Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Drawstring Bags - Which One to Choose

We get asked all the time what is the difference between all the drawstring bags we have on our site since we have over 80 different ones to choose from.  Besides the obvious differences such as with our speciality bags that are shaped like a baseball or football or whatever or our bags that might fold up into themselves the differences all come down to your personal preferences.

Some of the bags are made of Non-Woven Polypropylene which is the same material that you get when you buy one of those reusable grocery bags, these bags are usually less expensive.  Most of the bags are made out of 210 Denier Nylon some are 420 Denier Nylon, the difference being the 420 is a little heavier then the 210.  All these materials work well for this type of bag, what you choose may depend upon what your budget is or what you are using the bag for.  For example if the bag is basically being used for some kind of packaging such as a sweatshirt or to carry home several different items the Non-Woven Polypropylene works great and usually cost less then the Nylon.  None of these bags are meant to be used as a school bag, they are not sturdy enough to carry all the textbooks that students have to carry with them on a daily basis.

The other major diffence with the bags is what little extras they have.  Such as an exterior zippered pocket or an interior pocket, or a mesh pocket for a water bottle or a slot for ear buds.  Whenever you start adding any of the little extras it will raise the pricing somewhat.  But there are enough bags with a large variety of options on our site that you should be able to find just the right bag with just the right options for just the right price.

Drawstring bags are one of the most popular party favors every year for many reasons
- Priced right
- Functional
- Large Imprint Areas
- Long Lasting
- Large Selection to Choose From

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

What To Give As Your Party Favor! - Part 3

Your theme should be reflected in either the item you choose or the imprint you use.  Obviously you wouldn’t want to give out a baseball related item when your theme is the movies.  But you could give a bag for either theme and then incorporate the chosen theme into your artwork.  Your party favor distributor should have many different items with related themes or suggestions for art that relates to your theme.

Where to buy your item should not be taken lightly.  Nowadays your party planner, decorator, photographer, band, florist, invitation person or even your venue might try to sell you your party favor.  They think by the time you get to the party favor you are so tired with the whole process that you will accept whatever they suggest.  Just remember many times the last thing done at a party is the handing out of the party favor, so sometimes that is your last impression to leave your party goers with a great memory of your party.  So don’t settle for these suppliers trying to sell you something because they never have the selection a true party favor distributor can offer you.  On a most sites, you can choose from hundreds of items and on our site we have over a thousand different items to select from.  Don’t let these suppliers whose main business is something else convince you to buy something they want to sell from there limited selection, buy from a legitimate party favor distributor who wants to sell you something you want to buy.  Your party favor distributor should also be able to help you with your art, they should be a one stop site for anything to do with party favors.

Whether you give something to the adults is entirely up to you and your budget.  It certainly has become more popular the past couple of years.  It is usually an unimprinted item versus an imprinted item that is usually given out to the kids.  What we suggest quite often is a place card holder, so it serves a dual purpose.  It is a great way to display your place cards and the adults get a little thank you gift that they can take home and put a photo into.  Your party favor distributor should be able to offer you many different items, such as wine stoppers, coasters, frames, that all are inexpensive but have a much higher perceived value and is a great way to say thank you to the adults.

In conclusion, when you choose your party favor whether it is for the children or the adults, whether it is more expensive or less expensive, whether you are ordering a limit amount or quite a few, make sure the party favor distributor you choose has a large selection at many different price points and can offer you different options for your imprint. 

 

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

What To Give As Your Party Favor! - Part 2

Of course what you choose to hand out sometimes depends on whether your child is celebrating a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.  There are definitely some items that either sex would never give out as their party favor.  Once again we are talking about very status conscious 13 year olds, who have to show their face at school the next week.  Also keep in mind when doing apparel, for example a t-shirt, a good distributor should let you change the color of the shirt, so you could do pink for the girls and blue for the boys.

Where you are located will also sometimes come into play on what you choose to give out.  On our site we offer embroidered beanies or ear bands, this is not an appropriate give for someone in Florida, but is very popular in the northern states.  While beach towels are popular in the south but not as popular in Minnesota.   Of course most items work anywhere, but consider your location before deciding.

