These ideas come from Ian Age 8 and his mom Iumi from Rancho Santa Marg., Ca .
Here is what she writes:

Last year instead of handing out candy we made clear glycerin soaps with floating ninja warriors in them. We melted the glycerin, gave it a fragrance, and poured it into small tupperware type containers. Then we placed a bright colored ninja in each and poured more glycerin soap on top. We wrapped each soap in a cello bag and printed labels
that read "Thanks for coming to my party! Love, Ian." The kids loved them!

This year, for his eighth birthday party, we made blueberry bubble bath. I let him pick the blue color, and we printed labels on the computer that we attached to each bottle pursuant to your instructions with the clear Avery laminating sheets. We used a fun font to write out "Ian's 8th Birthday!" then, below that, the date of his birthday, then underneath "Blueberry Bubble Bath" and then, below that, in very small print, I typed out his personal thank you message to his friends. I stamped each label below that with the image of a little boy playing soccer, as the party was a soccer game, I let him color in the clothes of the little boy. Then, at the very bottom of the label, in tiny print, we wrote out "Made especially for you by Ian and Mom"

We bottled the bubble bath in four ounce clear bottles. It was a huge hit! The kids loved this personal party favor, and it lasted longer than any useless trinket of the sort they usually get. Also, my husband hates for kids to get candy all the time, so it was a good substitute.

Next time we plan on giving away bubble bath and a fish squirter for the bath.

As a side note, the kids liked the ninja soaps so much that one of their mothers called to ask if I could put together a basket or something for some fundraiser at school. So instead of ninjas I use angel fish and include the fish squirters, a bright color scrubbie and bubble bath with a label that has a fish on it. That's why I got the kid critters mold... to add another sort of fish to my package. I bought wood boxes from WalMart and stenciled a bright fish on each of the four sides with acrylic paint and voila! A totally cute package that makes a good birthday gift or a good fundraiser item at school.

Thanks Ian & Iumi!!

Since Ian & Iumi have the boys party idea covered, here are some ideas for a boy/girl party and an all girl party.

A Princess party for little girls

Make lip balm in flower or butterfly lip pots for party favors.
Have them make bubble bath and use mailing labels, lamination sheets and stickers to make their own labels for them.
Or, soaps with body glitter or mica in them would be fun too.
Depending on their age, having soaps already made that they can paint is fun and will keep them entertained for quite awhile.

A Princess or Pampering Party for tweens and teens

If you have the budget for it, take the girls at the party to a beauty school and have their hair done. (I understand that it is quite inexpensive to do if you go to a beauty school.)
Or, you can go to the dollar store and let them pick out nail polish . When you come back, let them paint each other’s nails and give them each a cuticle balm.

You can also make shower gel (prepare the base ahead of time and have it ready for them to fragrance & color), lotion and other pampering things like bath salts, salt scrubs, etc.

Boys & Girls Party

I think a picnic theme would be fun.
Take them to a park and play games and for favors you could give out watermelon lip balms for each of them and then a ladybug soap (make with the Milkyway Lady bug mold) for the girls and a soap with a bug imbed for the boys.

In winter, take them ice skating or sledding and give out hot cocoa lip balm and a snowman soap using the Milkyway Snowman mold.

Just a note on safety…..
Don’t let kids make these projects unsupervised or “supervised” by another child or teen. Fragrances and Super Concentrate are dangerous if ingested, lip balm is hot and so is melt and pour. An accident caused by inadequate supervision is a really quick way to ruin a fun party.

Share your fun party ideas!