The budget for party decorations was a whopping $0, which actually worked in my favor. With no money to spend, I had no choice but to riffle through my years of room mom supplies. I found a pad of cardstock paper in primary colors and turned them into pennant garlands. I used the leftover scraps to decorate favor bags made from brown bags from an old school project, yarn I bought when my velvet ribbon ran out, and leftover tags from my 2009 Christmas Wrapping.
I think party favors are really, really stupid. Most of them are filled with junk nobody wants and gross candy. But, the kids love them and I knew Nicholas would want to hand something out to his friends. I had a fair bit of luck when a supermarket near me went out of business. While there, I cleaned out their Transformer stickers and chalk (both 90% off and both Nico’s favorites). I decided to use them as favors and quickly came up with an idea to make chalk and stickers seem cohesive and intentional. I went out and bought two more things I felt represented Nicholas and turned the bags into Nico bags. 
After Mikey stamped a number 4 on each tag, I took my old blue typewriter and clacked out a little information about our youngest guest of honor. Four things you should know about Nico:
- He is very sweet, and often nutty. (I included two Reese’s Peanut Butter cups in the bag, which are his favorite.)
- He is stuck on Transformers. (Yay for stickers on clearance.)
- He loves chalk. (Even the basic white stuff I found on clearance.)
- He is a ball to be around and the light of our lives. (Target light-up bouncy balls, large size so the babies won’t choke.)
I have to say, they turned out great! Really cute, really special. What did everyone think? I have no idea. I forgot to hand them out. That’s okay. I have an idea to send out something just as special with the thank you cards, which was inspired by something else I had planned for the party that also slipped my mind. Oh, brother.
Oh, Jules! They look wonderful – it’s so hard to remember everything once a party is in full swing.
You are genius – looks beautiful!!!!!
Those streamers are beautiful. I’m inspired!
Well, it could have been worst. You could have planned to NOT have favors for your son’s birthday party (because you know, the crazy party-like atmosphere at Chuck E. Cheese was plenty of stimulation enough) and have one of the kids come up to you as he was leaving asking where his favor bag was. :-(
$0 is a great price and always forces us to be REALLY creative and you did great with these projects. Even if you did forget to hand them out.
lol…i took one and loved it! G loves the ball and I loved the candy…hehe
Love love love love the favor bags – the content, the way you decorated them and best of all the tag you came up with. What a truly wonderful idea!
Your pennant garland looks fantastic – love it!!
What a grand celebration! I love the idea of using scrapbooking paper for the garland. Of course, I must admit, I also love party favors. It would be better if I didn’t I suppose … especially knowing many think they are corny. But no … for my mom’s 50th, a friend and I stuffed 125 goodies bags with old time candy … and jacks, a yoyo or silly putty. Thankfully I was must too tired to notice how they went over. :)
Jules, how absolutely delightful! I really am going to have to start a file of fabulous ideas I discover on blogs- this has me feeling very inspired. Thanks so much.
Love the tags!
It is easy to lose track of what to hand out and do once the festivities get under way; I am sure everyone had a great time regardless of the cool tags and bags.
Though, my kids would have loved them!
OK, you are awesome. I am inspired! Little Dude’s birthday is frighteningly soon!
Love, love the tags! Obviously the kids had a great time… they completely forgot to ask for a goodie bag on the way home.
LOVE the favor bags- i’m truly inspired to do something like that for Ava’s next birthday (because odds are, my budget will also be… $0.00! the pennants came out fantastic, too. Good Job!
everything looks so wonderful and festive. i’m sure nico and his friends all had a grand time (even if they didn’t tell you so). trust me, one day, looking back at these pictures, nico will be grateful he had such a fun and festive mom.
There are favor bags, and there are gift bags. And those were truly a gift from the heart. The typed up tags were a fantastic idea – of all the personal touches, I think the most special. Perhaps a tag a year (even if only for yourself) would be a great tradition. I loved it all.
You are pure genius! You rocked that party!