Luxury Party Bags and Party Bag Fillers for Children

Every day is a delight to be working with my husband Terry, he is a ball of energy and because he does the majority of administrative jobs (and make the tea) it allows me to get on with what I really love doing, the creative design and making of the luxury party bags, backpacks or swim bags and bunting. Every fabric party bag, swim bag or bunting I make and sell is hand made in the UK.

I am an ecologist at heart (by conviction and it was my degree a very long time ago now) so everything I do is to make an Eco party easy – no plastic land fill, just lots of quality ready made eco party bags – reusable fabric party bags that will find 100 uses or eco-friendly, compostable luxury paper party bags.

My workplace is my home and in particular my kitchen. You can see from the photos that I work on my kitchen table which doubles up as a work bench. 

Ready for a days work

My favourite job - making fabric party bags

The end of a day

Packed with care

Your parcels are packed with great care (in eco-friendly packaging of course).  If you select fabric party bags or filled party bags they will be carefully pressed before dispatch (by the delightful Terry who has 32 years army experience so is a mean iron-er) and all our parcels are packaged so they arrive in perfect condition for you to open the box and give them straight to your guests.

Spring has been a delight since it has warmed up and inspired me to find some new fabrics for older girls. New to the fabric party range are a rose luxury party bag, flip flop luxury party bag, tropical fish fabric party bag and a girly luxury bag party bag covered in handbags and hats.

Our luxury filled party bag range has expanded too, the cute owl luxury party bag is now home to an even cuter owl party bag fillers. There are 2 new princess luxury filled party bags, new dinosaur filled party bags and coming soon will be a girly luxury filled bag (with crystal tattoos, sequin key rings and more).

Personalised bunting is new too and is flying out of the doors.  It can be made in a variety of exciting fabrics with the letters of your child’s name hand sewn on.

Ready for shipping

Completely new and unique are the cute and quite adorable 'Thank you for coming to my party' party bag tags to thank your guests for sharing your celebrations. The gift tags are bigger than the average business card size on high quality gloss card, professionally printed and designed by Carla Boulton graphic designer and artist. Designs include a butterfly, bird, cupcake or dinosaur gift tag.

There is plenty of space to write a name so they can be used on the table as place settings, simply popped into your party bags as an extra gift or attach them with the pink or blue ribbon to your party bags or gift boxes to add that extra special touch. Each gift tag has a cute motif on the front and space for you to write your guests name and on the back is the writing 'Thank you for coming to my party' with space for the host to sign each card if preferred. And even better.....after the party is over the tag can be reused as a bookmark.

The summer opens up a whole new set of themes for parties so look out for new butterfly party bags and adventure party bags to match those outdoor activity parties.

And straight off the press: I am also really excited about a new range of personalised swim bags and fabric party bags that I am developing. Watch this space!

Lootybag is two years old on the 5^th April what another year it has been. Thank you so much for your support, custom and inspiration during this time.

This family business in Shropshire UK was born from the desire to provide eco friendly party supplies for my own child’s birthday party and from then on such was the demand for handmade fabric luxury party bags I began making and selling them to friends, family and now customers all over the world through our online shop www.lootybag.co.uk

We design, make and source products that offer a real alternative to plastic, but that do not cost the earth (either monetarily or environmentally!) You will find beautiful items that are durable and either reusable, recycled or recyclable, with no resulting toxic landfill. For example our sustainably forested beech wood wooden cutlery offers the convenience of disposable party ware but can be composted and biodegrades in about the same time it takes an oak leaf.

Shopping for luxury party bags and party bag fillers is a time consuming affair and can be stressful. But this can avoided by letting us do it for you with the confidence of a convenient, flexible and personal service.

Every parent is a superhero, but we all have our moments when the to-do list gets so long that some things only get to the top in the nick of time. Same day dispatch and guaranteed next day delivery are services we offer to ensure your excellent quality fabric party bags and eco party fillers arrive on time and ready to hand out to your guests to thank them for celebrating your special occasion. We place great emphasis on outstanding customer service by being honest, open, friendly and efficient.

As a result of customer feedback, bespoke requests and discussion we have added to our range of luxury fabric party bags including new colourful pirate party bags with handles for our younger customers and a sophisticated, understated pale blue flower luxury party bag for all those “no-pink” girls.

Once again, thank you for your support and inspiration and we look forward to being here for you in the coming years.

