Party bags without a junk mountain
How to fill children's party bags: one decent item, two fillers, allergies, and when to skip the bag entirely.
One decent thing and two fillers
One decent small thing and two fillers is enough. Tiny LEGO, a pot of Play-Doh, stickers, a pocket torch, a toy animal, bubbles. The shop on this site links those fillers on Amazon.co.uk, with the photo from the listing, so you are not buying a class set of something you have only seen as a title.
Skip the sweets if you do not know the allergies, or keep them sealed and optional. A bag that is mostly sugar is a bag the parents will bin in the car park, and they will be right to.
Match the bag to the age, not the theme
Under-threes do not need small bricks, balloons they can bite, or tattoos. Four-year-olds are happy with dough, stickers and a figure. Over-eights notice when the bag is tat. A torch or a small build is more respectful than a fistful of plastic animals they already own.
Buy the same contents for every child. Splitting the bags by who you think is a boy or a girl is extra work and usually wrong. If the birthday child wanted dinosaurs, a dinosaur figure in every bag is a theme. Two different bags is a sorting task you will hate at 7am.
Sometimes the venue already did this
If the venue already hands every child a bear, a pot they painted, a party bag, or a return ticket, do not add another. You are not in a competition. Farms and zoos often include a small gift. Read the package before you spend £40 on fillers.
Pack the bags the night before, not in the party room. Name nothing on the outside unless a child needs a specific allergy-safe bag. Hand them out at the door as people leave, or they will be lost under a chair.