and at a $1.75 a kid, I felt much better handing those out than $1.75 worth of plastic crap!

Do you have an small local frozen yogurt/ice cream place in your town?

[carolinacool]

Originally Posted by Penguin_ie

As an idea for getting play dates: Presumably you'll open gifts and make a list of who gave what.
Then when you send thank you emails/ notes, you could add something like "Daughter really liked the kind gift X gave her, and has mentioned how much she enjoys playing with X, so if you'd like to have a playdate sometime, my email is: carroll@blah.com". Or even something a little less comitted, such as "As we are new in the area, we don't know many kid-friendly places yet. If there is any park/ playground/ activity center your child X especially enjoys, let me know and maybe we can go together sometime!"

I think this is a great idea! Also, you could consider joining a local pool, if it's in your budget. Great place to meet more kids and their parents.

[germaine2626]

Originally Posted by Penguin_ie

As an idea for getting play dates: Presumably you'll open gifts and make a list of who gave what.
Then when you send thank you emails/ notes, you could add something like "Daughter really liked the kind gift X gave her, and has mentioned how much she enjoys playing with X, so if you'd like to have a playdate sometime, my email is: carroll@blah.com". Or even something a little less comitted, such as "As we are new in the area, we don't know many kid-friendly places yet. If there is any park/ playground/ activity center your child X especially enjoys, let me know and maybe we can go together sometime!"

These are all great ideas.

DD has a July birthday and DS has a late May birthday. When they were younger and just getting to know the kids in their classrooms we would have a New Friends Party in November or early December with 4 to 6 children from their classroom. It was just like a birthday party (cake, games, etc) but without presents. It was a way to get to know some of the children (and their parents) without having to wait until birthday party time. The guest lists were completed with input from our child & suggestions from the teacher.

This ice-breaker party was especially important as they attended a large metropolitan district wide magnet school. Of course, my children's best friends lived in opposite directions of the absolute farther points of the district. Every play date was a 45 minute one way drive away.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by bellalunatic

We just had my daughter's 6th birthday party and I loathe goodie bags as well, so we bought gift certificates to a small family owned local ice-cream shop in town here. "Junior Scoop" in a cup for everyone!
Works well with the gluten allergy kids I tell ya! Helps the local business and at a $1.75 a kid, I felt much better handing those out than $1.75 worth of plastic crap!

Do you have an small local frozen yogurt/ice cream place in your town?

I think that's a great idea. When the kids were little, we used to give little puzzles and a few pieces of candy. It's not poison.