If your children have been to a party recently they are sure to have come home with a party bag since party bags are cool these days. In fact no child’s party would be complete without one. Such is the importance of a party bag you can now buy handmade fabric party bags and even luxury filled party bags ready to go with quality and fun gifts. It really doesn't have to be a plastic bag full of cheap plastic toys and lots of sweets and often a filled party bag is great value.  A few carefully chosen, quality items, and little less sugar will be appreciated by both your young guests and their parents!.

Luxury party bags are a gift in themselves. Lootybag offer a full range for toddlers, boys and girls and will ,if required, make them specially for you in different sizes, designs, colours and prints. In fact you can buy luxury party bags in almost any design and theme you want.

If you are planning a party soon it would pay to get organised. I know from experience that throughout November and December  finding anything anything for birthday parties, or even birthday cards is almost impossible because of the flood of Christmas gifts, decorations and cards etc.

So what would you expect to find in your luxury filled party bags to go? You can get pencils, notepads, stickers, tattoos, yo-yos, purses, compasses, wooden puzzles and more, all in different themes and ideal for boys and girls and some with a discount of up to 14%. There lots and lots of ideas and if a ready filled luxury party bag is not quite right you can choose your own items and if you want Lootybag will pack them for you ready to hand out. Same day dispatch and next day delivery, along with expert customer service take all the party organising stress away from you, freeing you to smile and host.

So to save you time and money have a look at Lootybag’s luxury filled party bags to go.

You can even buy luxury party bags for for adults as well, so if you are organising a hen night, stag party or wedding and want to give your guests a luxury party bag as a gift or wedding favour then you can be sure to find them at Lootybag, or alternatively I can make something designed especially for you.

Made for any occasion, handmade luxury party bags add a touch of luxury to any celebration. Delight and impress your guests and leave them amazed at how much thought and effort went into organising your party with an eco fabric party bag that can be used long after the party is over.

Temperatures dropping, even more rain than in "Summer" (did we have one of those this year?) and leaves turning colour are a sure sign that Autumn is upon us. I say great, nothing like that fresh air experience when you stride out on a walk, and frosts do look so pretty!

That warm Christmas feeling seems to be coming on early this year. Lots of new party bag fillers for children,  advent calendar gifts and little wooden toys and gifts to fill your stockings.  Many of our smaller party bag fillers are great to fill the little boxes or pockets of an advent calendar too . Some ideas are:

Christmas wooden slide whistles

Bouncy putty - a great little packet of laughter that will fit into almost every advent calendar

Meanwhile I'm busy making Christmas stockings, Santa sacks, wine bottle gift bags and Christmas gift bags not just for our website www.lootybag.co.uk but for the very talented Bethemed Designs who seems to be supplying the whole of Scotland with beautifully hand painted and personalised fabric party bags, cushions, bunting, backpacks, Christmas stockings and Santa sacks. You can take a look at these on her website www.bethemeddesigns.co.uk or if you live in Glasgow why not pop along to see them for yourself at one of her events also listed on her website.

In our household our eight year old daughter is determined to turn our thoughts to Halloween (and her costume in particular!) and if you are holding a Halloween party or just want to decorate the house in preparation for the trick and treaters take a look at our Halloween ideas like ghoulish skull and cross bone  fabric luxury party bags and bunting, teamed with Halloween gifts and goodies.

We now have even more choice of luxury filled party bags to go  - saving you precious time and money. There is even something for the action hero outdoor adventurer with this super outdoor adventurer luxury filled party bag - perfect for forest school parties. Not forgetting the very young, delight your toddler with a luxury filled party bag gift set designed specially for them. Choose from an animal set of  fabric party bag and with either a lion, elephant or giraffe pull along toy or a farm animal set with a luxury filled party bag and a lovely wooden square block puzzle with six farm theme pictures. These delightful luxury filled party bags to go are filled for you, ready to just hand to your guests.

I'm writing this while I sip my cup of tea in my office with the rain battering my window. It's not very nice, but we all know what’s around the corner and that reminds me… of Christmas. Ah that warm feeling again.

We are so excited to launch a new range of personalised party bags.

You have told us how important it is to have a really good quality party bag and recognise that finding them and organising them is not as simple as it seems and having been asked so many times if we make personalised party bags, we decided to do something about it. Having found the very talented Beth from Bethemed Designs we have got together to produce a fantastic collection of unique fabric luxury personalised party bag designs for you and your guests.

