I’m starting to realize that part of the culture of children’s birthday parties includes party favors. I think when I was little, I would occasionally go to a birthday party where we could go home with a pencil and some stickers (actually, I distinctly remember getting one of those funky mechanical pencils that was glittery and thinking that it was the greatest party EVER). But I think the bar has been raised a bit, and now parents are left scrambling to find favors that won’t disappoint. I find this very strange, and I hope that I don’t fall into that mindset when Darah gets a little bit older and starts to have birthday parties with guests.

I don’t mind sending kids home with a little something fun, but I’m totally not interested in loading them up with plastic crap (which is what the affordable favors are) or with spending a lot of money just in impress the kids and/or their parents (and also give them anxiety about what they will have to buy for favors when it is their child’s party).

I found an Etsy store that has a PERFECT solution for the favor dilemma. Check out The Chalk Shop! Mel is an awesome mom who runs this store out of her smoke-free home. She started out making art chalk for her 21 month old daughter, and then she learned how to make the chalk in all sorts of different shapes. This makes for unique chalk pieces that are so much fun. They are fun to look at, fun to play with (what kid doesn’t LOVE chalk?), and they are reasonably priced, so that you don’t bust your party budget!

Mel enjoys working with her customers to make the perfect shapes and colors to meet you needs. I actually found the store in February when I was looking for the perfect gift for one of my nieces. At the time she was really into trains and she also liked chalk. Well, The Chalk Shop happened to offer chalk in the shape of trains. PERFECT!!! If you have an idea for a chalk design, send Mel a convo through Etsy and she’ll let you know if she can make it happen! It takes two weeks for custom orders to be shipped, as they need adequate time to dry before shiping.

Mel can also wrap up the chalk into beautiful little packages, which makes them perfect to hand out as favors. They are also gift-ready for any other special occasion!

Buy it!: I highly recommend The Chalk Shop as a go-to resource for party favors and stocking stuffers. Mel can help you come up with something perfect for you at a price that will make you smile! Each piece is just over $1! Hard to beat, I think!

Win it!: Mel sent me a delightful set of flower chalk (3 pieces of chalk, total), beautifully wrapped, for one lucky Stuff Parents Need reader! The contest will run until August 16th at 7:59pm CST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me your thoughts on party favors for kids. Do you provide them for your parties? Are they fun or do they stress you out? Any comment related to the topic will work!

Additional entries:
1. Add The Chalk Shop to your etsy favorites
2. “Like” The Chalk Shop on Facebook
3. Give Mel a suggestion for a chalk shape
4. Subscribe/follow Stuff Parents Need by RSS, email or Google Friend Connect (one extra entry, even if you subscribe multiple ways)
5. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter
6. If you are a blogger (wrote a post in the last 3 months) add my button to your site and leave the url so I can see it.

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my main page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.