How to Assemble a Better Goodie Bag

This, to me, is sort of the bare minimum. We can do better, whether for a wedding, family reunion, or birthday party. My cardinal rules for assembling goodie bags are short and simple: One, make sure they contain things your guests will actually use or enjoy; two, be mindful of waste. The components that will inevitably get tossed — like the bag itself — should be recyclable or otherwise usable itself. Those cellophane baggies are so 2008.

The following ideas range in price. It’s all about finding what’s approachable for your budget and getting a little creative from there. But I bet you’d be surprised to find that a bag full of a bunch of crappy little things puts about the same strain on your wallet as one that’s filled with just a few, more thoughtful items. In some cases, you may even end up spending a bit less.

Now, let’s brainstorm some fun ideas for your next shindig.

Snacks Seen ’Round the World

International snack pack subscriptions have been incredibly popular over the last decade or so. There’s Bokksu, MunchPak, MexiCrate… the list goes on. Depending on where you live, it can be pretty easy to assemble a kit yourself.

Where larger brands are concerned, it’s certainly possible to purchase online directly from the company, or from an online retailer. But I strongly suggest you consider supporting whatever local markets exist in your neck of the woods. Half the fun is ogling the aisles and plucking a cornucopia of whatever calls to you. In Brighton Beach, one of New York City’s strongest Eastern European communities, there’s a Turkish specialty food store I love called Vintage Gourmet Foods. There, Wonka-esque jars and dispensers overflow with Russian and other Eastern European candies and you’re encouraged to mix and match, making this spot a perfect one-stop shop for goodie bag building. In Los Angeles, La Huerta Candy & Snacks stocks a variety of Mexican candies, nuts, and dried fruits, and any chuchería from coast to coast will have you covered on favorites like Rebanaditas, lollipops covered in spicy chile powder, and Pulparindo, the chewy tamarind candy.

Or, how about chips? Honestly, you could go off on Lay’s flavors alone. The brand has expanded its line to satisfy palates across the globe with flavors like Thailand’s XO seafood sauce, China’s roasted cumin lamb skewer, Romania’s wild mushroom and sour cream, and Columbia’s Flamin’ Hot. (I wonder if they’re hotter than the version here in the States?)

On the sweet side, our editors — and seemingly all of TikTok — are big fans of Swedish candy. All in all, a quick search at your closest bodega or any specialty food store with a solid selection of snacks and candy from one country or another is sure to yield a wide array of goodie bag options.

Mementos & Reading Material

The match-collecting craze keeps blazing on, but luckily, there is still such a thing as the big grab bag bowl where books and boxes alike can go for as low as 25 cents. Whether your guests end up actually using them, or adding them to an existing collection, old and new matches from hotels, casinos, and restaurants can make fun little gifts, as can recipe booklets or pamphlets from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, and so on. There’s usually a stack of these sold at food bookstores. Here in New York, we’re lucky to have a few different local independent shops focusing entirely on food literature like Kitchen Arts & Letters, Archestratus, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, and Sweet Pickle Books, to name a few. D.C.’s got Bold Fork Books, and in Seattle, there’s Book Larder. In San Francisco, Omnivore Books or even the Alameda Antiques Fair are treasure troves for this sorts of thing. Any antiques fair is!

Paper goods aside, you can also usually find fun, trinket-y-but-usable kitchen items and home goods at more accessible prices. You know how some Goodwills seem to have a massive mug wall full of souvenirs that hail from the ’90s and/or say something like “Don’t Talk to Me ’Til I’ve Had My Coffee,” and are priced at three or four bucks? If it works with your budget, there’s your goodie right there: Send everyone home with a fun (or funny) mug!

Casino-Adjacent

I always keep a few dice in my bag for the impromptu bar game, and therefore feel you can never have too many, especially since they come in all sorts of colors, patterns, and sizes. Since they’re also pretty cheap, you can give your friends the gift of spontaneous gambling by throwing a few dice into their goodie bag. Or, go with a deck of cards. You can have a bit more fun with these, from X-rated decks to those that are geographically themed. And if your birthday party itself has a theme, there’s a high likelihood you might be able to find a deck of cards that follows suit. And you know what pairs well with a game of blackjack? Martinis. Those little craft cocktail kits can run a pretty penny, but minis from the local liquor store don’t. Throw in a tiny jar of olives and you’re off to the races. Or, go the mimosa route with a single-serve bottle of OJ. You get the picture.

Self-Care Kit

I did sort of trash-talk the standard wedding goodie bag a few paragraphs ago, but that doesn’t mean I’m against its fundamental concept. I just think it could benefit from a bit of creativity. And it’s easy to keep a goodie bag gender-neutral so that everyone gets some use out of whatever self-care products are inside. I think about what I have in my bag right now and what I use most at home. Of course, you’re not going to gift someone toothpaste (or maybe you are?), but you can definitely feel good about a mini bottle of sanitizer and maybe some lip balm or hand lotion. Everyone gets bags under their eyes, so why not throw in a single set of those under-eye brightening patches? And if you’re really balling out, those D.S. & Durga sample sizes, at the time of writing, cost $5 each.

Remember the ’90s?

Going the nostalgia route is never a bad idea, not least because this approach can be replicated no matter the decade. But the ’90s and early 2000s share a permanent residence in my heart, and so do their artifacts. Pez dispensers, for example, are collectibles, and I know a number of people who have started their own collections. So why not help them along by throwing a new character into their goodie bags? If you’d prefer to go the edible nostalgia route, Ring Pops, Pixy Stix, or any box or bar of movie th candy fit the bill, too.

Or, Go the DIY Route

The DIY option can be just as viable, personal, and appreciated as any of those above. It takes some advance planning, but what about making your own amaro? Grab a neutral spirit, hit the specialty spice shop (my favorites in New York are Kalustyan’s or Duals Natural, both of which have online stores) and go wild on dried citrus peels, spices, herbs, roots, and shoots to concoct your own signature spirit. Maybe print out or handwrite cocktail recipe cards for inspiration. Or, make jam! Make hot sauce! Just make sure you sterilize those jars so they’re shelf-stable. And if project cooking is really your thing, go one step further and design your own branding to decorate the labels.

Whatever you do, make it feel personal. Goodie bags can be thoughtless, repetitive, even wasteful sacks of junk, or they can be the cherry on top of a really good time. And while I’m not saying goodie bags are going to save the world, I do know that putting some thought into little acts of gift-giving can inspire others to do the same. To paraphrase Martha Stewart, who knows a little something about hospitality, that’s a good thing.