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Are you looking for loot bag fillers that aren’t just cheap junk? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Over the last few years, I’ve inadvertently become a party bag and favour expert. In this latest roundup, I have compiled a list of creative and fun loot bag ideas for kids from two to 10 years old that will delight parents and kids at the birthday party you are planning.
HOW MANY THINGS SHOULD YOU PUT IN A LOOT BAG?
There are no set rules on how many items to put in a kids’ party loot bag. I tend to put three to five fillers into a party loot bag, with one ‘star’ filler plus supplementary fillers, like sweets/candy, a sticker sheet or a temporary tattoo.
HOW TO KEEP THE COST OF LOOT BAGS DOWN
The best way to keep the cost of filling loot bags down is to look for sets of things you can divide up across the bags.
23 JUNK-FREE CLEVER LOOT BAG FILLER IDEAS
In this list of loot bag ideas, I’ve included many sets of things you can divide up to help keep costs down. I’ve avoided plastic wherever possible and tried to ensure that every filler idea is cool, fun and will be loved and used by its recipient.
- Popcorn Shed Birthday Cake Gourmet Popcorn
- Outter Space Shaped Bath Bombs
- Bee & Butterfly Wildflower Seed Bombs Balls
- Box Buddies Boxibos Monsters
- Mini Animal Character Notebooks
- Jelly Belly Flavoured Lip Balm Set
- Toyseum 12 x Mini Space Notebooks
- abeec 24 Bendy Pencils
- Sweet Kebabscandy
- Horrid Henry the Complete Story Collection
- Meg and Mog Magical Adventures
- Play-Doh Ultimate Colour Collection
- Cute Sheets Puffy Stickers
- Dinosaur Cookie Cutters
- Rex London Wild Wonders Temporary Tattoos
- Doll Shaped nail polish
- Children's Origami Animals Kit
- 12 Mini A6 Doodle Activity Books
- Mini Novelty Ice Cream Erasers Rubbers Girls Kids Childrens - Etsy UK
- CATPOWER Kawaii Style Black Ink Gel Pens
- Funky Pencils with Animal Eraser Toppers
- Jelly Belly Pyramid Party Bags
- Personalised Happy Bee Wildflower Seed Packets
Who knew you could have birthday cake popcorn?! This must be the perfect gourmet popcorn to pop into loot bags for your child's next birthday party. There are 16 bags in the set, so they work out great value for money as a loot bag filler.
Bath bombs make great loot bag fillers. Space-shaped bath bombs are another level brilliant, though. There are six different bath bombs in every set, perfect for space-themed birthday parties or even just because they are a super cool loot bag filler.
Buy a pack of wildflower seed bomb balls and divide them up. Wrap a ball or cluster of balls in a small square of tissue paper and include a little note about what they are and how to use them. (I'd create a note online that can be printed out several times for ease). This is a great eco-friendly loot bag filler that kids and BEES will love!!
This little craft set of 12 Mini Box Monsters could easily be broken into individual monsters for loot bags. They don't take long to craft, but they are so colourful and fun that kids will want to play with them once they've been made. Great for boys and girls who love cute monsters.
Little kids love drawing and making notes in notebooks. They could even use these sweet little notebooks as journals. These notebooks come in a set of 12, so they are great value for dividing up into loot bags.
This set of beeswax lip balms comes in eight delicious Jelly Belly jellybean flavours. It's the perfect sweet treat to serve up in loot bags if you don't want to include candy or sweets!
These space notebooks are perfect for boys and girls who love star gazing or dream of becoming an astronaut when they are grown up!! The notebooks come in sets of 12.
What is more fun than a brightly coloured pencil to write with? A BENDY brightly coloured pencil!! There are 24 pencils in this set, so it's perfect for dividing up between loot bags.
Arguably, you could make your candy kebabs if you bought a big batch of soft candy sweets, like this retro box of candy, but if you don't have the time or the inclination, these candy kebabs are perfect for loot bags.
This box set of 30 books is ridiculously good value and a great way to give each party guest a fun book about the crazy capers of Horrid Henry. Gift wrap books with tissue paper for added an extra element of excitement for the kids.
Meg and Mog are modern children's book classics. This set features all the wonderful stories of Meg and her feline sidekick Mog. There are 20 books in the box set.
This huge set of 65 pots of Play-Doh is insanely good value for dividing up. There are smaller sets available, but this one is perfect for larger guest lists or if you want to give each party guests more than one pot of Play-Doh.
All kids go through a stage when they love stickers, so a single sheet of brightly coloured fun stickers will go down well. This is a set of 3D puffy stickers, 800 stickers over 30 sheets. There are animals, fish, dinosaurs, fruits, trucks, aeroplanes and more.
This set of 11 dinosaur-shaped stainless steel cookie cutters can easily be divided up to give each party guest a dino-cookie-cutter.
There are two sheets in every set of these gorgeous wild animal kids' tattoos. Divide up by the sheet or even carefully cut out the individual tattoos.
This set of 48 fab doll-shaped nail polishes is by the British small business brand Beauty4bBritain. It's perfect for dividing up for use as party favours or as party bag fillers.
There are 24 sheets in this set of origami animal shapes. Each sheet is labelled with the stages of the origami process, so it could be divided up between loot bags.
These mini activity colouring books are great for kids and parents to have tucked away for screen-free ways to be occupied. So kids and parents will love finding one of these in a loot bag at a kids' birthday party.
Novelty erasers are both kitsch and useful. There are 30 ice-cream-shaped erasers in this set to divide up. Be careful to only give these to kids over six, who understand that they aren't edible.
If in doubt, go for fillers that are useful - and cute! Pens are always useful and super cute pens are always welcome. This is a set of six pens.
Pencils with erasers are another brilliantly useful loot party bag filler. Just go with something bright and fun, like this set of 24 funky coloured pencils with cute animal erasers.
These little pyramids of Jelly Belly jelly beans are perfect loot bag fillers and much cooler than chucking in a mini packet of Haribo! There are 50 pyramids in the jar.
As if the idea of giving flower seeds isn't gorgeous enough, these little packets of seeds can be personalised with the name of the birthday boy or girl. The packets come in sets of 10 and are great value for loot bags.
TIME TO FILL YOUR LOOT BAGS!
I hope I’ve given you plenty of inspiration and ideas on filling the loot bags for your child’s next birthday party. I understand how time-consuming it can be to research and come up with ideas, so hopefully, this list has helped save you time, brain bandwidth, and money.
I’ve observed that the kids most excited about being given a loot bag are the little ones aged two to seven. Beyond that, I’ve noticed an increasing trend for giving a single party favour instead of a loot bag. Look at my guide to alternatives to party bags for some great party favour ideas.
Luci is the founder of Mums Make Lists. She has written about all aspects of organising family life for ten years. Her main areas of expertise are family finance and budgeting, simplifying housekeeping and family admin and kids’ party planning. Read more.