All our personalised party bags are handmade by Lootybag from 100% cotton and designed and painted by Bethemed Designs using modern designs and creations using fabric paints to create your fabulous personalised party bag.

Each personalised party bag comes in a range for boys and girls with themes of knight, pirates, fairy princess and garden – enblazened with flowers, ladybirds and butterflies each with your child’s name on the party bag. Priced at £4.99 they are fantastic value for money.

These personalised party bags will add even more luxury to your party or event, and will make your guests feel very special. They would also make lovely gift bags or wedding activity bags for children. And eco friendly too!

We have also been busy increasing the range of luxury party bags and luxury filled party bags and gift sets. To name but a few there new drawstring football party bags, dinosaur fabric luxury party bags with handles, princess gift set and farm luxury filled party bags.

We know that children love prizes at parties and party bag fillers are great for this. Here at Lootybag we have carefully selected quality, traditional eco party bag fillers and toys for you that last long after the party and at affordable prices. And with Christmas around the corner our kids party bag fillers, toys and gifts make delightful Christmas stocking fillers too!

Look out for a new range of handmade personalised drawstring backpacks, waterproof backpacks, swim bags, gym bags or school bags and fabric bunting in assorted themes which will be launched very soon.

Lootybag’s Anniversary in this Olympic Year

Happy Birthday to us! Lootybag is one year old this month and what a year it has been. Thank you so much for your support, custom and inspiration during this first year.

Spring at last - I love this time of year, the days are longer and the evenings are getting lighter. I get so much joy from the warmth of the sun and the life that it brings to our garden - budding plants, birds and wildlife. As I write our resident blackbird pair are busy, busy, busy, making the most of the tasty worms roused by a recent rain shower. Mrs Blackbird is a bizarre specimen with a sort of skirt of dangly feathers, but it doesn’t seem to bother her, and she and her sleek black hubby raised a family very successfully last year so looking forward to more feathery babies this summer.

The extra hours of daylight has meant that the craft stall season is upon us once more and already Lootybag has been to Much Wenlock, Shrewsbury and Ludlow with many more to follow. We so love running the stall as we get chat to people, rather than be slave to the email, and invariably come home exhausted but bursting with ideas.

You have probably noticed the 2012 Olympic games are in London this year, 27 August – 12 July, and Much Wenlockin Shropshire is the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games. It is very much an unsung gem of a place – a really vibrant little rural market time that bucks the trend and has a high street with independent shops and really busy weekend markets. The many speciality markets and events, such as the Roots and Shoots Festival at harvest time are real family events and packed out with locals and visitors from further afield. Because of the Olympic connection there is a real buzz and pride about the little town this year. We are delighted that we can be part of it and will have a craft stall under the Guildhall right in the centre of town on Saturday 21 April, 30 June, 14 July, 28 July and 4 August 2012.

A visit to Much Wenlock is recommend for lots to do and see including the Museum, Pottery, Priory and visitor information centre which has been refurbished with financial assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Shropshire Council. The new displays tell the story of the history of the town, the links between Dr. William Penny Brookes and the Olympic Games and priory and the geology of Wenlock Edge.

Bespoke orders have again been popular, in particular penguin themes. I made these penguin fabric party bags  for a customer in Kent for her little girl's birthday. She says they produced an amazed "wow" from her daughter!

I have also been donating some time and skill to The Hive Music and media centre of Shrewsbury making bunting for their community street party on the 7th May 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. The Hive is a registered charity and independent arts organisation, and has a growing reputation as a vibrant venue for arts and culture in Shropshire. This promises to be huge and popular event. They have collected an enormous sack of donated fabrics so the resulting bunting promises to be a bit whacky and certainly colourful. No staid, predictable red, white and blue for the Hive!

As a result of customer feedback and discussion I have added to our range lots of new luxury fabric party bags including beautiful butterflies,

a unisex multi coloured spot (great for unisex parties or if you have a clown entertainer)

monster/aliens and pink chick deluxe fabric party bag (can’t think of any more).

All of our fabric party bags are also now stocked by Lindsay Archer who runs Earth Spirit (aromatherapy) stall in the market hall in Shrewsbury. They look fabulous in her delightful shop. So excited about this.

In addition, a unisex readymade pass the parcel has been created.  We have added a range of luxury filled party bagswith ever popular themes such as pirate and fairy/princess and party bag starter sets. Both our filled party bags and starter sets currently have an introductory offer of a 10% saving compared to buying the items individually, giving your guests a fantastic party bag to remember at a great price.

