Birthday Party Goody Bags

I know this is a hot topic and it is not that I am against them. Actually we love them in our household. Giving them and receiving them. We have a blast making them. At our #DisneySide party, we had goodie bags for both the kids and adults! We have some of the most imaginative friends who never cease to amaze me with what they can find for their goodie bags.

However something happened recently that just got my goose, so now I choose to vent about it.

My daughters birthday is coming up and she has decided to go on a trip and take a friend instead of having a birthday party. Good and bad to that. We will have an amazing time, I know, but she will not be able to celebrate with other friends. 

Problem solved, an at school celebration! Oh! Oh! Let's do goodie bags! Of course we aren't the lets just send cupcakes kinda family we gotta do it up right so she wanted to do a picnic. Interesting right? Little ham sandwiches, chips and a fancy donuts instead of cupcakes. How cute! Right? We got very specific for the goodie bags . For the girls ..... Shopkins and for the boys ... Minecraft blind bags. However she was concerned that one boy in her class was not allowed Minecraft and insisted that I ask his mom. We had a school function the next day after this conversation so I assured her I would and I did, no problem and no big deal ... 

BUT here is where I have a problem. Another boy's mother heard the conversation and shot me a dirty look which caught me off guard. So I turned to her and quickly said "Oh, I'm sorry, do you guys not approve of Minecraft in your home?" She quickly replied that she didn't even know what Minecraft was but yadda yadda yadda her son preferred and would be happier with Legos. Oh okay, anybody else wanna put your order in on what you would like me to purchase, for your child, to put into a goodie bag you are getting to celebrate MY child's birthday? 

This is a school celebration so my little will not be receiving any gifts and that is not the point here BUT ... Didn't it use to be that the birthday boy or girl was the one who got the gifts, not the kids in attendance? Now it seems like it is expected to walk away from a birthday party with an elaborate goodie bag. Are we putting this on ourselves? Has it gone from something fun to do to something people have come to expect? AND NOW I am expected to individualize each and every bag. Like I said we have always LOVED preparing and giving the goodie bags because we had never felt that we had to ask if it was okay to give a certain item, but then again we have never done a birthday celebration at school before.

So now after learning this lesson from a greedy mom what will we do in the future for at school celebrations? Be the let's send cupcakes family? Do nothing family? I'm not sure, but I promise you I will never be THAT mom. 

Goodie bag or no goodie bag, as long as you teach your kids to have respect and be grateful for what they have, they will always have items to put in their own goodie bag of life.

Being Chosen to Show off our #DisneySide

We were lucky enough to be chosen to host an #DisneySide @HomeCelebration Preschooler Princess Celebration! I received free products in order to host a Disney Side @Home Celebration. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Disney sent us a box full of goodies to use, share and give away at this party. We were and still are amazed at the amount of items we had to use for this #DisneySide celebration.

We started off with the decorations, my husband was in charge of that. He did a wonderful job of turning our dining room into a ball room fit for any princess using nothing but dollar store table cloths and removable tape.

Next we set a menu. We had; Pocahontas' Magic Maize, Seven Dwarf's Buffet (All finger food), Tangeled Tower of Cupcakes, Jasmine's Chocolate Jewels, Belle's Strawberry Rose Shortcake, Sleeping Beauty's Cotton Candy Dream Puffs, Tiana's Place Punch, Melted Snow and more.

As the royalty arrived, they were given a mommy and me project to complete. It was an Arendelle Magical Blanket. This blanket would accompany them throughout the afternoon's festivities. It was a no sew lap blanket that they were to tie tassels on. We had pre-cut the blankets to size as well as the tassels and holes for the tassels. The note cards attached said: Keeps you warm if Elsa's around; makes a great picnic blanket for you and Anna to share.

After everyone arrived we began our first royal activity. It was an introduction game where we gathered in a circle and each princess/prince introduced them self and then showed off their best courtesy or knightly bow. After each introduction the royal audience would say "Welcome Princess/Prince ....". Then my daughter would present them with a wrapped puzzle and thank them for coming.

Next we ate and the princes and princesses had picnics on their blankets.

While the parents ate, we showed them the #DisneySide fun stations we had set up for them. They included; "What's Your Disney Side Name?" Where you looked up the first initial of each of your names and it corresponded to a Disney name on a chart.  We also had a print out telling them about BuildYourDisneySide.com so they could make their own stick figure family to show off their #DisneySide. This time gave us an opportunity to discuss the many ways that there were to show off your #DisneySide each and every day.  We took this opportunity to give the parents a goodie bag which was a Disney reusable tote and included the Disney luggage tags, fingernail file, and Twinings tea packs that came in the #DisneySide package and I also included a Frozen cupcake kit that I found at our local Sam's club for less than a $1! Go me! The parents we very happy!

As the kids were finishing up and the parents were getting into their activities the design your own hair barrette station opened up and boy was there a line for that! We should have started that as soon as they walked in the door, it was a big hit! 

Our final activity for the evening was a huge success as well. It received so many giggles some of the girls were rolling on the floor! It was a punch board. We had cups that contained a child's name, when that child's name was "punched" they would come up and select a wrapped prize, then they would get to "punch" for the next name. I am not sure which they enjoyed more getting the gift or doing the punching. We used the prizes that came in our #DisneySide package as well as purchasing a few more to make sure each child left with a gift.

A thing that we noticed and it really gave us goose bumps. The children really didn't know how to react when they were the ones receiving the gifts. They were use to going to birthday parties where they gave the gifts and this was a party that each and every person there was being showered with gifts and attention. That to us was something amazing to be able to do and was a wonderful way that we got to show people our true #DisneySide.