Speaking of goody bags..

ArcticFox

I assembled some really nice goody (goodie?) bags for my dd's birthday party.  I spent a lot of time and $ putting them together, and I did it without any candy.  Depending on their age, they got things like a book, book of stickers, bag of playdoh, silly bandz, beads, lacing puzzle, notebook, and more.

The parents got boxes of really nice chocolates shaped like fall leaves and wrapped in a variety of fall color foil - so I figured I'd leave it to their discretion to share the candy with their kids.

My DH's cousin's kid (age 5) looks into the bag and howls "Where's my candy??!!!!!!"

Seriously.. and the mom told her kid to say thanks, but wow.  Something tells me she gets - and eats - a lot of candy. 

jnk062602

Maybe she has just been to other parties where they do have candy in the bags so she was expecting it to be there?  I don't think it is bad not to have candy (esp at your younger dd's age) - but for a 5 year old I'm sure most her age group does have candy in the bag.

Between family and friends, DD went to 6 birthday parties this summer within a few months.  If I even mentioned birthday party she would start being all excited and yelling Cake Cake!  We never ever have cake at our house bc neither of us really like it (I'm much more about cookies, brownies, ice cream).  And even at the parties she never even had a whole piece, she usually split it with me.  But that is what she associated with birthday parties.

Just like this year, she associates halloween with pumpkins.  I'm sure a few years from now it will be all about the candy even if she doesn't eat that much at home.

TinyPinkBug

I don't know, I think it may have been more about the expectation of candy.  Like if the last 5 birthday parties she has been to included treat bags full of candy, she simply expected to see candy when she opened it and was surprised to see something else.  Remember Pavlov's dogs and conditioning?  I could totally see my kids doing something like that even though they don't eat much candy.  You should see the giant bag of candy I have hidden away from when they received candy from various events and parties.  They think if it fun to collect it or what ever, Tyler eats one piece and Brianna taste tests about 20 pieces (never actually consumes it) and then the rest comes home and gets put away.  Makes for a nice offering for TorT'ers on Halloween.

jnk062602

Oh, and I think that is a great goody bag!  She would love all of it.

ArcticFox

I'm just surprised how many goody bags are all candy, and that is the expectation.  Just my own personal thought, it is kind of sad.