Drugstore Divas received the items for this post for review. Additional items, plus all thoughts and opinions, belong to Drugstore Divas.
If you follow along on Drugstore Divas’ Instagram, you’ve been seeing photos of my trip to Japan. They’re all latergrams, posted three weeks later than their actual date, mostly because I didn’t think posting photos when I was in Japan was the smartest idea.
We went to Japan as a huge family vacation to celebrate my grandma’s upcoming 94th birthday. When we were there, we threw a huge party for her … at an Italian restaurant. Oh, when we found out the setting, we laughed and laughed. We brought my Italian husband all the way to Japan to serve him Italian food. Planning the party venue and menu was our family friend in Japan’s job; planning the goody bags was our job.
We decided on a bunch of candy from Oriental Trading. I wanted to pick items that were more “American” and that I didn’t recall ever seeing in Japan before. We went with Cotton Candy Pop Rocks and Warheads Sour Dippin’ Pucker Packs. We also added Smarties because once upon a time my grandma told me that was her favorite candy (although if she remembers that is a mystery). I also wanted to get something a little special, so we personalized lollipops. We got Personalized “Happy Birthday” Swirl Pops personalized with 94th and Personalized Lime Green Monogram Swirl Pops personalized with M (the first letter of my grandma’s name in both English and Japanese).
I wanted a few fun things too. I got the Neon Smile Face Stress Balls with Hair and Festive Blowouts.
We packed everything in an extra suitcase (thank goodness you’re allowed two per person on an international flight). The morning of the party, we met in my parents’ hotel room to dump all the candy on their bed and create an assembly line for the bags. Each bag got candy, a stress ball, and then a tie. We stuck a pair of lollipops in the top then affixed a Happy Birthday sticker to the front of the bag.
We packed them all with us and headed to the party. Luckily, the restaurant had a large wicker basket I used to set them all out. At the end of the party, I handed one bag to every party guest. People were so shocked to get a goody bag. No one was expecting them, and that made it so much better.
We did have a little candy left over so we enjoyed it in my grandma’s hotel room after the party. Well, I enjoyed it most of all I think. Why? Oh, it went something like this.
Me: “Open wide grandma. Try this candy from the party.”
She, trustingly, opened her mouth. And the next thing you know, I’m hysterically laughing because I can hear the Pop Rocks popping in her mouth. And her sister was laughing. And then my grandma was laughing and asking me for a bag to give her sister to try.
There’s not much that tops that.
Oriental Trading has a ton of items for your party and your goody bags. The items are inexpensive but not cheap, which is my favorite kind of favor. If you were filling these bags, what Oriental Trading items would you add?