Special Ideas for Goody Bags for 10-Year-Olds

If you've handed out enough dime store toys and tooth-rotting candy to last a lifetime, let your kiddo's 10th birthday goody bags make a memorable impression on your party guests. Use the party theme or your youngster's favorite things as ideas or combine an activity with a party favor to let the kids take home a unique gift.

Give your child's birthday guests a personalized goody to remember the party. Pick up ordinary photo frames and have the kids decorate them at the party. Insert a picture of the birthday group before the end of the party

At Christmas, have the group decorate photo ornaments. Give each guest a copy of your child's favorite chapter book, or give each guest a book from her favorite series.

Alternatively, create a storybook, starring all the guests. Include an inexpensive notebook in each bag to encourage a group of aspiring young authors.

If you have a group of jewelry lovers, pick up friendship bracelet kits for the party. Have each guest pull another guest's name from a hat and have the group make bracelets for each other. Add an extra kit to the goody bag for the guest to make at home.

Introduce your party group to gardening in the springtime with small flower pots that the kids can decorate at the party. Afterward, fill each one with 10 easy-to-grow fruit, vegetable or flower seeds.

Add planting instructions and a small garden shovel, too. In the winter, help the group stay warm and toasty by sending them home with a mug filled with packets of instant cocoa and mini marshmallows. If Christmas is near, let the kids decorate stockings instead to fill with 10 candy canes and an engraved ornament with your child's name and birthday.

When you're celebrating in the summer, have the party group decorate beach totes or towels, or personalize them ahead of time with each guest's name and your child's name and birthday. In autumn, give each guest an age-appropriate science experiment to reignite their interest in school or make custom trick-or-treat bags for your child's guests.

Surprise your party group with a tasty treat without filling them up with candy. Make cookies with frosting images of the birthday child, or cut the cookie dough into the shapes 1 and 0 before baking.

Create a cookie bouquet for each guest, decorated with bright colored royal icing. Wrap each cookie in cellophane wrap and tie a bunch of 10 together with ribbon. For a sporty birthday child, give each of his guest a tray full of 10 cookies cut into shapes, such as footballs and hockey sticks, and jerseys with the number 10 written with an icing pen.

Alternatively, if the kids have had their fill of goodies at the party, fill a small gift bag with cookie cutters and enough lollipop sticks, cellophane wrap and ribbon to make a bouquet of 10 cookies at home.

Ask the parents before the party if any of the children have food allergies or sensitivities.

Let your child's guests help choose what goodies they'll bring home by creating a favor bar based on the theme of the party. If you're celebrating with a group of beauty fanatics, create a favor bar of emery boards, nail lacquers, lipsticks and lip glosses, hair accessories, fashion bracelets, compact mirrors and makeup pouches.

If it's within your budget, let each guest choose 10 items to commemorate your youngster's 10th birthday. For art lovers, fill the bowls and boxes with stencils, sketching pads, pencil crayons, paints and stamps. Create a sports lover's favor bar with trading cards, baseballs, foam fingers, hockey pucks and water bottles.