I don’t know how everybody else feels, but party favor bags with lots of little plastic items are a little overrated. My son will be the first to disagree with me, but I get a little crazy with these little items spread all over the house.  One of my girlfriends has come up with a great idea for managing party favor goodies. She has three little ones, which means a lot of treat bags find their way into her house. She, too, doesn’t do well with the little trinkets strewn everywhere. After the kids come back from a party, she pours all of the goodies into a treasure box. She uses them as special treats when they have friends come over to play. The kids look forward to having their friends go into the treasure box with them.

Another option is to opt out of treat bags altogether and give each guest a decorated sugar cookie instead. This past weekend I made cupcake sugar cookies for my son’s best buddy. They’ve been the best of friends since they were 2 1/2 years old. I have loved watching these boys grow and play together over the years.

The birthday party this weekend was held at one of those laser tag places. My mom warned me that my boy (who has “never been fond of birthday parties” – his own words) may not be loving this celebration. I should have known better. He and I both have the high anxiety gene in our DNA  and I can almost always predict what will worry him… lasers and 20 rambunctious boys chasing one another in a spooky haunted mansion room, what was I thinking? He didn’t participate in the laser tag, but stuck it out, stayed for the party, and ended up having a fun time. The cookies looked darling all wrapped up and tasted great!