28 Kids Birthday Party Favors That Aren’t Junk

Wearable art

These artist-designed tattoos are notably vivid and long-lasting.

Sold in packs of 50, these bubbly tattoos are crowd-pleasing and economical.

The temporary tattoos in Tattly’s The Go Go Animals Tattoo Set By See Creatures are top notch. The set features a coterie of bright-colored, beloved fauna — including alligators, giraffes, and zebras — zipping around on skateboards, bikes, and motorcycles. These tattoos are nice and big, and each is cut individually, so you can buy a pack or two and give a couple of tattoos to each kid.

Similarly special, Meri Meri tattoos are easily some of the most gorgeous, high-quality temporary tattoos I’ve come across. The gold metallic used in the designs is luscious, and the colors are richly pigmented and opaque. They aren’t cheap, and the itty-bitty tattoos feel a tad throwaway. But if your kid and their crew are fans of body art, the foil options alone are worth the splurge.

If you’re hosting a bigger crowd, these Ooly Glitter Temporary Tattoos are bright, fun, and a great value, with 50 tattoos for around $8. We’ve gotten the Cute Doodle World set — where cheeky mer-cats and sunglass-sporting pineapples vibe next to vivid ice cream cones and sprinkle donuts — and adults, 10-year-old boys, and 5-year-old girls all found tats they were excited about.

Bite-size brick sets

This modest Lego set comes with instructions for transforming its 145 pieces into a unicorn, peacock, or seahorse.

Diminutive Lego keychains are a gift-bag favorite.

When I’m favor hunting, I like to do a quick “Lego sets under $10” search to see what’s available. Often there are some lower-price mini builds that make perfect party favors.

Wirecutter’s Lego reviewers (fun job, amirite?) love plenty of epic Creator 3-in-1 sets, but the smaller ones are some of my family’s favorites. My 6-year-old daughter loved building this Magical Unicorn and is savoring it before she takes it apart and rebuilds it into a pastel-rainbow peacock or seahorse. We’ve also enjoyed building and playing with the Red Dragon set. We’re also big fans of the Lego Minifigure keychains, which kids can hook to their backpacks or their first set of keys. They’re usually $6 a pop but often go on sale on the Lego site. We’re especially fond of these adorable “dog guys”: Hot, and French bull.

An educational book they’ll go ape (or lion, or tiger) for

These books dissect hypothetical match-ups between fierce animals and may spur spirited discussion.

These slim volumes are chock-full of nature facts, minus the beastly face-offs.

I’ve never seen my children more excited about leaving a party than when they received a book from the Who Would Win? animal match-up series. These books pit members of the animal kingdom against each other, using scientific reasoning to deduce who would come out on top in a battle between, say, a lion and a tiger or a killer whale and a great white shark. And my kids can’t get enough. For those who prefer animal facts with a more pacifist flavor, the National Geographic Kids Readers series covers a range of habitats and critters — including manatees, caterpillars to butterflies, and meerkats — all sans showdowns. The Nat Geo series also features other scientific topics, like planets and meteorology.

Bright bandages

Cheery bandages can help turn a frown upside down.

The Welly Bravery Badges Fabric Bandages are a sweet way to wear your art on your sleeve. All my kids have gone through intense boo-boo phases, cleverly inventing injuries so they could slap on yet another bandage. These colorful, high-quality ones from Welly will give them all the more reason to keep on doing that. Welly’s bandages come in lots of different styles, so you’re likely to find a good fit by theme or age.

A sturdy lock

Quirky and satisfyingly hefty, combination locks provide kids with a challenging new skill to master.

This Master Lock Combination Padlock is precisely the kind of offbeat item you wouldn’t typically think of as a party favor, but odds are good that plenty of kids will find it exciting and a little grown-up. Bonus points if the lock fits in with an existing theme (spy party! sports party! High School Musical party!). After one celebration where this was the favor, one Wirecutter editor heard that her friend’s kid spent hours fiddling with the lock to crack the combination. Beyond the amusement factor, the lock is a finely tuned, durable feat of everyday engineering. And it’s something guests can use for their school locker, at the gym, or anywhere else they want to protect their belongings — all for under 10 bucks.