Green with Children
What's So Goody About Them Bags?
Even before I became Mommy Greenest, I had serious issues about the bag of candy we call the goody bag. In America, it has become standard for guests at children's birthday parties to receive a gift. In theory, this is a delightfully gracious thing to do--but since when is garbage a gift?
Let me be clear--I am very pro-candy. Candy is fantastic. It's the recreational drug of childhood. (At least let's hope so.) It's also very thoughtful to give these kids a bag of sweets on their way out the door. Honestly, it's what they desperately need after eating a cupcake and ice cream.
It's the cheap plastic toys that come inside the cheap plastic bag that I'm against. Before you're even home, the stuff is broken or tossed to the floorboards.
On a higher level, the message of the goody bag is disturbing. It's so materialistic, so acquisitive, so "having junk is better than having nothing at all." Plus, I think the kids would be fine without it -- if we all just colluded to stop buying it all, or at least do something different. Here in the Clyburn house, we've tried.
When Dex turned three, Jeff and I made the guests a CD instead of a bag of junk. It was called "Three is the Magic Number," and it had all sorts of great songs kids would love, like Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy," and lots of Jackson Five, and of course "Three is the Magic Number," both the Schoolhouse Rock version and De La Soul's. (Please don't sue us, ASCAP…we only made a few copies.)
Other friends have done things like giving each guest a book, or a nice wooden toy that probably costs as much as a traditional goody bag. One mom I know gave each departing guest a balloon and a certificate for a free scoop of ice cream at the local parlor.
Dex just turned five. I realized, as I combed the aisles of the nearby dollar store, that I could not in good conscience fill disposable bags with choking hazards and face myself in the morning. I need to be the change I wish to see, as Obama and some other guy* have suggested.
So this year, my son's guests received their first reusable canvas goody bag. I found some small canvas bags, and filled them with candy and sticker books (great diversions when sitting in a restaurant or on a long car trip). Since I'm a little Type A, I also personalized each bag with the kid's name in fabric marker and iron-on patches (flaming skulls, butterflies, and flowers distributed in a gender-sensitive fashion).
My Good Goody Bags were a big hit. I can't say with certainty, but I think the kids were most interested in the candy inside and the moms admired the canvas bags. So if nothing else, at least I made a statement. Gotta start somewhere.
*Mahatma Gandhi originally said this in his nonviolent fight to liberate India, an issue nearly as important as birthday goody bag.
© The Green Guide, 2008
Discuss this blog
posted by yannayoga on 2008-05-17 20:53:32
I am so happy you brought up this subject. I wrote about it on my blog after my son turned five too. http://justmakingmemories.blogspot.com/2008/04/environmentally-friendly-birthday-party.html I think we can change this habit; one mom at a time.
posted by julia123 on 2008-05-19 20:28:17
posted by julia123 on 2008-05-19 20:30:54
I realized they were a waste when my kids never even opened them and I had to throw them out after they sat in the back seat for a week. I don't even bother anymore making them for our kids parties!
posted by emcmil on 2008-05-21 09:02:51
My girls are having a joint birthday party in a couple of weeks, and as both an activity and a favor, the kids are going to decorate cupcakes, and I'm sending them home with 4 of them each - much better than the cheap plastic junk you normally get, and no worse than candy.
A friend of my daughter's birthday falls near Christmas and in the goody bag she included some inexpensive ornaments. Another friend's birthday was very close to Easter this year, so the mom had every child bring their basket, and they had an Easter egg hunt, and the favors were the plastic eggs filled with stickers, candy, or egg-shaped sidewalk chalk.
posted by Holbunny on 2008-05-21 12:14:20
I have a 5 yo & 2 1/2 yo and I have always tried to avoid the typical goody bags filled with "kiddie litter". I have done the canvas bags with the kids' names on it and personalized beach bags. I fill them with a little candy and items to go with the theme like beach balls, hackisac balls, pencils and erasers. This past birthday I found small Doodle Pros for about what I was planning to spend on goodies. So I bought plain paper bags and let my son help decorate them. I like the cupcake idea! I might have to try that for my daughter's 3rd b-day! Thanks for helping to change the idea that we have to give kids something, no matter how junkie.
posted by itssue on 2008-05-22 19:58:44
I have always tried to involve the children and add interest to each party. We have done everything from designing T-shirts, decorating flower pots and planting flowers I purchased for them (also included packages of seeds to take home for their gardens). The children have made and decorated bird houses(precut houses),jewel boxes, chimes and suncatchers. The children love doing the crafts, adds interest to the party and they are proud of their accomplishment. The kids take home a useful gift and no candy or junk included.
posted by Funtush on 2008-06-09 14:26:22
I got burlap goodie bags, filled them with seeds and a samll wooden toy. I used these as goodie bags for my sons b'day. I also personalised the bags with a fabric marker. Most of the kids saved the bags and are still reusing those. I got the bags very cheap from www.thegreenaura.com
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