Some parties have 150 kids some have 25.  This will definitely have a bearing on what you choose.  Like most items you purchase nowadays the more you buy the better price you can get.  So some items might be cost prohibitive at a small quantity but become much less expensive when you have a larger party.  So make sure you always get a discount when purchasing your party favor when you have more kids attending.  Another thing to remember when having a smaller party is that a lot of items have minimum order amounts, so you might like a bag but the minimum amount might be above the number of attendees you are having.

Monday, October 15, 2012

What To Give As Your Party Favor! - Part 1


What to give as your party favor depends on several variables –

1 – Your budget.

2 – Is it a boy or girl celebrating.

3 – Where are you located.

4 – How many kids are attending.

5 – What is your theme.

6 – Where to buy it.

7 – Do you have to give something to the adults.

 

Your budget is your budget, spend what you are comfortable spending.  For example beach towels, are a great gift, but depending on how you decorate the towel it can get a little pricy.  But don’t make the mistake of choosing your end of the night giveaway solely on cost.  We have so many parents contact us and the first thing they say is “this is my third bar mitzvah, I just want something cheap”.  You can get something less expensive but still have some usefulness to your child’s friends.  Why even buy something cheap just for the sake of giving something out at the end of the night that will be thrown out the next morning.  A good party favor distributor should have a large selection of bags and other items that are less expensive, but with the proper decoration would still be appreciated by your child’s friends.  Of course if you really are on a tight budget, think about doing a white t-shirt with a one color imprint, inexpensive and who can’t use another t-shirt, whether it is to sleep in or play sports in.

Friday, September 21, 2012

What to Imprint on your Favor - Part 4


Once you finally decided on what to imprint on your party favor, take it to the next level and utilize that imprint on your cocktail napkins as well.  It’s a nice touch that will make your cocktail hour even more special and is relatively inexpensive.

 

So to summarize:

1 – Be subtle.

2 – Don’t ever imprint you child’s first and last name.

3 – Always try to use numbers for the date, don’t write it out.

4 – Never use your child’s picture on your imprint.

5 – Try to keep the number of colors you use in any art work down to save money.

6 – Don’t imprint something because you think it is cute, in most cases the kids won’t think so and your item won’t be used.

7 – Bigger is not always better when deciding on the size of your imprint.

8 – Utilize your imprint on your cocktail napkins.

9 – Remember these are 13 year old kids and not looking like a nerd is very important to them.

 

Thursday, August 9, 2012

What to Imprint on your Favor - Part 3


The imprint is just as important as what the item you select is. We recently had someone order beach towels, which is a great party favor especially where they were located and especially since summer was right around the corner. They then imprinted “I (image of a heart) Mark” on the towel. They took a great item that definitely would have been used and made it in to something that will hardly ever be used. Can you imagine a boy lying on the beach with a towel with that design imprinted on it. Before you decide what to imprint, ask your 13 year old, if they received this as a party favor with someone else’s name in the imprint would they use it, if they say no, don’t do it.

Size also matters when doing your imprint. On some items it is always better to go for the subtle look rather then the maximized imprint. For example if you were doing a mug there is nothing wrong with making the imprint as big as possible, of course you are limited by the size of the mug, but this is an item where I would maximize the imprint. But on the other hand there are some bags with 8” x 8’ imprint areas if not bigger, if you were to maximize the size on the imprint we suggested above, it would be overkill and probably once again would be something that a 13 year wouldn’t use.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

What to imprint on your favor - Part 2


There is nothing wrong with adding some art work to the image, but once again, remember these are very status conscious 13 year old kids, who won’t use anything that makes them look anything but cool.  A reliable party favor specialist should be able to have their graphic artist create something that is subtle, yet interesting enough to appeal to the 13 year old mind.  The absolute worst thing you can do is put a picture of your child on a party favor.  No one will use it and the chances are that if anyone does use it, it will be because they have drawn a mustache or beard on the picture and they think it is funny.  Not exactly how you want you child’s special day to be remembered. 

Another thing to keep in mind when imprinting is the more colors you use the more expensive the item will be.  The image may look really cool in 5 colors but the cost could get prohibitive.  Again a reliable party favor specialist should be able to create something using only one color, some halftones plus incorporating the color of the item into the design that will make it feel like more then one color but not add to your bottom line.