No doubt you've heard of Pinterestby now. We love it, so we have set up a Lootybag board for customers to “pin” pictures on. You can pin anything you like on there. We never cease to be amazed at the uses found for our durable little bags after the party goodies inside have been eaten. Boys seem particularly keen on reusing them for anything from “special agent kits”, Bakugan collections and carrying the inevitable Moshlings (do your Moshies get left on the bathroom floor waiting in ambush to tip you on your back as you step on the ugly little things in the dark? ..or is it just my delightful kids who do that!) I even hear some miniature drawstring party bags I made bespoke as wedding favours last year are fantastic for storing fishing weights in!
So…if you have used or are using a Lootybag I would be very grateful if you would “pin” a photograph of it to this board.

Once again, thank you for your support and inspiration and we look forward to being here for you in the coming years.

A belated Happy New Year to all! Unless you are one of the absolutely steadfast ones, unlike me, any resolutions are either forgotten or broken by now. Ah, never mind there is always next year!

Lootybag has now been around for just over 6 months and what a busy time that has been. In 2011 we managed to attend over 20 craft fairs, agricultural shows and markets, The great part of craft fairs is meeting so many people who are interested in our handmade fabric party bags and eco friendly products and tell us what they think of them and how we can improve. Some examples are:

A request for slightly taller drawstring fabric party bags– so we have adjusted the size of all our standard bags.

Farm animal themed fabric party bags – introduced last week.

A smaller backpack for a nursery age child – a range of small rucksacks is now available

Readymade pass the parcel - introduced for boys, girls and a unisex one, all containing our eco-friendly, durable small gifts.  These have been a big hit with customers.

Bespoke orders are often wonderful challenges and spark off ideas for new products. Looking forward to the rest of 2012 what can you look forward to from Lootybag?  Lots of new fabric party bags for a start – beautiful butterflies, a unisex multi coloured spot and Aliens to name a few.  All these will be available on our website in the next couple of weeks (quicker if my family will stop being ill with winter bugs!).  I am still searching for the much requested knight theme fabric and something for all those mermaid parties little girls are asking for. Plus of course a replacement for the much loved ballet fairy fabric which is no longer available.  But watch this space - I will find them! And later in the year a much expanded Christmas range including Holly Christmas tree skirts (a popular bespoke make this year) and cream and gold reindeer table cloth as well as more Christmas gift bags.

We have already booked craft fairs at Ludlow, Much Wenlock, Maesbury and Shrewsbury for this year with much more to come. Can’t wait! If you are in Shropshire I hope to meet you at one of them.

Lootybag as always been about being eco friendly and we continue this into the new year by introducing natural latex balloons which are biodegradable and we continue to expand the choice of party bag fillers to make your goody bags unforgettable.

Do keep an eye on the website as we have some new products on the drawing board and remember that we will be holding competitions or giveaways on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/lootybag . In fact we are currently giving away £20 worth of standard fabric party bags from the website. Please visit our facebook page for details.

We hope you enjoy what remains of the winter months and manage to get out and about and enjoy what our beautiful planet has to offer.

Hello to all my crafting friends at Handmade Monday - thank you so much for your support over the past few months, when I have had some difficult times. Follow the ling to read some inspiring blogs.

Time waits for no man or woman! I can’t believe where it goes. I have been busy, busy, busy making Christmas fabric gift bags and bottle gift bags, even a bespoke Christmas tree skirt as well as fulfilling our online shop orders. I love bespoke orders – they are so exciting and you have such fabulous ideas.  I recently made a bundle of drawstring goodie bags in ever increasing sizes, to be used as pass the parcels.  No more frantic, fiddly wrapping at midnight the night before the party for that clever mum.  With her own children, her sister’s kids and close friends they had worked out the set would be used at least 15 times a year for many years to come.  Oh how I wish I had thought of that when mine were toddlers!

In addition, I have attended Christmas craft fayres at Pontesbury, Welti Health & Fitness gym, Concorde College, Shrewsbury Wildlife Trust Centre, Much Wenlock and Shrewsbury High School.  All were great events and I have so many ideas swimming around in my head after chatting which such enthusiastic and creative customers. We have a whole new stock of eco-friendly small toys and I am so glad customers love them as much as we do.

