Party Favors / Goodie Bags for Kate's CFA Cow Birthday Party

I wanted to share some more about the treat bags I put together for Kate's cow-themed Chick-fil-A birthday party. Plus, a few people have asked about them, so I thought I would devote a whole post to it.

I love thinking of party-favor ideas and putting together goodie bags. (I guess it is kind of like filling a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child, only on a much smaller scale.) The challenge--for me, at least--is to think of things people can use ... and things that are affordable. Like I am for OCC items, I am always on the lookout for cute little goodies at a great price. I also try to find things that are sold as a group and can be individualized (say, a pack of stickers, for instance ... or a large package of Play-Doh). My eye has been trained by being involved in OCC ... not to mention several years of helping my sister and SIL find cute favor items on the cheap.



Now ... about the bags ... The clear bags are from Wal-Mart. They are great--and unless I am looking in all the wrong places, it is difficult to find plain plastic bags like that. (Thanks to my sister for the tip on these!)



The tags are little notecards that were in the dollar section at Michael's back in May (or around that time). It was only $1 for pack of eight! I didn't know how I would incorporate them until last week--and I was really pleased how they turned out to be used as little tags for the treat bags. I simply punched two holes in the top of the card so I could run black ribbon through them and attach them to the bags. I also got some bigger cow notecards at Michael's that I am using as thank-you notes.



As for the goodies themselves, I tried to use things that Kate really likes right now--or things that fit the theme of the party. (Or, better yet, both!) Inside the bags were: two small containers of Play-Doh, a little box of raisins, Cow Tales (caramel candy--one large and one small), a package of Market Pantry (Target brand) chickadee cheddar crackers (like goldfish crackers), a sheet of stickers and one wooden cow toy.

Kate LOVES Play-Doh, raisins, and stickers. We hadn't tried the chickadee crackers, but Kate does enjoy her goldfish ones. Plus, these looked so cute--and I figured they would fit in well with a Chick-fil-A party. The Play-Doh I bought on clearance after Valentine's Day--I bought a couple of the Valentine packages. (I also had bought a large party box of mini Play-Dohs back during Target's winter toy clearance for 75 percent off, but we only ended up needing a few of those. The rest Kate can use, or we can always put them in shoe boxes.) The raisins were purchased at Publix--and are so cute, not to mention very inexpensive (only $1-something for a bagful). I love the raisin smiley face on the box. The stickers featured Scriptures and/or various characters and were purchased at CVS or Michael's.

I personally don't really like Cow Tales (the candy), but I know a lot of people do. Plus, I researched cow-themed candy, and these seemed to be the best option for the best price. I found some at Michael's and had already bought a bunch of the big ones there (with a coupon, of course) when I later saw bags of smaller ones at CVS, of all places! I thought it would be weird to take the bigger ones back, so I put one of each (a large Cow Tale and a small Cow Tale) in each treat bag.



What I was most excited about were these wooden cow toys from Anamalz, which retail for around $6 or $7 each. But I got them for only $1.50! Let me tell you the story. (I will try to make this short.)

Basically, when we were in San Francisco back in May, I saw a bin full of these Anamalz cows in the Old Navy children's clearance section. (If you have ever been to the San Fran Old Navy, then you know that it is a huge store with a huge children's section and a big clearance section and lots more stuff than I've ever seen at any other Old Navy. But I digress ...) Anyway, that particular weekend, Old Navy was running a promotion of extra 50 percent off of their clearance items--and these cows were marked down to around $3. Which meant that they would only be around $1.50. I loved them, but I only bought two or three ... for Kate to play with. There had been a huge bin FULL of the cows--and only the cows. (Believe me, I looked. I was hoping to find some other animals at that price. I later found some at Baby Gap ... a pig and a lion ... marked down to around $3, just FYI.)

It was only a few days later, after we'd returned home, that I realized how perfect these little cows would be as party favors. I looked in our local Old Navy, but saw no signs of the bovines. (As expected.) So I called the San Fran store to see if they did phone orders. And they did. That was the good news. The bad news was that the extra-50-percent-off sale was over, and the cows were going to be about $3 each, plus shipping. And that was too much.

My BIL's voice was ringing in my ears, and he was saying ... as he does ... "Everything's negotiable!" So I asked the nice sales clerk if they could cut me a deal if I bought a large quantity of the cows. At this time, I also heard my brother's voice in my head. My brother works in retail management, and he has told me many a tale about store managers being motivated to mooooove merchandise. Basically, for some of them, when they need to make space for new products coming in, the clearance stuff needs to go. And if you, as a customer, are willing to take a lot of it off of their hands, then they may be willing to wheel and deal.

(Sorry, I am not keeping this short. But bear with me.)

The sales clerk I was talking to quickly asked her supervisor about cutting me a deal, and the answer was no. I was disappointed and a bit angry because I heard him in the background, and he didn't even get on the phone to hear me out. After a few minutes and envisioning all of those lonely cows who were dreaming of a good home (where the buffalo roam), I called right back and asked to speak to the store manager. I was very nice and polite about the whole thing. I didn't mention the rude supervisor. I just stated my case: It really had only been a few days since I had been in there. They really did have a LOT of the cows left, taking up valuable retail space. And I was ready and willing (with credit card in hand) to buy a lot of them on the spot. The store manager didn't even hesitate. Sure! He would be glad to give me the extra 50 percent off! Score!



I did have to pay for shipping, but that was minor compared to the great deal I got on these cute little wooden cows. They arrived here in Atlanta the following week in this cardboard box. I was so excited!



OK, that is probably way more info than you ever wanted. OH! I also bought at Michael's a cute little cow stamp that I used in the goodie-bag tags and on the envelopes for the invites. I'll also use it on the envelopes for the thank-yous.

Speaking of thank-yous, if you are still reading this ... thank you very much! Or perhaps I should say ... MOOOO-CHAS GRACIAS!