The Better Birthday Party Favor

by Elle Brown July 14, 2014

We recently celebrated our child's 5th birthday. Five is a fantastic age for birthday parties. The kids are almost as excited to celebrate their friend's birthday as they are their own.

Being a working mom brings its limitations on how many special touches are going to be added to my children's events. This year, my son requested his party be at Bounce U. He had attended a schoolmates party there and had a great time so the venue was decided. I was all for it, seeing I wouldn't have to clean my house before and after the party.

When you book these on-site, all-in-one events, there are levels of investment, or lack there of, depending upon how you look at it. You can pay a lot and have them do everything from food to favors, which seemed easy but impersonal being my son was turning 5 and this was probably the first birthday he was going to remember. On the other hand, you can have them do food and you can bring the cake and goodie bags if you prefer a more personal touch.

Even with all I have on my plate, I chose the latter. My son wanted a Lego Batman theme. I ordered a personalized cake topper from Etsy and dropped it off at the local grocer who makes sheet cakes in 24 hours. Cake done!

Now, all I needed were favors. The most important thing to little guests...Goody Bags!

I went through my options. I could go to the local party store and buy plastic Batman bags or cups and fill them with little trinket toys and/or candy. This seemed generic and ordinary. I was already having the Bounce U staff do most of my job on this very special day of my child's life.

Or, I could go to Toys R Us and buy every kid a Batman Lego, which seemed expensive but impressive.

In the end, neither came to fruition. The reality was, I worked late every night and ran out of time and had no party favors on event day. I was pretty much freaking out that morning while my family was getting ready. My husband was trying to help, which when I'm in that state of mind, is a waste of precious time and energy.

Finally, he yelled out, "We own a t-shirt store! Just go to the store and grab 20 size 5 tees for boys and girls and be done with this already!"

LOL!

It's not like I didn't think of this myself. However, we own the store and I didn't want the parents to think I was promoting my business at my child's birthday party. But, really, I had no choice. It was a Kiditude t-shirt or offer them a piece of candy from a bucket of left over Halloween and Easter candy that should have been thrown out long ago.

Fast forward, end of party, I reach into the bag and grab the first Disney Frozen tee for one of the girls who is leaving and pandemonium broke out. It reminded me of that scene from the Beatles concert where the crowd is so crazy they can't hear the music.

Excited children being shoved forward by their parents immediately surrounded me.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirts were being torn from their packages and popped on right over what the hot, sweaty child was already wearing.

All the kids HAD to wear their tee home and made their parents wash it for school on Monday.

And, they were not the only happy peeps. The parents thanked me for not giving candy or toys that break before the kids gets to play with them.

So there you go...T-shirts! They define your personality. Kids and parents love them. They won't break the bank. They are the better birthday party favor.

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