Pet Peeve

I am a party pooper and I don’t care.

In fact, I wish more moms felt the way I do.

I have a pet peeve which goes against my love for crafting.

I hate gift bags, goody bags, and here’s a bunch of crap bags.

I know it’s expected now at birthday parties and showers but I just struggle with it. The goody bags at my kids’ parties are probably the worst around – a lollipop, stickers, and a tattoo – and the tattoo is only if I really like the kid.

Goodie bags are expected at parties now and I have learned to deal with that.

What I cannot deal with are the expectations for goody bags at school.

Preschool at that.

My daughter’s preschool sent out a message stating that bags would be placed in each students cubby “in case we were going to bring treats to share with our friends.”

They are two. They don’t need any extra goodies. A costume day and fall festival was more than enough to celebrate Halloween.

I refused to prepare any treats. We went to school empty handed.

This is the goody bag my daughter came home with.

Let’s just take a peek at what was inside.

Nice haul for a five hour school day, huh.

This bag was from one kid.

Here are the contents of the bag:

Impressive but ridiculous.

Isn’t anyone else tired of plastic trinkets littering their car and the “I get something” expectation that now comes with going to a party.

Now we are going to have the expectation at school.

I stand firm by my decision to not bring anything.

Plus, some of the goody bag contents were not labeled so no one else knows I didn’t participate. – ha!

12 thoughts on “Pet Peeve

  1. One kid!? Dang was the mom cleaning out her pantry? I am so with you! I would like to bake something fresh but that’s not allowed. I am so not interested in making goody bags.

  2. i’m 1000 percent with you on this. for all the same reasons. it’s just TOO much, TOO soon. oh and i will NOT participate in the goody bags at her bday party either. is the party and food itself not enough anymore?!??

  3. I totally agree with you. What started out as a nice idea has been blown all out of proportion.

  4. I have also stopped with the goodie bags. The parties themselves can be so over the top, with everyone attempting to outdo eveyone else. I haven’t given goodie bags for probably 3 years, and haven’t had one disappointed kid (that I’ve known about anyway).

  5. Thank You!! Nothing like a bag of crap to have to slowly throw away with a two year old crying over each crap toy or piece of sugar Sh*t that you toss. Oh boy a freaking pencil “the better to poke your eye out”, Whoop-Tee-Doo a plastic thingy with a bee bee puzzle inside “the better to frustrate your toddler” great sugar sh*t, “the better to keep your little one bonceing off the walls, Thank you, a balloon “a trip to the ER waiting to happen.” I can buy any of this shit for my kid if I want, thank you but no!! A piece of cake is enough.

    Cranky Old Man

  6. Amen!!! I hate party favors! A bunch of crap I’m gonna be stepping on for a week. Which is about how long they’ll last before going in the garbage. I will NEVER bet that parent. The over-the-top birthday parties are ridiculous. We grew up having parties that were family only, and now my kids will be tortured with the same tradition.
    My kindergartner had a 30 minute Halloween “party” in school and he got a bag full of candy and “toys” from one parent and nasty day-glo orange cupcakes from another. I took mandarin oranges in. LOL

  7. Glad to hear we’re not the only ones! We don’t do treat bags at school, just a little treat for the teachers.

  8. I hate goody bags, too. I do make them when hostin a birthday party, but I do it with the nerves of one who has no idea how it really works. (My kids do. They are absolute twerps about it. Entitlement issues? Oh yeah.) I do not send goody bag stuff to school. And I throw it away as quickly as possible.

    The party my kids went to today was pretty cool, though. They made dancing skirts and bead necklaces that will go into our dress up box and actually get used. I’m not crafty enough to pull that one off myself, though!

  9. OH MY GOSH! That is out of control! People are living on the streets without jobs and there are starving people in the World. It’s my opinion that if people have that kind of money to be forking it out for goody bags like that, they should be putting it to better use by making a donation to a local charity or food pantry. I totally stand by your decision too and I don’t send goody bags to preschool or any school EVER!

  10. I couldn’t agree more. I tend to snatch those bags when the kids get home from parties and they disappear. The kids never miss them. Such a waste of money.

    And you would think the teachers would be asking for supplies they need, rather than junk that the kids don’t

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