Tired of filling your child’s birthday goody bags with cheap trinkets? These are the goody bags that will make everyone happy!
It’s birthday party time again. That means the after the presents, the two most important things to take care of are the birthday cake and the goody bags. Yes, the dreaded goody bags that every kid loves and every mom hates! I’ve been guilty of it. I’ve filled bags with cheap trinkets that either break right away or get stepped on for days until mom can’t take it anymore and tosses them when the kids are asleep.
A friend of mine came up with a great idea and put cake pops in all her goody bags. I did that for a couple years and the kids loved it, but I usually spend so much time on the cake that I don’t have time to make cake pops too. Last year I caved and went back to the trinkets but I was determined not to do that this year. I wanted to make something edible but with my daughter’s request for a Shopkins cake, I knew I wouldn’t have time for cake pops again.
That’s when I got the idea for candy covered pretzels. I love making these! They’re easy, cute and delicious…fulfilling all my requirements. Since I’m stocked up on sprinkles and have all the colors of the rainbow when it comes to candy melts, all I needed was the pretzels. That makes them inexpensive too, definitely an added bonus!
There really are only a few steps when it comes to making these. You’re really going to love how easy it is!
Melt the candy
This can be done in the microwave or on the stove. I usually do it on the stove. Since I don’t have a double boiler, I just use a saucepan instead. I fill the saucepan with an inch or so of water, place a bowl on top and melt the candy in the bowl, stirring frequently until it’s smooth. Sometimes I even mix colors to get just the color I want. In this case, I was running low on purple so I just added some white and I had plenty to make a lighter shade.
Dip the pretzels
You can actually buy special containers meant for dipping pretzels but I usually just use a tall skinny glass. Dip the pretzel in, turn the glass slightly on it’s side and spin it around until it’s coated evenly on all sides.
Add sprinkles
Once your pretzel has a yummy layer of candy, it’s time to add some sprinkles.
Decorate bags (optional)
Since we had a Shopkins theme, I bought plain goody bags so that I could decorate them with Shopkins faces. I actually enlisted Ashling’s help and after I drew the faces, she colored in the eyes. She loved decorating her own bags and loved that it was one less thing for me to do!
Fill the bags
We added four pretzel sticks to each bag and the birthday goody bags were ready to go.
It seems like we’re always on-the-go so I loved being able to make these so easily without taking up a lot of time. I’m a little obsessed with candy melts anyway so this gave me yet another excuse to pull them out of the pantry! The best part was that we had a few bags left over (you ALWAYS have to make extra) so my girls brought them to school as Halloween gifts for their teachers.
What are your favorite goody bag items? Do you like to go with edible treats or stick with toys?
Want more birthday party ideas?
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