His 5th birthday was Elmo. One side was red felt. I painted elmo's face on it. I chose red so that I just needed to outline Elmo's face, and paint the nose and eyes. The other side of the bag was gray fake fur with large google eyes glued to it.
His 6th birthday was a soccer theme. I used white felt (which I bought by the yard). I found a silhouette of a soccer player kicking a ball, and I printed it out and used it as my stencil. I also did the same for a large soccer ball. So one side ow the soccer player and the other side was a large soccer ball. I used a lot of black paint. I also found some glow in the dark paint that I used to highlight the soccer player's clothes, make action lines, and write the child's name on the bag.
I painted the child's name on their bag for a few years. Now I attach a name tag to the handles so that the name can be removed and the bag can be passed on to someone else (kids get older and grow out of things). I would cut a tag out of felt using my die-cut machine, paint the child's name on it, and attach it to the handle before I sewed it on.
His 7th birthday was at a mini golf course. I started with a green piece of felt and then I sewed on red , orange, and yellow felt so that it looked like grass and a sun set. I then painted with black a golf ball and golf club.
His 8th birthday was a pokemon theme. I was pregnant with my 2nd son, and my due date was a month before his party. I started making the goodie bags 5 months early. I finished them the week before the party. One side was yellow felt. I painted Pikachu's head and ears on that side. Again I chose yellow felt so that I just had to paint the outline instead of using up way too much yellow paint. The other side was white felt and I painted a pokeball on it.Last year he turned 9 and wanted a Webkinz bag. His 1st webkinz was a tiger, so he wanted that to be on his bag. I did not want to paint any more. We picked out some dark green fabric with a leaf print (fern like) on it. I also bought some tiger striped fake fur and some white fake fur. I still had to use felt as a stabilizer. I chose green felt to match. I used fusible webbing to attach the leaf fabric to the felt. Then I cut out a circle and 2 triangles from the tiger striped fur. After pinning in in place, I stitched them down with black thread. I then cut 2 small circles from the white fake fur to use for the tiger's nose. I stitched them in place with white thread. I used a zig zag like stitch that one might use when appliqueing. I glued 2 large google eyes on him. I also sewed a pink button on for a nose. Then using white embrodiery thread, I made 6 wiskers. The back and front of the bag was exactly the same. It took a lot more time making these than painting ever did.
This year his party theme is outdoor water fun. I did not want to make a time consuming bag (times 8 or more) this year. Between other projects and chasing a toddler around, I wanted something simple. So we went to the fabric store and he picked out a printed fabric that looked like pool water (a bright blue with glod lines). I also bought matching fabric later (they didn't have the same print) for the handles. I made 4 out of 9 bags today. The party is in 7 days. No painting, no detailed sewing, just basic sewing. I cut rectangles out of the fabric (to what looked like a good size). I folded the 2 ends (which will be the top of the bag) twice, and pinned them. I then cut 2.5 inch strips for the handles. I ironed them so that the outer edges were folded to the center, then I folded them in half. I sewed the open side closed. Then I measured, cut, and attached the handles with pins. Then I just sewed the tops of the bags down, handles and all. I folded the bag in half, right sides together. Using a zig zag stitch, I sewed the sides together. I then sewed triangles (1.5 inches) on the bottom corners. This is so the bag can have a flat bottom. I turned it inside out and I'm done. I still need to make name tags for the bags. My son likes it, and I was able to make 4 bags from start to finish in one day. I even had my toddler on my lap while I was sewing.
Hopefully I'll finish some more bags today. I don't want to work on them tomorrow, because thats when my birthday is. My son was a late birthday present.
I will post pictures soon. I will post the pictures that I have of past bags.
