Toddler Gift-Away Bags
an affordable way to celebrate
I know the technical term is "goodie bag" - but it sounds odd to me, so gift-away it shall be.
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Moving to a new town, state or country comes with obvious changes - for us, one of the big one's is transferring our almost 2-year old daughter from her incredible day care to a new one. If you've ever had to move with kids, you understand the mental battle - you bear a lot of added emotions when thinking of how they are leaving a familiar safe space for something they aren't yet aware of (even if it's good, it can also be hard).
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New friends, new home, new school or day care - it's a lot for a little one (and an adult, not gonna lie).
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One of the things I decided to do to help us as parents and Sequoia with the transition was to put together some gifts for the other kiddos in her class.
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Nothing wild or too out of the box - just simple, realistic gifts that toddlers would actually like.
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When I say realistic, I mean the stuff in the bag are things the child will most likely eat, use or play with. Often times, we as parents will put "goodie bags" together that are exciting, fun and cool, but not entirely age appropriate. For example, Sequoia wasn't able to use playdough at eleven months, throw a toy airplane or eat chocolate candy bars (though, I will say, I as the mom enjoyed it very much).
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What I love most about gift-away bags (specifically when done in bulk like this) is you can make them for any celebratory reason. Birthday? You got it. House warming? Great, got it. Farewell party? These will be a favorite for all.
Toddler Gift-away bags
Neutral Wrapping
Since what's inside of the bag typically runs small, I opted for the small brown gift bags (Target or Dollar Tree) . For the tags, I grabbed some of the white with gold specks, gray with silver triangles, and a few of light blue and blush pink for a pop of color (that still went well with the tissue paper).
For the tissue paper, I grabbed a 20-pack of a mix of three colors: blush pink, navy blue, and mint green. Since there wasn't necessarily a "theme" I just wanted to get some simple, but fun, colors. I also picked up some white tissue paper with gold specks on them for the bags that had the white and gold tags (signed "<3 Sequoia" - we didn't have all the name's of the children in her classroom, so this was a good alternative that still made it personal).
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What's Inside
Here is what we included in each of the bags - one of the following for each:
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Page of Stickers
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You can't go wrong with stickers for kids at this age - try not to get anything too small, they might still be interested in eating anything . I opted for the cat and dog stickers with sunglasses along with one's with donuts (because there is not reason to explain that one)
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Rubber Ball (that lights up!)
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I got this set of 6 with different colors from Target​. Toddlers love to throw and roll things and seeing the effects of gravity (even if they aren't meant to be thrown or to roll). These one's doesn't make any noise, so it's a win for the parent, too!). Like the stickers, don't reach for anything too small (choking hazard), or too big (not easy for smaller hands to grab).
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Clif Kid Z-Bar or Lara Bars
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Maybe it's just me, but it honestly feels like every snack bar for kids either has "cake" or "chocolate" on the label. Even though these brands have flavors with these included (I mean, who doesn't? It's good marketing!) there are healthy and delicious options, too. The Z-Bar and Lara Bars are a couple of our homes' favorites. Z-Bar has an iced oatmeal cookie flavor that is so good, I've definitely snagged a few for myself. When we get a Lara Bars pack, we just get one of the regular boxes, since their ingredients are always clean and there are more options then the one's for kids. And we can rest easy knowing the one's that eat it will be getting some strong nutrients they need to replenish that wild energy.
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​"Hint" Juice Box​
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These are my go-to for Sequoia since they are not the typical juice boxes​. It's really only purified water and natural flavors (depending on the flavor, we always reach for watermelon!). There are zero added sweeteners, which means no added sugar. I don't know what other parents' feed their kiddos, so I want to make sure I reach for the safest option possible while also making it delicious for those with less allergies or restrictions.
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Fuit Snacks
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To each their own, but Annie's is the go-to for fruit snack in this house (along with their bunny grahams and cheese cracker snacks - a must on road trips). However, since they were sold out, we grabbed the Welch's, which has ​no preservatives and I am a fan of that kind of labeling for the little's.
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