Treats From Hell

Well here's my first grouchy post. I hate party goody bags!! They are such a waste of money and such cheap junk!!! After a few years of useless goody bag shenanigans ................ Candy ( which we all are in short supply of), plastic whistles (that don't work ), pencils ( thank goodness I was running out of them), small rubber bouncy balls ( add them into the basket with the 10 other lonely bouncy balls), sticky slimy spider wall walker (I had an enjoyable night cleaning up dog vomit after my cocker spaniel ate one of these), Chinese paper finger traps (my plumber appreciated this sink plugger), mini playing cards ( my vacuum loves these) and stickers stickers and even more stickers. Do you know how fast a toddler can peel off a sticker and eat it ......................nanoseconds.

So then Idecided to sneak the often abandoned goody bag into the garbage before my kids could even miss them ...........but I would feel guilty because some Mom lovingly bought and prepared these " treats from hell" and I was throwing her heart felt efforts into the trash!

So I began skipping the loot bags at my kids parties hoping to start a world wide trend. Instead I made a keepsake craft to give to each child or when they were older had them make something worth keeping. ( Not paper plate and pasta crafts......that will be my next grumpy post) It was great fun making things, getting my kids involved in planning and helping and I still receive compliments today from friends who remember certain items they kept and used.

The kids would say "I have to go now ...where's my goody bag ?" and I would say " We made a tie dye shirt( or whatever the item was that year) instead" and they were quite content. Kids don't remember goody bags but they remember designing and painting and building stuff and that is a great memory to have. I'm still waiting for the "world wide trend to kick in " ..........but I know lots of other moms put their creative spins on parties and I would love to hear from you