The little miss's 6th birthday party is today. I put my foot down this year and refused to have the party at home. My little crafter wanted to have an arts and crafts party, so we went to a local craft studio that hosts parties, where the kids are going to block print tote bags. I was very pleased that the instructor offered me the option of choosing something useful for the project. I love that the kids will create something that they might continue to use frequently rather than something their parents will be required to store for a while before sneaking into the trash.
Although they each will have a tote bag to take home at the end of the party, I still felt pressure to send the little rugrats home with a gift bag-type thing. With a party theme of Arts & Crafts, I couldn't very well send them home with a cellophane bag of stuff made in China. Here's what we did instead.
Each child will get a small package to take home. Recognize the packaging? That's right. Toilet paper tubes. You fold them in half lightly, then fold the ends down. You can see a more detailed tutorial here at Sweet Charli. I used the hot glue gun to decorate each with ribbon, then wrote each child's name with a paint pen. My kids drew pictures on the back.
Our little packages contain three small items. First, a bookmark that the birthday girl made.
Second, for all but our one male guest (who got some Thomas stickers), a hair clip that I made, again with ribbon and the hot glue gun.
Finally, bowing to pressure, I completed our little packages with one gratuitous piece of Halloween-sized candy, which I swiped from my kids' Halloween stash.
Party favors complete. We recycled, we used materials we had on hand, and we made most of them ourselves. No trinkets, minimal candy, and no cellophane. Now off to the party!
Very clever!
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