When Levi turned one last year, I struggled to decide whether we needed goodie bags for his first birthday party. Since most of his friends in attendance were around his age, I didn’t think they needed (or cared about) fancy party favors. Still, I didn’t want to send anybody home empty-handed, so we gave Levi’s guests colorful balloons tied to bottles of bubbles that doubled as table decorations.
Levi’s friends at his second birthday party in July included some slightly older children, so I wanted the favors to be enjoyable for the bigger kids while still reflecting the interests of a two year old. Since Levi was just getting into coloring, I thought crayon party favors would be practical, fun, and, most importantly, age appropriate.
Rather than buying a bunch of small Crayola boxes, I reached out to Katie Gill-Harvey from A Childhood Store about creating personalized crayons for each of Levi’s friends. Kids are always happy to receive something with their name on it!
I had received samples of Katie’s handmade crayons in my Alt for Everyone and Alt NYC swag bags and loved that they were non-toxic and eco-friendly. She uses only soy and beeswax instead of paraffin wax (a petroleum by-product), which create slightly softer crayons than the traditional variety.
Since I didn’t know exactly who would be coming to the party when I started working with Katie, she made a package of name crayons for each child invited plus two additional “L-E-V-I” crayons in case we had last minute changes to the guest list. Luckily, only two of Levi’s friends weren’t able to attend, so I saved their crayon bags to give to them at a future play date.
Katie packages her crayons in small drawstring muslin bags hand-stamped with turquoise ink. From a selection of sixteen designs, I chose the cupcake but also really liked the ice cream cone. To identify which bag contained which child’s name, I labeled each with turquoise washi tape and a silver Sharpie. Finally! A use for all of the washi tape I’ve been hoarding!
Happily, the name crayons were a big hit with Levi and all of his friends, and I know their parents appreciated that they were non-toxic. (Yes, two year olds still put things in their mouths!) Aside from their natural properties, I also love how convenient the crayons are: Simply toss the drawstring bags into your purse or diaper bag for spontaneous restaurant placemat coloring.
Unfortunately, Katie isn’t taking any custom orders at the moment because she’s on maternity leave (hooray!), but she has plenty of pre-made designs for sale in her Etsy shop. I know that Levi would love the Things That Go or Robot crayon sets. And wouldn’t the 3-Month Crayon Club Subscription make such a fun birthday or holiday gift for your favorite toddler?
I’m curious, what are you thoughts on party favors? Are they necessary or a waste of money? And what have you given out in the past?
P.S. — Levi’s FIRST first birthday party and his SECOND first birthday party.
After a rocky start (a thunderstorm woke Levi up at 5am, I had a bloody nose for almost an hour, and Levi was in time out before 8am), Levi and I made our way to Aksarban Village to meet JB at the finish line of the 
I was extremely proud of JB for completing his first 10K in just under an hour — and for not being completely sore or winded afterwards. Although Levi was excited when he finally saw the red shirt belonging to his daddy cross the finish line, the highlight of his morning was sitting inside a fire truck! And I’m guessing the highlight of the firemen’s morning was hearing me call the fire truck a “weeoo-weeoo.” Apparently, the firemen had never heard it called that before and had a good laugh.
