Cute, Sweet, & Cheap Party Treat Idea

With DS’ birthday coming up it’s got me thinking of frugal ideas for his party. He’s going to be 3 and he’s totally in love with Spiderman. Within my thinking, the idea of goodies for the kids came to mind. Just to give me an idea I checked out Oriental Trading’s filled goodie bags. They are $2.99 ea or you can get 8 for $19.99 ($2.49 ea) Now, to me, that seems like a lot for crap that’s probably gonna break before you get home. Don’t get me wrong, my son loves that “crap” but from a financial standpoint that just doesn’t make sense to me.

I started to think of other things I could do and it ended up with a trip to Hobby Lobby. I love Hobby Lobby! Their stuff is always on sale! Once I walked up and down the aisles I was inspired. Candy is always a winner with kids. This lead me to the candy making aisle. There I found 2 sucker molds for less than the cost of 1 goodie bag (they were on sale). I was also able to find a bag of the sticks for $1. I got a teddy bear mold and I got a tractor/bulldozer mold. There was a reason I picked these particular molds. DS will only be 3. Tractors and bulldozers will be cool for at least the next 3 years. The bears are universal. They can be used for just about any holiday. So for a little over $2 and a little bit of care can hold me for the next couple of years! The molds are not dishwasher safe so by washing by hand ensures a longer life. These molds can handle extreme heat so you can use to make hard candy suckers as well as chocolate suckers.

I was thinking chocolate because it’s super easy to prepare. You simply break up a chocolate bar into a glass bowl and put in the microwave. I usually cook it at 30 second intervals. I cook 30 seconds, take it out, stir it, and then put it in another 30 seconds. You just gotta keep a good eye on it so it doesn’t burn. You then just spray the molds with cooking spray, lay the stick into the mold and pour the chocolate over it. After that, just put in the fridge or freezer and let it harden and set. That’s it!

You can see from this picture I wasn’t totally exact in my pouring. The good thing is that when it sets, you flake the stray edges off easy.

I thought an easy, cute, and cheap way to present was with a fold top sandwich bag and a piece of ribbon. Simply put the sandwich bag over the top and pull towards the corner. Tie a bow and snip up the edges. With these bears, you could change up the ribbon for whatever holiday (red and green for Christmas). You could also use the same concept except different molds. Aside from the cost of the molds (because you will be using them for years) these cuties only take a few cents to make. For that you can make 1 per child or maybe a 2. Either way, I think these will be my choice for the kids instead of those plastic toys.