Party Plates

For every party, you must decide whether you are going to use plates you have on hand (or can borrow), or plastic or paper plates. Some of the paper plates out there are simply beautiful. I’ve been adding paper tableware to the IBY site and keep thinking, “I want that one, and that one, and that one. My grandsons would like this one. This would be cute for a baby shower…”

When my kids were young, getting special party tableware to match the party theme was always fun. Sometimes we did large plates for the meal portion, small plates for the cake and ice cream portion, large & small napkins and cups for both. The few left over supplies we had were always fun reminders of the special occasion until they ran out – though I’ll admit the cake usually ran out first…

For small adult parties, I have glass party sets handed down to me from my mother-in-law. You know, the kind that have a place to set the cup that can either hold a hot or cold drink. (I don’t get them out any other time.) Or I might use my china, or other special plates, with my goblets. But if my party is too big for that, I like buying some pretty paper plates and napkins. For my youngest daughter’s graduation party, we simply used the school colors for solid color plates and napkins.

If at all possible, I prefer not to use plastic-ware for forks, spoons and knives, but when I do, I like buying the sturdy ones that don’t break easily. Click here to read more!

The goody bag

I remember the days of looking for inexpensive ideas to fill goody bags for my children’s birthday parties. I wish I’d had so many internet choices as we do now. One of my favorite places to shop these days is the Jungle Store. And I found out they had a whole goody bag section! So if you want some animal themed items check them out.

A good place to go in person is dollar stores and dollar sections in stores like Target.

Sometimes though instead of a good bag per se, it’s fun to do a craft project together and each child gets to take their craft home. Here are some fun ideas from Arsa Toys.

For Girls
-Bracelet Kit for $15 by Fashion Angels - Wrist Pix
-Fashion Angels has a jewelry kit to make all kinds of fun jewelry - Bead Party! Jewelry Workshop

For Boys
-Fast Car Race Cars Pull Back kit - only 3 cars come in this set for $15 – but what a cool project.

For Either
-When I was a kid we only got to do spin art at the county fair, but you can have your own machine for only 20 bucks! My Art Spinner - Alex
-Mask making using a small paper plate – adults may want to cut the eye holes – but then use miscellaneous craft items to decorate. If you need a good supply of craft material – check this out: Giant Art Jar - Alex
-Makit and Bakit Sparkling Decorations
-Foam Craft Workshop- Scratch Art

Some of the birthday invitations that have been ordered quite a bit lately on our site are related to science experiments--another fun activity at a party. I think this one is my favorite: Mad Scientist, but this one is fun, too: Slime Time Click here to read more!

New products

We are so excited about new cards we’re adding to our site. See New Arrivals for a sampling. Whether you are looking for birthday, wedding, baby, holiday, engagement or graduation cards—something new has been added in each category. And, we’re in the process of adding more!

Plus soon we will have tableware – plates, cups, napkins, tablecloths. I’ve been picking out designs and am very pleased with the variety of choices our vendor is providing. We’ll let you know when they are up on our website. Click here to read more!