Life was bundling along when sadly in November we learned that our nephew LCpl Richard Scanlon, serving with the QDG was killed on operations in Afghanistan by an IED mine. He was repatriated on 23rd November and will be laid to rest with full military honours on Saturday 10^th December 2011. Our thoughts and love are with his Mum and Dad and close family - may he rest in peace.

I am planning to increase the range of the handmade bunting, fabric party bags, party favours and kids birthday party stuff so it is even easier for you to have an eco party. Today, the 120 metres of new wonderful fabric I have ordered arrived – I am so excited. The new fabric will fulfil the many requests I have had for different party themes including animal/farm, unisex multicoloured spots and butterflies, giving Lootybag customers a wider range of choice. If anyone out there knows of a fabric printed with knights or castles I would love to know. It is a frequently requested theme for which I have not been able to find anything suitable. One desperate lady imported 3 yards of knight fabric all the way from USA (incurring vast shipping costs!) to be made into party bags for her little boys party.

Also, in line with our eco party theme, we have stocked a wider selection of amazing party bag fillers and baby gifts, from traditional wooden block puzzles to eco-chum soft toys.

The season of good will and Peace on Earth is upon us once again (although I have to admit, it feels as though it’s appeared out of nowhere this year!) and with it, naturally comes a seemingly endless string of parties, nativity plays, school concerts and celebrations to attend. Am I the only one who feels like they are careering around like a madman at this time, wishing I had at least started my Christmas shopping?

If I don’t hear from you before I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We went to a fabulous family day at Shropshire Wildlife Trust this weekend.  They had an absolutely brilliant art activity making hedgehogs that kids from 2 to about 10 were all really enjoying.  I thought I would share it with you, as it is perfect for those bored half term moments, particularly if the weather is not great.

Here is a photo of the finished product my 7 year old made.

You will need:

A small box (cereal carton or similar)

A piece of stiff card, a little longer than the box .

Pine cones.

Clay, plasticine or play doh, preferably in brownish colour (that yucky sludgy colour you get if all the olours get mixed together is just perfect!)

Dry leaves and twigs.

Glue

For the hedgehog:  Make a little cone of clay for the head and push it onto the pointy end of the pine cone.  Poke 2 small holes for eyes with a pencil.

For their nest: Cut a window in the side of the box, leaving an edge at least 1 cm wide all the way round.  The box can be painted if you are feeling particularly brave.  Cut the stiff card into a strip that is narrow enough to fit in the box.  Fold the ends down to make legs.  Slip into the box to make a sort of shelf.  Fill under the shelf with twigs. Glue leaves onto the shelf and inside the back of the box. The pinecone hedgehogs can then either be glued in, or left free to play with in their "nest".

We have been ordering all sorts of new exciting products recently, both to extend our party bag ranges and specifically to introduce ranges for babies and toddlers, like the little recovery truck shown left which is suitable from 12 months.  We also have some Christmas stocking fillers. These wooden Christmas slide whistles are just gorgeous aren't they?  I received my Christmas fabrics this week - I cannot wait to get creative with it. Their delivery coincided with us reorganising and relocating our stock storage.  For a couple of days our home became a cardboard box obstacle course.  Wednesday was school Harvest Festival and the delivery due that day thankfully arrived in time to let us attend, but only just.  We literally dumped the boxes in the hall and ran for the door.  Getting back in was quite amusing.

Harvest festival got me thinking.  Although I am not particularly religious it did make me think about stopping for a while and being thankful for what we do have, rather than in the constant pursuit of what we do not have.

We are very excited to have joined together in a sort of co-op with a group of fellow small businesses across the UK who produce high quality handmade products like us.  The brainchild of Gill Oglesby, who makes some simply stunning jewellery, we support each other by advertising and showcasing each others products, and by each member sending their customers exclusive offers valid across the whole group.  Gill has launched an energetic facebook and twitter campaign and we are all part of an online and leaflet campaign.  Just click on the Hello Handmade banner to access exclusive offers for us and our partners.  It has only been going a few days and has already generated us two large orders.  By sharing the advertising it saves us all both cost and effort - allowing us to get on with what we do best - making our products.

You can link with all members via facebook

Hello to all at Handmade Monday, a fab group of handmade blogs, and thanks to everyone who took the time to reply, twitter or email me with how much you enjoyed my recipe for chocolate beetroot brownie.  A lot of lucky kids were treated to some fab home baking last week and none of them though for one minute there might be VEGETABLES (Yuck) in it.  Just a few may be convinced that there are yummy things you can make with ugly muddy things from the garden.