Though we've tried to highlight some finer picks for goody bags in the past, chances are you might still be receiving a few filled with small plastic toys. Here's what we do with ours:
We figure there's actually strength in numbers with these little toys, so rather than find them scattered throughout our apartment, we quickly grab most of them and put them in a large decorative bowl to be taken out of our closet only on rainy or desperate days. We've got some plastic jewelry, plastic glasses, and tiny bottles of bubbles in ours. Once they're all together, the bowl becomes a small treasure chest that can amuse a little one for quite sometime.
In the San Francisco area Emiko Oye holds workshops for kids and adults called Accessorize with Toys to turn these trinkets into jewelry. What other ideas do you have?
(Image and via: Liberated Spaces)
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I save Happy Meal toys throughout the year and throw them into treat bags on Halloween along with the candy.
back in July, Mnpls Institute of Arts had a fun family day where we created dragonflies and spiders using recycled things. And also re-purposed little toys with playdoh, gems and glue... It was fun for kids as well as adults :)
We do this- it's the prize bowl in our house. My daughter gets stickers on a chart for whatever good behavior we are trying to encourage (these days, it's a sticker for finishing her dinner and a sticker for getting dressed all by herself in the morning.) 5 stickers means she gets to pick a prize from the bowl.
Last year, the "prizes" were doled out for using the potty.
This is a great idea. Thanks!
is it just me or is there a plastic marijuana leaf in that picture?
cracked me up.
We stash ours to put in our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse.
@LBH-seriously the only thing I noticed about this picture...nice little leaf o mary jane on a children's blog. excellent.
@LBH - I think it's actually part of a lego palm tree!
I have a 'rainy day box-o-stuff' I put these types of tchotchkes in. When the occasion arises, I pull out the box.